Got great organizational abilities? Good at working with people? Lover of music?
Then you might be the ideal person to become a music promoter.
You don’t need any special qualifications to become a promoter. But it helps to have knowledge of, or experience in, certain areas.
Advertising or marketing experience is brilliant. Or a background in media or public relations can only benefit.
Agents and managers can earn around $97,560 per year. It’ll take time and hard work to get to that stage but it’s possible.
You could take an internship with a more experienced promoter to learn the ropes. Or you can follow these tips to get started yourself.
So if you want to know how to become a band promoter, read on!
1. Choose Your First Focus
You might decide to start promoting one band. A function band is a great place to start. There’s plenty of work opportunities and they’re easy to ‘sell’.
Function bands usually play covers so people who hire them know what they’re getting in advance.
Alternatively, you might choose a specific music genre. This allows you to build a network of related contacts and you become ‘known’ for that genre.
A final option is choosing a region or type of venue. Perhaps you want to promote bands to play college towns, or you could promote music for independent venues.
2. Start with Smaller Venues
Identify smaller venues that suit the band you’ve chosen. This gets your band vital experience in playing before an audience.
A function band is great for weddings or corporate events. But start small before you move up to huge conference centers.
Pubs, bars, or coffee shops all make great ‘starter’ venues. Investigate open mic nights or specialist music nights in your chosen genre.
Get to know the people in the venues who book acts. Find out what they’re looking for and provide it. You’ll make a name as a reliable source of quality bands.
Learn how to your growing promoter business. Put good practice in place during these early days.
3. Learn the Marketing Side of Promotion
While your band plays smaller venues, use it as an opportunity to hone your marketing skills.
Find out which papers offer free ad space. Many listings websites let you add listings for free.
Design flyers that look great in black and white so you can create copies in bulk at a low cost. Identify places where your band’s target audience hang out and distribute your flyers there.
Generate word-of-mouth advertising to cut down on your costs. Invite well-connected people to the gigs and encourage them to bring a friend or two. You can even offer a free drink to anyone who brings a ‘plus one’.
Investigate with advertising or even affiliate promotions. Set up a website for yourself as a promoter and monetize that.
4. Move on to Larger Venues
Once your band gets experience playing smaller venues, you can start targeting larger ones.
By this point, your band’s name will be more familiar from the gigs they’ve already played. People may already be talking about them on social media.
Now you can start running paid advertising on platforms like Facebook. Or learn to master social media so you can promote your bands through sites like Youtube, Hear This, Soundcloud, and Bandcamp.
If your band is headlining the event, arrange a support act. You also need to arrange sound technicians and make sure the bands have everything they need backstage.
Support Acts
But if venues won’t put your band on as the main act of the gig, ask if they’ll put on the band as a support act. This gets exposure from a new audience while taking the pressure to sell tickets off the band.
Invest in merchandise to sell at these gigs, such as T-shirts, buttons or tote bags. When people buy and wear these items, they’re acting as a form of ‘word of mouth’ advertising on your band’s behalf.
Shadow the promoter of the main band and learn from what they do and how they manage the event.
If you’ve chosen to promote a function band, ramp up their presence on social media. Ask for testimonials or reviews from smaller functions that you can add to their website.
This helps larger organizations, or brides holding bigger wedding parties, to feel confident in hiring your band for their event.
5. Consider Running Your Own Night
Hosting your own music night is a great way to partner with venues and get your bands exposure.
This is also a great way to build your networking skills. You’ll get to know other bands and you’ll form relationships as you give them space in your night’s lineup.
You’ll also get to know other promoters who are looking for opportunities for their acts. Work on cross-promotion to open opportunities for your bands supporting their bands at their gigs.
Running a night also gives you a way to access a specific audience. They may attend other nights at that venue and they’re used to the setup.
If it becomes a regular event, people know to come to your night for a certain type of music. You’ll promote your band to the people who will most enjoy their music, making it easier to convert them into paying fans.
6. Ask Professionals How to Become a Music Promoter
It never hurts to get the advice of the seasoned professionals. Get to know existing promoters in your area and find out how to be a successful promoter from those who made it.
Gather all the advice you can from these wise people. Try out their strategies to see if they work for your band. If they don’t, figure out how to make them work.
Learn how they use contracts and put them in place yourself. Bands will know how much they’ll earn and you know they can’t skip out on events.
Expand your skills by learning about music production, business law for the music industry, or artist management.
It’s a Hard but Rewarding Job
Now you know how to become a band promoter. Being a music promoter can be an unstable job. The workload is rarely steady and the hours can be long.
But when you work with a band you believe in and you start seeing success, the risks become worth it.
Continual education is the key to becoming a music promoter. Why not check out our other articles on as you set up your promotion business?
