The feeling you get when you book your first gig is amazing. The excitement and joy can quickly turn into a bit of a panic, as landing your first gig is the best chance to start pushing your band up the ranks in the music world. That means that getting it right is crucial for success!

Gigs are an important marketing platform for musicians and you want to provide the best possible show for your listeners. But what are the key components of a great gig?

Prepare for the Venue

First, you need to know about the venue itself. You might have visited the place yourself or you may have never been there before, but either way extra information never hurts. It’s crucial to visit the place at least in the morning of your gig to have enough time to figure out how your equipment will fit the stage and where the crowd is going to be.

Imagine yourself on stage with the crowds cheering you on. Think how you can best interact with them and if there are some fun facts about the venue you can talk about between songs.

Promote Your Gig Beforehand

Marketing your gig is a crucial part of guaranteeing you can create the right atmosphere at your gig. If you have enough enthusiastic and interested people coming to see you perform, you’ll get more energy from the crowds and will therefore produce a better show. In order to have the right crowds, you need to do marketing.

Blog about the coming gig on your website and make sure you get your existing fans in the area to talk about it. Use the Internet to find local music bloggers or other bands and see if you can get them to promote your gig. Connections like that can be a vital way to ensure more people hear about your band.

Generate Buzz with Advance Tickets

You want to put at least some advance tickets on sale because this can generate more buzz around your show and it’ll commit people to your gig well before the show. Advance tickets often sell slightly cheaper than tickets on door, which can help incentive people to buy them.

Do something a bit different with your ticket campaign. Organise a competition where you also hand out a few free tickets or follow the example of Mötley Crüe. The band has often organised a ticket scavenger hunt in the city they are performing. You could do something similar and provide hints of the ticket locations via Twitter, for example.

Interact with the Crowd

When fans were polled in The Escapist forum, majority of them said the crowd interaction is crucial for a gig to be great. If you are just going to stand there and play, people won’t feel as connected to your performance.

Think of different ways to get the crowd involved. This can be small talk between songs, asking the crowd to perform certain tasks, like waving their hands in the air, or just mingling with the crowd before, during and after the show.

Remember to make the audience feel like an important part of the gig. You want to make sure they know you appreciate them coming to see you and don’t forget to plug in your new album or single!

Rehearse Your Songs to Perfection

Finally, you can’t organise a great gig if your music is not good. Don’t start booking gigs for your band until you are sure your talents are up for it. You don’t want to ruin your chances by playing semi-rehearsed songs.

It’s a good idea to film your rehearsals and see what you sound and look like live. You might also want to organise a preview gig to just a few honest friends and family members to get some feedback on the performance.

Make sure you rehearse both the songs, so that you won’t make noticeable mistakes, but also give some though to the actual performance as well. This will give you much more confidence and it will guarantee you rock the show.

The above tips will help you create the best gig. And if you want to add a bit more tricks to your repertoire, you can check out our video lessons to practice your guitar playing skills.

Musicians are famous for their crazy on-stage antics. Kurt Cobain once hit a guy with a guitar and Ozzy Osbourne allegedly bit off a bat’s head. But not everything goes smoothly on the stage and there have been some horrific injuries throughout the years.

Here are the top five rock and roll injuries that should act as a warning for newcomers!

Keith Richards Nearly Gets Electrocuted

Keith Richards is definitely one of the grand old masters of rock ‘n’ roll and you can’t compile any sort of list without including him. His rugged looks show he has been through quite a few tumbles in his life, but his near electrocution in 1965 is perhaps one of the most famous.

Richards accidentally bumped his guitar into a microphone stand and the heavy voltage caused him to fly across the air into the crowd. He was briefly knocked unconscious and afterwards thanked his supposed supernatural healing powers for recovery.

Frank Zappa Smashed on Concrete

Musicians have a reputation of being lucky with the ladies, but it doesn’t always go down well when the woman happens to be dating already! Frank Zappa had the unfortunate luck of getting in the middle of a relationship drama when a ‘fan’ thought this superstar was flirting with his girlfriend during the show in 1971.

The angry boyfriend rushed on the stage and threw Zappa onto the concrete pit below. Zappa suffered a number of injuries from fractures to crushed larynx, proving once more that jealousy is not a pretty thing.

Michael Jackson’s Hair On Fire

Although this injury didn’t take place during a gig, it is still one of the most famous rock and roll injuries of all time – naturally as it happened to the King of Pop himself.

Michael Jackson was shooting a Pepsi commercial in 1984, when his hair caught aflame during a pyrotechnic stunt gone wrong. The firebombs went off too early and ended up lighting up Jackson’s hair. It’s reported that Pepsi had to pay $1.5 million in compensation, which Jackson donated later to a medical centre.

