Today’s post is about FUN! The music biz is filled with so many difficult things you have to do daily, sometimes you forget that fun needs to be a part of it.
But “fun” does more than just let you relax, having fun brings more fans to you. If they see you having fun and including them in that fun, your audience will only grow. The atmosphere you build around your music can be just as compelling as your music.
So, below are twenty simple things that create FUN for both you and your fans. You don’t need to do all of them, but doing any one of them will definitely entertain people…at least you’ll be entertained doing it!
#1. Pictures with fans
After your show, take pictures with everybody at the show. Let them know those pictures will be up on your site the next day. If you use Facebook, make sure to allow tagging so they can tag themselves and friends.
#2. One minute YouTube vids
Whenever something strikes you, pull out a phone camera or flip cam and record a video. Just a minute of something you think would be funny, interesting, or just weird, record a one minute video and upload to YouTube. No crazy hours of editing. No high quality microphones. Just have fun and do it.
#3. Make the audience part of the show
Have at least one part of your show where the audience is directly involved. Make it fun and easy. This breaks the monotony of your show and engages everyone.
Peelander Z is great at this. They have “human bowling”. They hand out tons of utensils so the audience can play along with the song. They grab the drumset and put it in the middle of the audience. You are always watching for what comes next.
#4. Dress up like idiots
Every now and then, just be whacky. Have a show that, for no reason, everyone in the band dresses completely bizarre. This adds visual flare to your shows, surprises your normal fans, and allows you to have fun with your own image. Remember how the Red Hot Chili Peppers wore socks on their junk? People still have posters of that…
#5. Candid photos of the band
Being in a band, you will often find one member in a compromising situation. Take a pic and share it with the fans. Drool out of the mouth while sleeping? The singer so drunk you convinced him to wear a tutu? Drunk dude harassing one of the band members all night? Take a photo and include your fans on the weird crap that just happens when you’re in a band.
#6. Dedicate your website to that drunk guy
Everywhere you go, there’s that drunk guy. No matter what city or state, he’s there, waiting for you. He’s going to talk to you non-stop. He’s going to annoy the hell out of you. And the bastard won’t buy a damn piece of merch.
Turn this on its head and photo the hell out of this idiot. Then change the theme to your sites to be dedicated to this dude.
It’ll be a hilarious conversation starter for your fans. Most likely, one or more of them have been annoyed by the same guy and have a story to share.
#7. Fan of the month
Showcase a fan. Reward the guy or gal by putting them on the front of your site and giving them a big shout out. Send them a shirt or make a cheesy acoustic song for them.
#8. Create a silly sideshow at your merch booth
The fun doesn’t have to stop at your stage show. Create fun games at your merch booth where people have a chance to win some special prizes you’ve cooked up. Just be mindful if there’s another band playing.
#9. Prank one of your band members
Create a prank for a band member and let the audience in on it. For instance, hand out band stickers and have random people go up and slap the sticker on the band member’s back. Make it harmless, fun, and let the audience be in on the prank. (If you’re reading this, Kai, yes, it was us putting stickers on your back all weekend.)
#10. Turn your after party into a band video
Being in a band, you end up at some weird after hours parties. Grab your camera and record some of the oddness that goes on. You can then take these videos and create a YouTube music video. Your song plays over this footage.
Your fans will associate this fun with your band and make them want to be a part of your lifestyle.
#11. BBQ!
Grab a keg of beer and fire up the grill! Have a bunch of people over to eat food, have fun, and maybe get a performance. All for free and just for fun. People love to not always have to engage with you in expensive clubs. Who doesn’t like a BBQ?
(Since every band has a vegan member nowadays, make sure there’s a clean grill that isn’t touched by meat.)
#12. Pre-func!
Have fun before your show. Schedule something near where you’re going to play where people can come out and hang before the show. Have a dinner somewhere and invite everyone to join. Invade a McDonald’s play pen. Have a hoola-hoop contest. Whatever you want. Just make it fun and casual.
#13. Invade the living room
Some people hate travelling to clubs to see your band. Others aren’t physically capable of doing so. Make it easy on them and play their living room! Make an acoustic version of your set and entertain them and a small set of their friends.
