Not all shows are created equal. Some shows are better than others for an indie act and some shows are worse. Understanding the difference between them and the role that they all play can make a huge difference in how you approach booking and playing live.

It’s a false belief that you must tour nationally as a new band in order to make a name for yourself. While it’s true that you will end up having to tour nationally at some point, it can actually be counter-productive to attempt a national tour without laying the groundwork in you local area first. [...]

Here’s a fun article that I found on practicing on the street and getting paid as a street musician and getting paid for it. If you don’t already know, I live just outside New York and have seen street musicians all of my life. A recent development (within the past few years anyway) has been [...]

Have you ever faced your time to shine, and felt overcome with an intense hesitation or worry about an upcoming performance? As the time nears for you to address your audience, do you suffer from sweaty palms? Is there a lump in your throat? Do you experience tremors, tension, stuttering, upset stomach or loss of [...]

I received an e-mail with a request for a post. It’s from Dan, a member of the NY/NJ based band Havoc Effect [dead link removed]. Dan writes: Hey man, love the blog, read it everyday (thanks to my RSS feed). I was hoping you can address the topic of a Rider, and when to use [...]

While we here at RockStar Machine are really trying to make the point that the most important thing that you can do to promote your music is to play live as often as possible, some of you may be new to the scene and not know how to book a gig. Heather McDonald over at [...]

Have you ever seen a show where the singer gives a high energy performance and come back in after a solo completely out of breath? Panting, they make their way through the rest of the song and seem to have a lot of difficulty with their vocals. Maybe they tone it down for the rest [...]

We’re kind of used to musicians being referred to as “artists” in a live situation. The truth is that while a musician might be an artist in the songwriting stage of the musical process, they aren’t really creating when they perform. The ability to perform is a more a skill than an art; much like [...]

The best part about growing a following is that it helps to prepare you as a performer. Starting small is like an education, in that you can improve in tiers as your fan base expands. Few people have the ability to get up in front of people with no fear from the start. The vast [...]

When starting out, growing a following can seem like an impossible task. If you play it smart, however, it’s actually much simpler than it appears. As we’ve stated before, it is hard in that you must play a lot of shows and make sure that you get your name and music out there, but the [...]