Krist Novoselic Pumps Himself in the Head

Faulty equipment and angry ‘fans’ are not always to blame for injuries. Nirvana bassist ended up hurting himself during the Video Music Awards in 1992. During the band’s performance of the hit song ‘Lithium’, he threw his bass guitar into the air with the aim of catching it; unfortunately, it hit him on the head instead.

Not everything was a disaster though; as Novoselic later reminisced enjoying a glass of champagne with Queen-legend Brian May after the medics stitched him up. How very rock ‘n’ roll!

Patti Smith Breaks Her Back

Men rockers aren’t the only ones to have ended up suffering from rock and roll injuries. The punk legend Patti Smith had such a bad fall during a gig in 1977 that she ended up with a broken back, which still causes problems to her to this day.

Patti was rocking on stage when she tripped on a monitor and fell a staggering 14 feet, breaking two of her vertebrae. Although bad mouths have suggested the punk rocker was on drugs at the time, Patti has told she just didn’t have enough space on stage for her usual energetic performance, as the crew had crammed the stage with equipment.

Rock and roll lifestyle is definitely not easy or pain-free! So, remember to practice well and prepare for the worst if you are planning to get on stage in the near future.

There’s plenty of money involved when it comes to the music industry and ever since the launch of MTV, bands and artists have focused on creating amazing music videos to boost the sale of the albums. Quite interestingly, the list of the world’s most expensive music videos is controlled by the King and Queen of Pop – Michael Jackson and Madonna.

Michael and Janet Jackson – Scream – Original Cost £4.6 million

It’s no surprise that Michael Jackson holds the spot for the most expensive music video of all time, as the King of Pop was the first to truly revolutionise video making. This collaboration with his sister Janet was set in a spaceship and a staggering 64 million people saw it on its premier on ABC’s Primetime Live.

Madonna – Die Another Day – Original Cost £4 million

Music videos for songs from the Bond franchise are always quite a big spectacle and when Madonna made the song for the Die Another Day movie, it ended up becoming one of the most expensive videos of all time. The video had plenty of action and references to past Bond movies.

Madonna – Express Yourself – Original Cost £3.3 million

At the time of filming, the video for Express Yourself was the most expensive video ever and it was inspired by the famous film Metropolis and directed by the great David Fincher. The video is typical Madonna, artistic and sexual.

Madonna – Bedtime Story – Original Cost £3.3 million

Surprise, surprise, the next song on the list is yet another Madonna video. The video featured at movie theatres across New York City, Santa Monica and Chicago, and its even part of a permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The video itself is once again a typical Madonna video with plenty of artistic poses and sexy shots.

Michael Jackson – Black or White – Original Cost £2.6 million

Michael Jackson makes another appearance on the list with the video for the lead single from his Dangerous album. The video is a big, epic journey around the world and the original video lasts an impressive 11-minutes. It premiered on a number of music channels simultaneously, with an estimated 500 million people tuning in.

Guns ‘n’ Roses – Estranged – Original Cost £2.6 million

The first band on the list is the famous rock ‘n’ roll group, Guns ‘n’ Roses. The video is the last instalment in their video trilogy, with the previous two videos made for the hit songs Don’t Cry and November Rain. Estranged is a typical rock ‘n’ roll video, with plenty of zooming during guitar riffs and the original video lasted for an impressive 9 minutes.

Aqua – Cartoon Heroes – Original Cost £2.3 million

Perhaps the most surprising entry on the list is by the Danish pop group Aqua. The band is most famous for the pop tune Barbie Girl, which, depending on your taste, is either a lovely song or an irritating earworm. Nevertheless, their song Cartoon Heroes was an impressive video with a costly production.

Music video heydays took place in the 80s and 90s and although there are many impressive and costly-looking videos these days as well, the production costs have come down quite a bit. The rise of Youtube stars has shown that you don’t need more than a computer, some guitar skills and a basic video editing program and you can upload your own, impressive music videos for the world to see! Therefore, it’s very likely that Jackson and Madonna will hold on to their top spots for a long time to come.

The lovely thing about music is that it’s much more than just listening to songs or practicing to play an instrument. There’s so much history and interesting stories to hear as well and podcasts are the best way to immerse yourself in everything music has on offer.

Whether you are an aspiring musician or just passionate about music, these five podcasts are worth adding to your ‘to listen’-list. You are guaranteed to laugh, learn and discover new music through these shows.

Sodajerker on Songwriting

You might think that Sodajerker is only aimed at musicians, but the interesting tales of how artists put songs together are fascinating even if you aren’t inspired to do the same. The podcast is created by two songwriters, Simon Barber and Brian O’Conner, who interview other musicians about the process of creating a song from nothing.

