How Musicians Can Make a Huge First Impression This Festival Season
As a new season approaches, artists have a chance to make a big splash on the music festival circuit this year by following these 5 tips…
The Festival Scene
Each year, more and more new music festivals are popping up, extending what is known as festival season from Spring to Summer to a year-round feature.
While festivals and showcases can now be found throughout the year all over the world, the official kick off to festival circuit for most indie artists is the King of Festivals, Austin’s South By Southwest.
With SXSW kicking off this week in the heart of Texas, many musicians and bands find themselves either scrambling to come up with some last-minute experiential marketing ideas to get the music/foodie/techie/film crowd on their side, while other artists are trying to figure how they can cash in on the action from outside of the club.
Understandably, if it’s your first time being invited to perform as one of the many, many artists on the bill, it can feel like there’s competition everywhere you look. From the big names at the top of the flyer, to your stage placements, to the number of crowds who may come to your set only to be unfamiliar with your most popular tracks — it’s overwhelming. When you’re just starting to really get your name out there, it can be hard to adjust to the rejection that sometimes comes with touring or performing away from home.
So, how can underrated artists play the festival game while keeping their artistic integrity intact? Try these 5 tips for starters.
How to stand out at SXSW (and other competitive festivals)
1. Get in there and introduce yourself right from the start
The day your band is announced as a part a large festival line-up should be the first day of your campaign targeted to engage that festival’s attendees.
What should you do?
- Share the flyer on your timeline
- Congratulate other indie artists for making it out
- Encourage your current fans to attend or share their favorite performances of yours
If this is a recurring festival, ask the previous year’s attendees about their favorite moments or what they would like to see differently this year.
Knowing your audience goes past the initial research phase, it’s more about developing a rapport with music fans across all genres and backgrounds and learning how your work can appeal to them.
2. Give them something special to look forward to
What’s going to set your festival showcase apart from any of the dozens (or thousands) of other performances you’ve done so far? What’s so unique about this one?
If you’re lucky enough to be known on the festival circuit, figure out how you’re going to top your previous performances for the next audience.
Festival-goers and concert goers may be the same people, but they’re looking for vastly different experiences out of the two situations. If you or your band is planning to perform the same way for a festival crowd as you would in for a concert hall or stadium crowd, you’re already selling yourself and the fans short.
Come up with ways to keep the energy high for your set, particularly if you’re performing later in the day or opening for a bigger act. Try to keep fans eyes on you and off of their phones by using call and response, bringing out guests or collaborators or doing a new, festival specific rendition of one of your most popular tunes.
Make your band’s festival experience one that the crowd will talk about for years to come.
3. Stand out in the crowd
Like, literally. Be a fan. Walk around, take in some new music.
Performing at a music festival can feel like a work experience, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be a once-in-a-lifetime moment. Going out and enjoying the festival gives you a chance to see the events (and the stage) from the fan’s perspective, which will give you more insight into how you plan your shows down the road.
4. Be social
According to this survey from EventBrite, social media users who tweet about music festivals post on the platform 5x more per day than the average user.
Basically, music festival attendees are highly engaged and active social media users. It’s not hard to see how this can be a huge win if you’re an indie artist, for example, who steals the show.
If your band doesn’t already have a social media manager, consider ways to pre-schedule posts or tweet during down times to interact with fans who are in attendance.
5. Set aside time for your fans
Whether or not artists enjoy doing meet and greets is not really up for debate; when performing at a music festival, it’s imperative for indie musicians to spend as much time with potential fans as possible.
Whether you run a social media contest to have lunch with attendees in exchange for sharing pictures from your performance, or you do a live-streamed Q&A with fans from your trailer/dressing room an hour before your set — you’ve got to show fans that you’re willing to make time for them even when you’re busy.
