There's a lot to be gained from taking time to talk with other musicians and music lovers who have a similar musical style/opinion to your own.

Networking often occurs in 5 different ways

• Musician to Musician
• Musician to Promoter
• Musician to Music Lover
• Musician to Press
• Musician to Businessman

Networking in Today's Society

Since Myspace began in 2003, musicians all over the world have been creating profile pages to promote their music, meaning that networking has become easier than ever. With Facebook increasingly in popularity, the act of meeting new musicians and finding new music is effectively being handed over on a plate. Bands can create music pages' where others can 'like' their page and therefore be updated regularly with the band's latest happenings.

Music lovers only have to login to Facebook and within a few clicks can find new music they will of never have heard before. There are also "group pages" where like-minded musicians can join and be updated with information from bands that need new members, gig opportunities and more. There are over 5,000 other social networks, including Twitter and the recently unveiled Google +.

Unfortunately, this advancement in the 'Internet Age' has made networking among musicians a lazy task. No longer do musicians have to put up flyers in their local music shops, venues or rehearsal rooms to find new band members or gigs. Aside from a live show, little effort often goes into promoting a band further than their Facebook page.

How musicians can do both, to maximize their resources and promote their music to a larger number of people.

Obviously, this does not always apply to all bands and musicians. It would be unfair to tar every band with the same brush, but if only all could make more of an effort and go past the boundaries of Facebook promotion then we may be able to see a revival of original bands overtaking the music charts and taking music back, putting it in the hands of the artists - instead of the businessmen.

A great way of networking is attending gigs in your hometown. Supporting your local music scene and networking at this basic level can often be most effective, especially for bands who are just starting out. Attending gigs and communicating with the bands, promoters and even the sound-men is networking at the most simple basic level. It can also be the most effective!

Conclusion

To become a successful musician you must work hard to maintain a high level of networking - simply put, you get back what you put in. It's not difficult to network; after all it is just making friends with those who have a similar love for music as you do. The more people are of your band, the more likely you are to be asked to play gigs.

When thinking about networking always remember

• Don't be close-minded - take other ideas onboard and see how they can suit your band.
• Be yourself - people will see straight through you if you try and become something you're not.
• Use all the resources possible.
• Attend local gigs, talk to bands and promoters!

Further Reading

www.lastminutemusicians.com/how_to_get_gigs/

www.lastminutemusicians.com/articles/