With the indie music industry exploding, finding ways to sell your music is a constant challenge.  Standing out from the competition is absolutely vital, especially if your career is going to graduate beyond the “local bar gigs” phase.

Our advice is for your act to start looking to perform at any music festival you can, at least that seem halfway reputable.  Even if you have to take a cut rate, music festivals are going to be one of the best possible ways to sell your music in the year(s) to come.

Three Reasons Music Festivals Are More Important Than Ever

1 – Get Noticed

Any band that plays a festival -even a small/local one- is going to get huge exposure to new potential fans.  Short of getting on television or having a lucky viral video, there’s no better way to introduce yourself to hundreds, thousands, or potentially even more new people.

Plus, one successful festival show will usually lead to more.  A lot of bands do well mostly playing the “festival circuit,” once they’ve established themselves as a reliable act.

2 – Build Your Live Show Buzz

Thanks to streaming services, music itself has become basically ubiquitous… but live performances have not.  If anything, demand for live music is likely to grow in the years ahead, specifically because it’s so much better than canned streaming radio.

If you can gain a reputation for doing great sets at local festivals, that’s going to quickly pay off in more gigs and -hopefully- interest from managers and promoters looking to sell your music.

3 – Create Content

Don’t forget to film\record\photograph everything.  A single festival appearance can be milked for loads of content in various forms – concert videos/albums, backstage documentaries, merchandise, quickie clips for Vine-style sites, “spots” for TV or YouTube broadcast, album art…  The possibilities are pretty much endless.

Try recruiting a few fans to be your official documentarians, especially if you can wrangle some backstage passes.  Let them run around filming everything, and you’ll have plenty of material for future promotion that will sell your music.

What’s the best festival act you’ve ever seen?