We had another fantastic sofa session at Dv8 Bexhill last week with the Programmer for The De La Warr Pavilion, Ollie Catchpole. He has previously worked for Komedia in Brighton and for The Great Escape festival before moving onto the The De La Warr where he’s been for two and a half years. Ollie was invited in to talk to our budding musicians about the music industry from the perspective of someone who ultimately decides which acts perform at a venue, and to share some tips on how to build reputation and exposure for their musical projects.
Ollie gave an insight into his educational background, originally completing a BTEC at college which lead on to studying a contemporary music degree at university. One thing he couldn’t emphasise enough was just how important college was to his future career, which thoroughly reassured our students that they were doing the right thing!
The sofa session entailed an in depth explanation of the importance of social media for launching the students’ nascent musical careers. For instance don’t underestimate the fact that social media such as Facebook is free to use. If you’re working with a small budget to put on your next gig and advertise it, Facebook and Twitter are essential to promote yourself to a large audience in a short space of time. A professional looking Facebook like page alongside an engaging Twitter account help to create a fan base by holding and captivating your audience’s attention in one place. Ollie gave a harsh but truthful words about just how important it is to have an up to date and well maintained social media band/artist page. “I know I keep banging on about Facebook but at your level it’s so important. I’ve not booked bands before because I’ve looked at their Facebook likes and they don’t have many“. This really highlights the need to work on all aspects of your overall brand as artists to get those breaks you’re looking for.
Something else our guest said to consider was the need to have a couple of songs ready and recorded that you can share online and send to promoters. If getting in contact with a venue or Programmer such as Ollie, to initially showcase your music in hopes of setting up and performing a gig, they’ll want to hear your tracks. Another top tip is to identify which venues attract your target audience, on the nights they are there get down to the exit and hand out flyers which lead to your band’s pages. “Activity brings results. Anything positive is going to have a good effect.” Ollie highlighted that if you want to play at a venue, you should regularly email them directly with your material to show that you’re persistent and serious.
Intruda, one of Bexhill’s future stars posed the question “what advice would you give to someone like us and on our level for setting up a gig?“. Ollie proposed that for a hiphop/trap gig, you want to have everything aesthetically pleasing. Make sure that you have invited all of your friends and that it’s dead cheap, around £2/3 so it’s affordable for all. Get in a decent DJ for when you’re switching over and setting up in between artists. There should be about 3 acts all around the same level and each set should last about 30 minutes. If you can, book in the most popular act you know so they will already have a fan base that can be easily invited and will fill the majority of the venue. Try and make sure that the different acts are bringing groups of friends so you get as big an audience as possible. If it’s your first gig you’re going to have to blag it a bit and things will go wrong, but you’ll enjoy it and people will leave talking about you and will go on to spread the word. Make sure that you already have your second gig planned so you can capitalise on any success. Then suddenly this small gig with your friends you set up turns into an exclusive launch. And a crucial is to get the gig recorded, even on your phones. This will be something that you can use to promote yourselves further when showcasing your music.
Another inspiring guest visit that makes the working music industry that bit more real for our hopeful musicians, which is exactly what ….