This is cheesy, fun, and this person will love you for life!
#14. Hang out online
Set aside an hour and create little events to hang out with people online. Use TweetChat and have a twitter conversation. Create a Google+ hangout. Set up a streaming video session for a live chat through Justin.tv or Ustream. Have fun. Talk with people. Be happy virtually hanging with your fans.
#15. Make the fans part of your next music video
Piece together footage of your fans and pop them into your music videos. Or have fans submit webcam videos of themselves singing along with your song and create a video out of that. Or, the next time you’re filming a video, invite your fans to be a part of it as extras.
#16. Scavenger hunt
People love scavenger hunts. Organize a photo scavenger hunt. Everyone gets a list of things they need to photograph and race to be the first to do it. Have merch to give the winners and/or a round of beers.
#17. Theme night
Design a theme night for a show. For instance, have a zombie night. “The Dead get in free. The Living must pay!” People just have more fun when there’s a theme to the evening.
#18. Have fun with people at tables
I was thinking of ways to break the ice with people I don’t know at clubs. Before the show, people are sitting around being bored, waiting for things to start. A great way to have fun with people and introduce yourself is to have something fun to do with them at the tables. For instance, I want to get cheapo fun toys and games and start handing them out to each table. Throw in a sticker of your band and start up a fun conversation.
#19. Car Wash
Heh-heh! I’ve always wanted to do this. I was in a real testosterone driven punk band, and I always thought it would be funny as hell to have a car wash outside a gay bar. I wanted us to wear nothing but speedos, but have sponges attached to our crotches. And we could only wash the cars with our crotches. I wanted it to be the only car wash where your car gets dirtier.
I never did this, though all my gay friends were begging me to do it. One friend knew some club owners and was about to set it up for me. Maybe I need to revisit this idea…
#20. Polls and questions
Polls and questions are super easy to put up on your site. Make the poll about something fun or evocative. Use Facebook Questions. Asking questions really encourages people to interact with you and your site. Every few posts, try a question!
#21…….
So what’s number 21? Share something fun in the comments!
Last Saturday, I was hanging out with a band before their set. I was chatting with the bassist, and we ended up swapping pictures of our obese, lazy cats. It was hilarious, and I had a great time talking to her.
People love swapping photos, so try that out. If you constantly take fun photos and have an iPhone, set up an Instagram account.
Themed photo swaps! Great idea!
Great list! I love the dress up like idiots part.
One of the things I incorporated into my show was to dress the part. I’d run back stage and return with my claws and hat for a song called “Dream Killer,” I wrote about Freddy. Or fangs & blood for the “Light,” a song about a vampire.
I also had a ton of masks that I would pick up at a dollar store, wear for a song, then toss to the crowd. I actually had a few ladies want me to autograph them. hahaha
Other times I would dawn a kilt, paint my face, and jump off stage, running through the venue with a pitcher of beer, filling glasses while screaming “are you with me?” Never underestimate the power of free beer! ;)
Hell yeah! Haha, you have to have some YouTube links for that insanity! That sounds like an awesome fun time! And you beat me on the beer idea! I wanted to make a special bass guitar that could dispense beer to people.
Unfortunately, the internet wasn’t around when I was a touring musician, but I may be able to scrounge up some beta tapes for ya. hahaha
A beer-dispensing bass is a freaking awesome idea!
I’ll dust off my beta player! :)
HA HA HA! I just started reading #9 and was like… “hey… I had stickers slapped on me all week…” and then *bam* there’s my name.
That totally rules!
My plan was much more grandiose than what happened. But my girlfriend and your friends at Slabtown thought it was funny as hell! :)
Re: #14: I hate TweetChat. I get that it’s a fun and easy way to hack Twitter into a realtime chat service, but that completely destroys device updates. I look down at my phone, and I’ve received a bazillion texts and most of them are without context. Just sayin’….
Re: #21: Online social fun — (These involve a friend-of-the-band) Have people at the show tweet using a special hashtag. Project or somehow display the tweets between songs. Or have people post photos of themselves at the show on your favorite social networking site. Project the photos during/between songs. Give awards at the end of the show for the most interesting tweet or photo. You probably should specify that it all must be SFW (or NSFW if you want a bunch of photos of genitals).
