05/28/2024
Hey everyone, its time for me to end this journey. This project has been fun and very enlightening on a deep level as a musician who sought to understand a different side of the music world. There is so much live music in the area I can’t keep up and I simply don’t have the time to continue this on a volunteer basis anymore. It reflects a good problem! Perhaps if the community still desires something like this, a petition should be made to local existing news sources or other media outlets to have a live music listing like this, and include way for this to be supported to make someone’s time worth their while! Anyone who wants to take the reigns on this, be my guest, you’d be doing a beautiful thing for the musical world around us! I simply don’t have the time anymore.
I would like to share some tips for improving the visibility of your shows, this goes for both venues and musicians alike. All my words, no AI involved, so take this advice with a grain of salt:
🎸BE CLEAR. If your show is at Friday at 5PM at X Bar, please state this CLEARLY on your fliers, events on social media AND your personal pages. Graphics are great but don’t let them distract from the facts!
🎸REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT. Duplicate information helps solidify the fact a show is happening. Totally okay if a venue AND a musician have duplicate information out there, people come across info in different ways at different times. One singular announcement can be buried.
🎸POST IN ADVANCE. If you have a show a week from now or 6 months from now, please advertise for it when you find out about it. There is nothing worse than an announcement that says “music tonight at X bar!” Most people make plans days in advance. Give them that!
🎸NAME THE ARTIST. Please Venues, do your musicians a favor and acknowledge them as people, don’t just state “Live Music!” The musician worked hard to create entertainment for you. They are entrepreneurs themselves and rely on the support.
🎸HAVE MUSIC AT CONSISTENT TIMES: Having music start at the same time on the same days helps the community plan in advance to come.
🎸UPDATE PERSONAL PAGES: In today’s digital age everyone is checking out the band or the venue before the show if they are unfamiliar. The difference between a website or social media page that is accurate and one that needs to be updated is night and day and speaks wonders for your professionalism.
🎸YOU ARE ENTERTAINMENT: Someone once told me to always remember you are in the entertainment business. Take that however you will.
Goodbye everybody! Thanks to everyone for supporting the musicians and musician friendly venues of the Shenandoah Valley! Keep it up!
