Tag: touring on a shoestring

Considering booking your own tour? This collection of articles will help provide you with the advice and resources you need to start booking better shows, get great audience turn out, and help you use your gigs to sell merch and music and build your fanbase. For more help, check out Soundfly’s free course, Touring on a Shoestring.

  • The Dos and Don’ts of On-Stage Banter

    The Dos and Don’ts of On-Stage Banter

    On-stage banter can be one of the most memorable parts of your set. Talk to your crowd like a pro with these tips for upping your banter game.

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  • Performing in a New City? Tips for the Traveling Indie Musician

    Performing in a New City? Tips for the Traveling Indie Musician

    When you’re DIY touring on a shoestring and performing in new cities every night, keep these five things to keep in mind.

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  • Dive In! America’s Most Beloved Dive Bar Venues

    Dive In! America’s Most Beloved Dive Bar Venues

    Ah, the sacred American dive bar. What is it about these dingy, sketchy venues that keeps bands and fans coming back time and time again for decades? Somewhere hidden beyond the wasted clientele, the PBR-drenched floor tiles, and the pernicious odor of vomit, urine, and cigarettes, lies an unmistakable authenticity and camaraderie we just can’t…

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  • Tips to Draw the Crowd: How Local Artists Can Beat the Struggle

    Tips to Draw the Crowd: How Local Artists Can Beat the Struggle

    Make the most of your local scene as a musician, grow your fanbase, and, maybe most importantly, get involved with your artistic community.

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  • Mars Dixon of Aye Nako on the Omnipresence of a Rubber Spider

    Mars Dixon of Aye Nako on the Omnipresence of a Rubber Spider

    Welcome back to Soundfly’s weekly interview series, Incorrect Music, curated by guitarist, singer, and composer Lora-Faye Åshuvud (of the band Arthur Moon). In this series, we present intimate conversations with artists who are striving to push the boundaries of their process and craft. “Our songs are just a little more intricate than the typical picture that comes…

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  • How to Write the Perfect Cold Booking Email

    How to Write the Perfect Cold Booking Email

    By Bob Barrick Anyone who’s ever managed to book gigs for themselves knows that it can often be insurmountably difficult. You spend hours sending emails to every venue in town only to receive automated responses. The problem isn’t that your music is bad. It’s that you’re going about it the wrong way. Like everything else…

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  • The COMPASS: Boise, ID

    The COMPASS: Boise, ID

    By Robert Lanterman Boise is my home. I’ve lived here almost my whole life and am immensely proud of it. While smaller than most cities’, the music community and scene here certainly have had their ups and downs, perhaps more than most. But they’ve survived, no doubt, due to the sheer persistence of those here who…

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  • …But Can You Entertain?

    …But Can You Entertain?

    Yes, you may be a technically proficient artist. You may even have a following. But if you’re not entertaining your audience, your live show will suffer.

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  • The Essential Touring Musician’s Guide to Working Out on the Road

    The Essential Touring Musician’s Guide to Working Out on the Road

    Fitness starts with the diet, and this can be one of the absolute hardest things to control on the road. Touring is always a sacrifice of sorts, but it doesn’t have to ruin your body. I once spent five weeks on tour with a $10/day stipend for food and drinks. I ate two granola bars…

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  • Master the Art of Stage Banter with Confidence, Timing, and Nailing the Details

    Master the Art of Stage Banter with Confidence, Timing, and Nailing the Details

    When it comes to playing an instrument, I have close to zero credibility. Outside of being able to tear up a dance floor and the two-and-a-half weeks I gave playing the keyboard a (somewhat) earnest shot, I’m not the most qualified. That’s why I have so much respect for my clients and stick to my…

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Elijah Fox at the piano