Music Showcases: 5 Secrets to Stand Out as a New Music Artist

Music Showcases: 5 Secrets to Stand Out as a New Music Artist

Music showcases are a great opportunity to showcase your music and talents to new audiences and music industry professionals. When you get a slot, here’s a quick outline of how to prepare a strong set, dress the part, prep your performance banter and prepare for networking and follow-up.

Using this outline will help you stand out among the other artists and hopefully attract some new opportunities for your career. Take your preparation seriously and it will pay off for you! I’ve helped thousands of artists prep for these showcases and create opportunities for them. One of them got signed right from the stage at a Sundance Film Festival showcase!

• A Strong Set List
• Dress the Part
• Prep Your Performance
• Banter Ahead of Time
• Networking
• Follow Up

1. A Strong Set List

It’s important to have a very strong setlist. Songs that have a high performance dynamic should be uptempo to mid-tempo, keeping the energy strong and high to keep the audience’s attention. If you are more of a ballad artist, then choose your most uptempo songs.

• Showcase sets are usually around 30 minutes long. In a 30-minute set, plan for 7 songs.
• Keep your tempos moving from mid-tempo to uptempo (no ballads). People are generally easily distracted at conferences and to keep their attention you want to create a super dynamic set. Start and end with a bang.
• Choose songs with strong melodies and vocal high points so your voice can stand out. Don’t choose songs where the choruses are low or have no high notes as these won’t be as dynamic.
• Covers and originals. You may want to throw in a cover or two depending on the nature of your showcase. Covers help the audience warm up to you because everyone loves a great cover (choose super well-known covers). If the performance is strictly to showcase you as an artist, then only throw in one cover. But if it’s to also entertain the crowd, a few more will warm them up to you!

Important note: Only show your very best material. It’s tempting to try new material but it is not recommended because the songs you sing should already be worked into your voice in order to perform at your very best. You want to feel super comfortable and sing songs that you know you can nail!

2. Dress the Part

First impressions last. Dress for the occasion and choose clothing for the stage that makes you feel confident and stands out. You are selling the whole package at these performances and you want to give special attention to clothing that creates a vibe and exciting visual experience for the audience.

3. Prep Your Performance Banter Ahead of Time

Keep performance banter clever and short. Best to work out 1-2 lines before a few of the songs that are catchy, memorable, and engaging.

Here’s an example of how I would arrange what songs I intro and examples of what you can say. Keep it brief but addressing the audience.

• Song 1 – no banter intro, just start playing!
• Song 2 – go right into song two with no talking
• Song 3 –
  • Quick intro: “Hi everyone, I’m [Name}, it’s great to be here. So great to see you [Los Angeles – or name of town!]
  • Quick intro to song: I wrote this next song when I was [Ex: down in the dumps over a breakup-it helped me recover] —
• Song 4 – go straight into with no talking
• Song 5 – quick song intro: “This song is about xxxx”
• Song 6 – quick song intro: “I wrote this song when xxxx”
• Song 7 –
  • Close: “It’s been great to be with you!” “What a great audience!” “Thanks for sharing this moment with me!” “I’d love to meet you so please come say hi!”
  • Final song: “This is for all of the brave hearts out there – I love you all!”

4. Networking

Before the event, do some research. Look at the conference lineup and see what industry people will be there. Research them to see who aligns with you. Do you like the artists they work with? Make some notes about their work history. For the ones that resonate – reach out to them a few weeks prior to the event to introduce yourself and invite them to your showcase.

If you can get there a few weeks before the event, have meetings and do media promo prior (people don’t usually stick around after). This can be a great way to make connections before the event and generate a buzz for your showcase.

These events are prime networking and social events to meet people, so if you have people with you, whether that’s a manager or bandmates, it helps to have other people building a buzz and getting people to your showcase. Just because you’re on the bill doesn’t mean there will be people in attendance at your performance.

When you’re not playing, go and meet people, including other bands and industry people. Attend the conference and learn about new ideas and concepts within the industry.

5. Follow Up

Collect business cards so you can follow up. If you can, take a selfie with that person so you remember who they are (it’s easy to forget).

Make a plan to follow up via email. You are responsible for following up with people who came to see the showcase or whom you met there.