Each music scene has its unique world with musicians, history, and local venues. It is natural to want to be part of the local music scene. Musicians who fail to grow beyond their local scene limit their chances of success and their creativity. It’s not easy to establish an identity beyond your local music scene, but it is essential to reach large audiences.
Do not settle for success in your local area.
It can be very exciting for new or unestablished bands to achieve success in a local music scene. The signs of momentum in a scene include opening for national acts, being featured in local media and headline shows at local venues. When bands become too comfortable with being the big fish in their small music scene ponds, the problem is that. You can be well-known and loved by your local music fans, but not to anyone else. This is fine. However, if you have bigger music career goals than local success, you will need to plan to be involved outside your home.
Plan smart, sustainable tours
It’s one of the best ways to break into your local scene. But it’s not always easy. If you don’t tour enough, your efforts won’t have much impact. Too often and you run the risk of becoming burnt out, getting into debt and not being able to create new music. It is important to set realistic long- and short-term goals. Once you have established your goals, match them with smart, sustainable travelling. Smart, sustainable touring is about routing tours around the areas where your music will be most successful. It would help if you didn’t spend months on the road playing at every venue that hosts you. It will take time to break out of your local scene. You need to keep this in mind as you plan a long-term strategy to establish a presence beyond your local area.
Make great music and promote it throughout the country.
Without great music, you won’t be able to break out nationally. You can use touring to build a reputation in your area and elsewhere. It will not be worthwhile if your music doesn’t make a lasting impression. Your top priority should be creating great music. It would be best if you made it a priority to pitch your work to people who can help you find career-changing opportunities. These people could be sync agents, music directors at radio stations, or playlist curators. It takes time, and you will get silence far more often than you receive yes or no replies. This is an important part of reaching a national audience for your work.
You can create great work, pitch endlessly, and still not be able to break into your local scene. If you only care about the success of your local music community, you might not find the music you are looking for. Finding true joy in music-making is the only way to achieve success. If you are strategic about creating great music and sharing it with others, you will have the best chance of building a meaningful career beyond your local scene.