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.
If you’ve been doing this music thing for more than a minute, you’ve probably met a few music journalists along the way or have a shortlist of writers with whom you’d love to work. You also probably have a general idea about what they do and what they expect. But there are a few things…
You just got hired to play a cover gig with a band. You’ve got about a week to prepare, and it pays pretty well. But you’re expected to play about 20 new tunes (give or take), and most likely, you won’t be rehearsing with the band, save for running a few things at soundcheck. What…
+ Welcome to Soundfly! We help curious musicians meet their goals with creative online courses. Whatever you want to learn, whenever you need to learn it. Subscribe now to start learning on the ’Fly. In the world of live bands, bass players and drummers have a lot of negotiating power. They’re in demand, and they know it. Nearly every genre of…
By Jhoni Jackson Putting together a multi-day event in your city requires a little knowledge of booking and who’s who in your local music scene, but it’s not the impossible feat some might imagine. Organizing a festival is within the reach of nearly anyone who’s willing to commit time to planning, researching, and learning. It’s…
Spearheading your own PR campaign is no easy task. Putting the necessary tools in place requires a lot of grit, determination, and old fashioned time and effort. I won’t lie and say it will be easy or that it’s something you can learn in a few weeks. This is something that takes months to really perfect if…
By Rebecca Redman I moved to the Bay Area from a town where there were only two places to play shows — a garage and a supper club. Unless you could convince someone to let you plug in your amplifier in their living room, choices were slim. Moving up to the Bay Area came with a dramatic…
At times during my completely penniless illustrious DIY career, I would’ve taken just about every gig thrown my way. Sometimes that choice made sense, like when my band was trying to get our name out as much as we could the summer before we released our debut album, or when we were brand new and…
What defines a great promo email? And what does a promo email need to include to be successful? The answer to both questions depends a lot the needs of the writer and the reader. We’ve talked about how to send a killer email to anyone in the industry, emphasized how important it is to maintain a healthy…
By Liam Singer Live rock music and noisy bars go together like beer and… more beer! The sounds of a drum kit, electric guitar, and amplified vocals are all designed to cut through the noise of clinking glasses and drunken conversations. These are not “dinner party” instruments. Audiences in these spaces don’t always like hearing…
Montréal is a live music town through and through. It’s also a hockey town. And sometimes, it’s both at once! People are likely to know this city by its music due to break-out indie rock sensations like Arcade Fire, Wolf Parade, Mac DeMarco, and the Barr Brothers; major electronic acts such as A-Trak, Grimes, and Kaytranada;…
