By Victoria Canales
Now that live shows are picking up again, it’s time for all us aspiring musicians to get out there and play! Dust off your guitar, forget about the album you said you’d finish in quarantine, and go make some music. If you don’t know how to get started, here are some tips courtesy of Laredo Music Scene.
It’s important to have a social media presence so potential venues and fans can find you easily. Do you have any footage of a previous live show? Any recordings you’ve put together on Garageband? Any phone videos of a spontaneous bedroom cover? Post them! Just make sure that it projects the image and quality you want people to know. Also, if you’re posting any original pieces, make sure they’re properly protected by copyright. Click here for more information on copyright laws to protect your creations.
Wanna play a show but don’t know where? Call or DM venues around town and see if they have any open times for you to go jam! On the Laredo Music Scene website, we’ve got a directory of venues happy to host music around town, and almost all of them have social media, so they shouldn’t be too difficult to contact.
If you attend shows and performances, you’ll get lots of opportunities to network. You can start meeting the people putting on the shows, the owners of the venues, and the musicians that you might one day be sharing a stage with! Take advantage of whatever live music events you can go to and start making friends with the other talented members in the scene. And if you’re just starting out with playing live music, watching these shows can give you ideas on how to have stage presence, use equipment, and interact with the audience. You can’t put on a good show without going to a good show!
Hopefully these tips can help you get back in the swing of things. Let us know what other topics you’d like LMS to cover in this new tip series!
