Once again, this particular issue is not unique to Cyprus, but I have noticed that the way that gigs are promoted to the public can be particularly bad here. I also think there are MANY elements that need to be addressed in this problem.
Let's start with the age old problem of "it's their job to promote the show!" It is the old passing the buck problem. Bands think promoters and venues should be doing the work of getting people in the doors and the promoters/venues think it is the bands' job to 'bring their crowd' on the night... Right! Both things are needed to make a trully successful gig.
Bands should absolutley be working to get their established audience to get them to EVERY gig. They should also be trying to expand that audience in any way they can. Meaning, keep your band's name and image in people's minds as much as possible. We'll look at some other specifics on how to do this at another time.
As for promoting specific gigs, bands/promoters/venues should not rely solely on posting their gigs to their 'friends' on the likes of Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace! Doing that should be a given, but that IS NOT ENOUGH. And just posting it once or making an 'event' doesn't cut it either. Unfortunately, the social networks have UPGRADED their services to the point of them being almost useless for our purposes. Just because you post an event, there is no guarantee that even YOUR FRIENDS will see it. One possible solution is to post the event as much as possible on your wall, as an event, and in every group you are a member of as often as you can. The risk there though is annoying your potential audience so much that they delete you from their friends list or simply hide you and your posts.
The goal is to get people to know about your event and want to attend. It is good to be in their face, as it were, but it is not good to make them feel smothered by your presence. It may seem a bit old fashioned, but building and maintianing a mailing list (email) is a much better way of making sure people will actually see that you are doing something.
One of the (in my opinion) biggest curses of the modern era of the internet is that bands/venues/promoters have learned to depend on them as their main, if not only, means of promoting gigs. However, I think that some of the old fashioned tools of promotioning are being neglected at the detriment of crowd size for live music performances.
Granted, it is not cost efective to rent a billboard for every single gig, but making posters to put up around town in shop windows, on light posts, bus stops, etc. (I see plenty for Dance clubs and DJ based events) and making flyers to put all around (car windows, in shops, handing them out at other gigs and at the venue of the actual gig) makes the gig seem more real. It can also create a sense of importance for the gig as having something tactile for people to take with them as a reminder has value as a PART OF THE EVENT. I know plenty of folks who collect gig flyers, but I have yet to meet anyone who collects facebook posts. (go on, prove me wrong)
On the internet, I suggest an early announcement, then a few REMINDER announcements as the date approaches. BE CAREFUL NOT TO OVER DO IT THOUGH!
For the non-net stuff I suggest an ealy first wave of posters and a smattering of flyers to get the ball rolling. Then as the gig gets closer do it again but a little heavier. Then again and again. Posters are great for this as they (if you are lucky) might stay up for people to see until the show and sometimes after. The good thing about posters and flyers is that people tend to find you over doing it as WAY less annoying than the internet thing. Also, be sure to spread the posters and flyers around as much as possible. Making 1000 flyers then sticking them in your local barber shop isn't really going to get you what you want. You have to take this to the people as the people won't come to you!
If you can only manage 1 wave, my best advice is to swamp the area about 2 weeks before the gig.
It is also worth trying to exploit other avenues of promotion such as getting the band an interview on a local radio show or perhaps television program. This will probably not be possible for every gig, but when you can do it, DO IT!
EXAMPLE: VENUE NAME - Mon. Band A, Band B, Band C. Thurs. Kareoke Fri. Band X, Band Y, Puppet show Sat. Band G, Band Z Sun. BBQ & open mic
Could we make this happen here, please? Is there an existing weekly publication we could try to get to play along or do we need to MAKE ONE? I'd be willing to do what I can to get it going...
Until such time that we achieve that goal, find any and every print publication you can that will give you a little space to advertise events, and USE THEM!
I am sure that people in bands, venues, and promoters themselves can also come up with unique and creative ways of getting people's attention (inspiring their imaginations) in order to get people out to the shows. All of you, get creative, make every gig out to be AN EVENT, A HAPPENING, SOMETHING TO NOT BE MISSED and promote the HELL OUT OF IT! Actually, by making all of the gigs EVENTS maybe we can make the concept of going and seeing bands the THING TO DO again.
Then maybe we can have more shows with more bands and slightly cheaper entrance costs and even more people bringing in more money to keep this monster alive!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bwahahahahahahahah! Oh, sorry, maybe we'll get into that concept next time.
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