It’s interesting and offers plenty of insight in how differently artists can operate. You’ll enjoy plenty of laughs and painstakingly emotional moments with the podcast.

Coverville

Let’s be honest, cover songs aren’t always the most enjoyable things to listen to, but the Coverville podcast manages to surprise. The podcast features new versions of the old classic tunes and most of the times the versions are quirky and fresh.

You’ll also get the information of who made the cover and how to find it. If you are passionate about classics, but looking for something a bit different, then this podcast is going to be a positive surprise.

100% Homegrown with Target

The BBC has plenty of fantastic music podcasts, but if you had to listen to just one, you should make it the 100% Homegrown with Target. The podcast is all about new talent and it gives a fantastic platform for artists to get themselves known.

The podcast is focused on black British music, with the podcasts being just quick four-minute snippets. It’s the perfect way to start your day and a great dream for musicians looking to make it big one day.

Tacos and Chocolate Milk

If you are interested in knowing about the not-so-glamorous side of the music industry, then Tacos and Chocolate Milk is a must-listen show. The podcast is hosted by two New York City MCs, who talk about what it’s like to be part of the industry, when you’re doing music as a side job and you have bills to pay.

The podcast doesn’t typically have any music, but the stories are fun and raw. As the hosts work in the rap scene, the podcast is especially great for people who enjoy the genre, but you’ll love it even if you aren’t a huge rap fan.

The Epileptic Gibbon

For an all-around fun show with plenty of music and interesting stories, The Epileptic Gibbon is a fantastic show to listen to. The podcast has been going on for a number of years now, which is a testament to its professional nature.

You’ll hear music from a variety of genres, with the focus being on smaller, independent labels. But if you like the big hits, you will occasionally hear them as well! The podcast is a lot of fun, so you should give it a listen this year.

There’s plenty of amazing music podcasts out there, but the above five are definitely our favourites. You can learn a lot from the shows, if you are an aspiring musician learning the ropes, or just have a good time with new music and inspiring stories!

The start of the New Year is always a great time to get in shape. But breaking the resolution of working out regularly is all too easy, as it can be hard staying motivated during the cold winter season. But luckily, music can act as a great motivational tool and help you get back in shape before the summer sun comes back!

Here’s a list of five great albums you should add on your playlist when you are ready to hit the gym.

Gorillaz – Demon Days

There’s something weirdly upbeat in the dark and quirky sound of Gorillaz. The album is a masterpiece on its own, but it works especially well when you are working out. The mix of classic tunes and modern, electronic sound creates the perfect balance and the lyrics are just an icing on the cake.

If you don’t feel like going for a jog in the morning, then put on Feel Good Inc. and you’ll soon find just the right pace to run to. The songs are perfect for a quiet run or while you are lifting some weights.

David Guetta – Nothing But the Beat

If you are looking for something suitable for fast-paced cardio workouts, then David Guetta’s electronic tunes are the perfect match. The album is full of songs that will get you up and jumping in no time and your workout sessions will fly by.

You’ll definitely get yourself up from the couch when you put on Sweat and the remix of the song at the end of the album works well! You should also give the track Paris a listen while you are doing an aerobic workout.

Guns ‘n’ Roses – Appetite for Destruction

Something about loud, energetic guitar riffs makes you work a bit harder. If you are looking for a great album to listen to when you are running or pumping iron, then this Guns ‘n’ Roses classic is a must-have.

The album has everything from the upbeat tunes of Sweet Child o’ Mine to the fast-paced Rocket Queen. The album is also a good pick if you are working out together with a mate.

Beastie Boys – Licenced to Il

This Beastie Boys’ classic album is another great soundtrack to work out to. You’ll get heaps of energy from the songs and you’ll end up finishing your gym session with a big smile on your face.

The No Sleep ‘Till Brooklyn is one of our favourites and the song is a great song for pushing yourself just a little further. You can also remind yourself of your workout goals with Fight For Your Right.

Rocky IV Soundtrack

It might sound a bit cheesy and obvious, but something about the Rocky movie music will get you off the sofa. The Rocky IV soundtrack is the original soundtrack for the same movie published in 1985 and it works every time.

If you find going to the gym tough, just put the track Training Montage on and you’ll find your inner survivor. The song is all about great uplifting music that helps you find the right mind-set to go the extra mile. And truth be told, nothing beats Eye of the Tiger when you are close to finishing your workout routine.

The above albums are sure to get you moving and feeling motivated next time you are going to the gym. Music is a great help when it comes to reaching your dreams, so make sure you add the right kind of songs to get you going – even when it’s raining!