From my earliest days as a music fan, then as a record retailer, journalist, publicist, and now venue owner and radio show host, I have always heard some of the greatest music that unfortunately never found an audience. For every Beatles or Rolling Stones or any number of your current favorites, there are many more of equal brilliance that remain great lost classics. No need to name names-- we all have our lists and favorites, and we all wonder or speculate why these favorites never made it bigger. Well, to paraphrase Bruce Springsteen, "Are You Tougher Than The Rest?" Because although art matters most, no matter how you marry that art to commerce, it is a reality that there is intense competition to find and keep an audience. While StarPolish encourages collaboration over competition among developing artists, you still need to be tougher than the rest to best build your career and fanbase. If you are having trouble booking yourself at local clubs and finding an audience in other conventional performance venues-- or if you're simply looking for creative ways to expand an already successful touring schedule-- then perhaps it's time to think outside the box and consider more unusual, non-traditional outlets for your live performance. Especially in today's world with many clubs that don't pay (and some that may even try to make you pay to play!) it is more important than ever to find non-traditional ways of touring and getting your songs heard. And not just to help you make a living, but to minimize the cost of finding an audience and promoting your act.
Types of Alternative Venues and Performances
1. Living Room Or House Concerts These are springing up everywhere now. I prefer to call my venue, The Blue Door in Oklahoma City, a "house concert," even though it looks like a roadhouse with an apartment and I mostly book singer/songwriters who play clubs. The Blue Door certainly has the intimacy of a house concert. But most of the time, house concerts are more intimate gatherings in a "real" living room in some suburb somewhere. These gigs are primarily acoustic or at least just low-level electric guitar and amp. Usually 50 to 70 people come and make a donation for the music and enjoy wine and whatever food is on the menu.