Re: #21: New Song! — Get names of people in the audience somehow (maybe walk around and talk to them and get their names). Then while other bands are playing, go into the green room or the back alley and write a song about them. Maybe the music is already written, so you just write new lyrics. Then sing the song on stage! Make sure people’s names are obvious when you sing them. Maybe repeat the name a lot in the chorus. Extra Credit: bring attention to the people you’re singing about. For example, use a wireless mic and go and find those people in the audience and sing right to their face? This could be a challenge.
[Full disclosure: I'm the drummer in Seth's band that passed the "has a drumset" test.]
#14: So…you didn’t like #ggchat blowing up your phone on our trip to Eugene? :) If you don’t want your phone blown up, never follow Amanda Palmer!
#21.1: Someone else suggested this in another blog, and I think it’s a fun idea! Live show updates would be great! It would make people who weren’t there envious and maybe show up the next time.
#21.2: Holy crap. You’re going to make me do this in Shiplosion, aren’t you? Damn, that’s going to be a challenge! Okay, no drinking before our shows!
These suggestions are awesome! Thanks, Kai! I’m looking forward to us fucking killing it at our first show of 10 people! And I await the payback for the “sticker” incident…
There are some great ideas here. A lot of them are things I’ve been thinking about anyway. Just ways to set the band apart. There are so many bands out there these days, so many people do it as hobbies, that you have to work hard to set yourself apart. Great bands are a dime a dozen where I live (in the Tampa Bay area of Florida). You’ve got to make yourself stand out somehow.
Definitely need to stand out! The bands that stick out most in my mind have been the ones that not only rock, but also engage the audience both on and off stage. They are just really nice, interesting people that create a connection with those around them.
So I would say sticking out, but also really connecting with people on a personal level.
AWESOME list here Seth, don’t know how I missed this before… Id love to add just one more to the list you all have going here:
Crowd-sourced ‘Fan’ Photo Album: I’ve seen a few bands and artists do this and it always works very well. What you do is this; release merch or an new music download and then tell all of your fans to upload pictures of themselves directly to your Facebook fan page, either wearing the merch or holding an iPod that is currently playing the music, or something to that effect (you get the picture). Then you take all of the pictures and create an official ‘fan’ photo album featuring all of these pictures and have your fans tag themselves in it. Its a simple and fun way to get your fans engaged and to further push the sense of belonging and community throughout your fan base.
Great one! I love that suggestion! Fun and easy to do. Thanks, Jon!
#4 STOP STEALING OUR SHTICK! (just kidding of course)
I love you, Morgan! And it’s such a great shtick to steal! I’ll definitely rip off your guys’ act!
Good list of stuff. Not sure every drummer would be up for putting their drum kit in the middle of the audience though!
Not saying every band should do that! Haha! But Peelander Z is a special band. :)
one band i know had a scavenger hunt but instead of finding objects, you had to find the bass player as he walked around your town tweetin his locations.. first 2 people to find him got free tickets to the show that night.
another singer i know, takes photos on stage, of the audience (usually while the band plays) and uploads them to twitter on the spot or later after the show. Those of us not at the show get to see in real time nearly, what is happening at teh show, and often see some of the internet friends in the audience.
Find the bassist! Excellent scavenger hunt idea! Just make sure it’s not the drummer who does it, though. The drummer is rarely aware of where they are at and will quickly forget they are part of a scavenger hunt. (I’m going to get my ass kicked by a group of drummers one of these days.)
Taking photos and uploading to twitter on stage: This one I heard as a recommendation before. I’d need to see it to be convinced of how it affects the stage show. I think it’s great to interact during the show, especially to get photos of the audience, but I think I might get turned off seeing the singer playing with his cell phone throughout the set. Again, I’d need to see it in order to know. …or experiment with it at one of my shows! :)
Not only that, but no one would WANT to find the drummer! (Who’s the drummer?)
Actually, I was envisioning Warning:Danger’s drummer. I could totally see him forgetting he was on the scavenger hunt and start visiting random pubs. It would be an extremely difficult scavenger hunt to find him!
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