Know Your Audience

It really is as simple as that.  Know your audience.

Oh, yeah, hello, it’s me.

Yep, it’s been awhile but here I am again.

As most of you know, I was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 2016 with the Band of Oz. I was also invited to perform with them at their 50th Reunion in 2017 and also the Band Of Oz “Over The Rainbow” Cruise in January of this year. They asked me to perform a Mick Jagger medley and I had an absolute blast.

Practice makes Perfect

During the cruise I witnessed a few rehearsals of the current Band of Oz and got to see, hear and reminisce about how it gets done. Rehearsing is no fun at all but is a necessary evil if you’re going to be a professional. It’s typically in the afternoon in a club but in this case it was in one of the lounges aboard the Carnival SS Paradise.

During the warm up, one of the band members started pissing and moaning about the song they were being asked to learn. As he started to get cranked up, David Hicks, one of the band leaders coolly and calmly reminded him, “It doesn’t matter what you like and it doesn’t matter what I like. It’s what our audience likes. And that’s what we’ll play”

The band then went on to learn the song.

Bingo!

I thought, “OMG, what a great lesson!” I’ve been saying that to artists for quite a while but framed a bit differently.

Know your audience.  Give them what they want.

Why do you think even headliners of huge arena shows do covers? (I’ll answer that one for you.)

They know their audience and they give them what they want. (Even when it may not be what they’d like to play every night.) Let that sink in for a moment.

No, Your Audience

Indeed. As an emerging artist trying to make footprint in the market be sure you know your audience, who they are and how to identify them. Be able to describe them in one sentence.

Then you or someone on your team should do his homework and find the person at a label, agency or distributor most likely to dig your music and can get it to your audience. It’s that simple.

Unfortunately most artists think it’s so simple it doesn’t matter.  Don’t make that mistake.

#TakeTheTwenty

Need someone on your team who’s been there, done that and can help you identify your audience and get it done?

Reach out to me today.  As always, I am still offering this valuable exercise to you so you won’t make that mistake.

1) #TakeTheTwenty This free step will help you and me assess where you are and where you need to go from here. And it costs you nothing!

2) Reach out to me chris@chriskeaton.com  Let’s discuss how I may be able to assist you.

3) Let’s make it happen RIGHT FREAKING NOW!!!

Photo Credit: c.2018 Bandofoz.com