Scott Andrew - lo-fi acoustic pop superhero!

Here in Seattle, where it seems every other person is playing in some sort of band, any given telephone pole is perpetually carpeted with flyers announcing every type of show. It’s pretty cool.

On one of the mailing lists I’m subscribed to, there’s an ongoing discussion on the effectiveness of flyers in promoting a concert. I’m keenly interested in this, because now that I’m playing live more often, I’m revisting every musician’s biggest challenge: getting people to show up.

There are bands here in Seattle that do a great job at flyering. When they play, I can’t avoid knowing it, ’cause it’s all over town. But I can’t really say that I’ve ever gone to a show just because I saw a flyer. I think I read somewhere that for every 100 flyers put up, you might get one person to attend.

So I’m forcing myself to revisit the reasons why I decide to attend a rock show instead of staying home, drinking beer and watching Buffy reruns. It comes down to one or more of these:

1. I’m already a fan and crazy about the music
2. I’ve heard so many good things about the artist from trusted sources (friends, favorite ‘zines, etc.) that I’m reasonably sure I’ll have a good time
3. I know the artist personally, or have some personal connection

When I started playing in bands a hundred years ago, I made the same mistakes that most young artists do, thinking that advertising was as good as public relations. I’d put up 500 flyers around town, chalk all the sidewalks around the University, and then wonder why only ten people showed up. What I didn’t understand was that while flyers are great for letting people know about a show, they’re not so great for getting people to care. They don’t do much towards fulfilling A, B and C above.

I’ve recently been in touch with a guy who has a band in my old stomping grounds of Akron, OH. He was attending school around the same time that my band and I were doing everything we could to get the word out. So I asked him: did he remember my old band from ten years ago? And he said: yep, because all the chalking and flyers made it unavoidable. But he couldn’t recall ever coming to see us play.

I still think flyers and related stuff are important in building awareness, but I don’t think it’s enough to run around plastering them all over town and expect people to swarm in the doors. So the question becomes: what more can I do to address A, B and C?

Just thinking out loud. More on this later.