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Breaking Into The Biz Column in Spill Magazine by Skylar Entertainment’s Diane Foy

Festival Schmoozing – Ready, Set, Network!

Music festivals are amazing opportunities to both showcase your music and network with industry professionals. While as an artist, you are excited about performing your showcase but don’t miss the endless opportunities to network and gain industry knowledge during the conference part of the festivals. Many festivals include panel discussions on artist management, agents, festivals, promoters, labels, promotion, radio, production, copyright, licensing and publishing.

Before the Festival:

• Check out the conference schedule and plan the panels you want to attend.
• Learn about the speakers and the people you may want to meet.
• Check out the schedule for the music festival and learn about some of the bands performing to see who you want to see when you are not performing.
• The more you know about the conference and festival the more you will have to talk about when networking.

@ The Conference:

• There are many panels happening at the same time so you may want to go to a different one than your band mate and compare notes afterwards.
• Sign up for mentoring sessions and/or demo critiques.
• Introduce yourself and ask questions during panel sessions.
• Lots of networking and socializing happens between panels so make friends with people around you when waiting for the next one.
• Be sure to have plenty of business cards, flyers and CDs on hand for those you meet and to leave around the hotel promo tables.
• Have a contest or bet with your bandmates to see who can end the conference with the most new contacts. -You will meet many people so be sure to write on the back of business cards a little about who they were and what you talked about.
• Networking is a two way street, think of ways you can be a resource to others.
• With a scheduled packed day of panels there is not always time for lunch so energy bars or other snacks will come in handy.
• Be useful: be the person with a spare pen, piece of paper, mints, gum, change, lighter, screw driver, sewing kit, band aid, festival schedule, etc.
• Free time? Take a wander around the hotel lobby, see and be seen and talk to people.

@ Your Showcase:

• Hit the audience with a few of your best songs first as festival pros have backup plans and will often only give you a song or two; if you don’t grab them they are off to plan B down the street.
• Introduce yourself often and tell the audience your website or MySpace address.
• Have postcards or other promo (with website address) available near the stage for people to take with them at any time while you are playing.
• Having a strong fan support out for your showcase will work wonders for those new to your band.
• Have fans wear your t-shirts and hand out promo.
• Be available after your showcase to meet people.

@ Festival:

• Support other artists at their showcases.
• Check out bands and shows the people you met during the days suggested.
• Seeing the same people again will increase your own profile and make the contacts you made remember you more.
• There are always private parties happening which can be yet another chance to make some good contacts in a relaxed atmosphere.
• Drinking can be a big part of these festivals, however, be careful not to overdo it and end up making a bad impression instead of a good one.

After Festival:

• Follow up with a thank you note to organizers of the conference & crew of your showcase.
• Organize the business cards you collected and separate the ones you need to do more than follow up with an e-mail with. -If you said you would send a CD or package to some contacts do that right away with a note reminding them of your meeting. Call about two weeks later to follow up on packages sent.
• Schedule any meetings discussed with people you connected with.
• For fellow bands or musicians it is okay to connect via social networking sites.
• Follow up with an e-mail all other contacts with various personalized notes.
• Look through and read any magazines or materials you were given during the conference.
• Look up any websites or companies you discovered during the conference that might be helpful.
• Plan your follow up shows and the next music festival.

Music conferences and festivals are ton of fun, however, if music as a career is your goal than be sure to put the work in to learn as much as you can and make the most of every opportunity available. See you out there!

- Diane Foy, Skylar Entertainment
www.skylarentertainment.ca