8 Ways To Support Your Local Music Scene
If you're not yet involved in your local music scene, don't feel intimidated. Get involved and start helping your scene thrive by following these 8 tips.
Most major artists were at one time young, hungry up and coming acts in their local music scene. Without the support of the local show attending community, they may never have made it. A healthy local scene, requires a healthy balance and harmony between the artists, the venues and the fans, and there are several ways you can show your support. Supporting local music isn’t expensive, difficult, or inconvenient. This list proves it, so no more excuses. Ya bum.
1. Get To Know Your Scene
Can you name 3 local bands in your city? Do you know where you can find the most up-to-date show calendar? Do you know what venues are popular for local bands to play?
If you answered “NO” to any of these questions, you should consider doing a quick google search for “YOUR CITY bands/music/events/shows”. You’re already off to a great start by finding this website, and don't forget to visit us on our Social Media sites too: Twitter / Facebook / Instagram.
Each platform offers a different, but great way to interact with the scene online.
2. Go To Shows Regularly
The easiest way to support your scene, is to just go to a show. Check out our Show Calendar to see who’s playing where, or check out one of the many local venues/bars and discover something new.
Drawing an audience to gigs is always hard for young bands. In those early days, a couple extra people walking through the front door and just being there, can mean everything. If you discover a new band, make an effort to attend their gigs. It can not only make or break a band mentally, but some venues/promoters will stop booking them if they can’t maintain or increase their draw.
Max Courage
Find All The Upcoming Shows at the Show Calendar
3. Listen To The Music
Fundamentally, it’s all about the music right? The days of selling CD’s at gigs is fast approaching its end of days. Which means that revenue stream is disappearing, which affects young, struggling bands the most. The industry has pivoted to digital streaming, which has completely changed how young musicians have to monetize their art. Relying on digital music platforms that pay $0.003 per stream instead of selling a physical CD, that maybe would have netted them $5 in instant profit. The landscape has changed, and in some ways has made it more difficult for bands to support themselves enough to shoot for the stars, when they really need to be.
4. Be Friends With The Band
If you’re on the social media’s, consider friending bands and venues you like. It helps them increase their exposure, and helps you keep up with what those bands and venues are doing. We’re here to help with that as well! Subscribe to our weekly Show Alerts, and we’ll send a non-spammy reminder every Friday morning to remind you about all the cool shows coming up, and any relevant news from around the scene we think you’d want to know about.
5. Be A Scene Ambassador and Spread The Word
Look. One reason we started this website is because there was one night we really wanted to go to a punk show, so we went online to see if there were any punk bands playing tonight. Except, there was no easy way to just look that up. We had to pull up every venue’s website individually, to see what was happening. We were looking for new bands, so we couldn’t just look at the bands facebook, since we hadn’t discovered them yet. We realized there should be something better, that benefits everybody. Artists, Venues and Fans. So this our part in helping promote and support the scene.
You don’t have to go through all the hullabaloo of spending months, and an ungodly number of late nights trying to engineer your vision into existence. You just need to tell your friends about that sick band you saw last weekend. Or this chill venue you just discovered. Or this super easy-to-use website called scenepensacola.com that always seems to know whats up. Word of mouth is the most effective form of marketing and promotion. Wield your power and go forth!
6. Buy Merch and Represent
Every source of revenue a young band can secure, is important. Merch is probably the most important. Why? Because it usually has a higher profit margin than digital streaming, and ticket sales. It’s the one thing that they can make substantial (like actual dollars, not pennies) income from, and be able to continue being a band, making music, performing live, building their brand, and achieving the dream that we all want for our favorite unknown band.
So buy that hoodie, and soon to be extinct CD. And if it feels right, maybe buy the band a round of whatever and show your appreciation for having your face melted off during their set earlier that night.
7. Support the Pillars of the Scene: The Venues
The bars, clubs and venues that host the shows are critical to the musicians and bands that perform there. They're not only incredibly important and vital to a music scene, but also a fundamental and foundational necessity. Without them, there are no live shows. And the interaction that occurs between bands sharing the same bill, and the interaction that happens between bands and their fans (which is crucial to a bands career and growth), would be non-existant.
Max Courage
Check out some of our favorite local venues here
Everyone has their favorite spots, and even on non-show nights, it’s important to support your favorite places. Whether its an open mic night, karaoke, or just a random night to grab drinks with friends. In order to survive and continue to offer a place to see your favorite bands, we need to show our love and support for these spots.
8. Volunteer Your Time
Some bands, venues and promoters still rely on grassroots marketing, aka Street Teams. If you love a band, and there is a fan organized street team or fan club, consider signing up and volunteering your time and talents. The fans carry the bands. Their support can be the difference between grinding in a scene forever, and national and global recognition and popularity. If you believe in a band, help others discover them, and love them the same way you do.
🗣️ How do you show your support for your local music scene? Let us know in the comments below!