praisecarcinoma

Some network studio needs to call OP immediately and offer lots and lots of money for their story to develop a great show that shines a positive light on same sex couples who raise children.

At least he's rephrasing the question at the beginning of his replies, so we know exactly why he's referencing what he is, haha.

I know it's going to be mine, and when I use the term in real life, and no one knows what I'm talking about, I'm going to make a shit eating clever grin and twiddle my fingers together.

How Horse Met Your Mother

Concert producer and promoter rep here. Getting more of these types of gigs really is a lot of who you know, but it goes a long way to also have 1) a good social media presence (obviously), great sounding recordings, and also a press kit of some sort.

When I first started playing shows, tours always wanted a couple well known, good local bands and trusted the promoter to pick them without approval by the artist.

Anymore, booking agents for the artists require approval for opening slots. So having these 3 things that a promoter can send to an agent to get approval will go a long way. Get familiar with your local venues, who runs them, who books there, and who the main promoters are. If you see an artist or a tour coming through that’s been announced, try to find out who’s promoting the show and reach out to them to let them know you’re interested in opening up the gig if there’s a spot available. Have those links ready for them. Promise you’ll do your part to help promote and get some extra bodies out. If the show looks like it’s going to sell out regardless, it might just come down to getting a good local opening that can set the crowd up for an overall fantastic evening of music.

Local radio is a great help too, because it shows that you’re already worth enough of a shit in your local music community to be taken seriously. Promoters would way prefer to work with locals who have that sort of notoriety than ones who don’t.

The more national/international touring artists you’re able to play with, they can be added to your press kit of bands you’ve performed with. Says a lot to prospective labels, managers, booking agents that you’re good enough to have been set up to perform with worthwhile talent.

But traveling, expanding your audience, and getting more press coverage helps a lot too.

I hope some of this information helps! Congrats and good luck!

Edit: one thing I want to add, some additional advice as a promoter rep who has worked in this industry a long time. If you’re trying to add some degree of production to your show (custom lighting fixtures, scrims, props, etc) — make sure you advance that you have these things ahead of time to the promoter before the day of show. You don’t want to upstage artists. Some bands will find it cool, and a little inspiring, but too many others get super pissed about it. Then the tour manager yells at the local production manager on why they let you use all of that stuff, and then they complain to their agent, who yells at the talent buyer and promoter team, who then might not want to put you on another show because that’s the sort of reputation you’ve set for yourselves. Never assume it’s okay to be the opener and have a more flashy show than the bands you’re opening up for. Plus, you might bring that sort of stuff and there’s just not enough room for it on stage, enough electrical circuits, etc. Tours have to advance the same stuff with us as well.