Help! I Wanna Play Shows at Weird Places Here's a list to get you started.
Did you know you can play music at movie theaters? Totally.
Chris Robley of The DIY Musician wrote up a great piece about alternative venues: these are types of places–and he lists thirty of them–where your music could happen.
Because you don’t have to be at the mercy of music clubs
If you live in a small town with few (or zero) traditional music venues, or in a region where folks are generally antagonistic towards your genre, then you probably already know the importance of performing in alternative venues.
But even bands in cities with thriving music scenes can benefit from playing in alternative venues once in a while. When you explore performance opportunities outside of the usual circuit of local clubs, you have the potential to:
* play in front of a new (and sometimes “built-in”) audience
* create a special event and atmosphere that is centered around your music
* control the budget, ticket price, logistics, and promotion of the show
* earn money from live performance without “killing your draw”
* experiment with new approaches to your music
* perform songs that don’t fit into your usual set
* sell more merch and build your email list
Tired of playing the same old places? Here are some other performance venues you can try
Below is a list of alternative venues I have played in various solo and band configurations, as well as some unique places where I’ve seen friends perform:
1. Movie theaters — So many performance options: on stage at a historic theater, or in between films during a film festival, or in the lobby as theater-goers purchase tickets. Just wash the popcorn butter off your hands first.
2. Shopping malls — Ya know, like Bieber did. Best of all, they probably have a house piano!
3. Ice-skating and rollerskating rinks, bowling alleys, etc. — You can play a few romantic “couples skate” tunes, can’t you?
Photo by Sam Howzit.
