The art of assessing artists live. In recent years it has become increasingly easy to overlook, but as an independent label one of the surest ways to connect with an artist you are trying to sign is to see them at one of their shows. Not only will it show the artists just how much you care about them but it’ll give you a great idea as to what their relationship is like with their audiences!
Live performances are for the most part a big chunk of an artist’s career. It’s the time artists can truly connect with their fans, showcase their talent and build lasting reputations outside of their recorded catalogue. Paired with modern technologies that can quickly show you how an artist is trending on various platforms, live performance assessment can ultimately be your red light or green light to taking the jump and singing an artist up.
How To Assess Live Performance –
This section may seem as easy as turning up and enjoying the show, and in some ways it is, but there are steps you can take to make sure you are getting the most out of each show you or your team are going to.
First off, remember that your main purpose is to observe! Not just the band’s performance, but how they interact with the crowd, if they are on stage on time, how they adapt if there are difficulties. These are all elements that will tell you something about an artist. It might be easy for you to get wrapped up in a performance but try to go into every show with as neutral a position as possible. Turning up early to watch support acts is another side to this, who knows, you might discover your next big act through complete coincidence!
Making an effort to make notes as soon as the performance is finished, or even taking video of the performance, will give you a far clearer picture of the performance down the road. You don’t want to go to a night to scout an artist on a Friday night and then get back to work on Monday with a blurry recollection of the entire experience.
The Pros-
As touched on in the introduction, the main positive from live performance assessment is the clear, tangible picture you get of the artist’s potential for growth as a performer. You can also potentially get to have a look at unreleased material, giving you a much clearer picture of the musical direction they are going in over the next 6-18 months.
Also being able to demonstrate an interest in an artist that goes beyond being interested in their current and potential growth and into the art they create is the best way to really connect with whoever you are trying to sign. Not only is does it offer the best way for assessing artists, its the best way for an artists to get a feel for you!
The Cons –
The main point against live artist assessment is simple, it doesn’t show you the whole picture, or anywhere near for that matter. Purely relying on your opinion of an artist’s live performance is an incredibly risky strategy that will rarely lead to repeatable successes down the road. You might get lucky once or twice, but it’s important to see live assessment as a tool to use alongside many other forms of assessment instead of the be all and end all.
Fundamentally, you also don’t learn anything about their recording career. Live performance of course will give you an idea of an artist’s catalogue, but it tells you nothing about the quality of their recordings, or how well they operate during the recording process at all. Some acts can shine live but fall flat in the studio, once again its all about using live assessment as one of many tools.
Lastly, it’s unquestionably the most time consuming form of assessment. As you start off your independent label, saving time and money is as essential as it ever will be, so having to travel to an event and spend hours watching live music, though enjoyable, isn’t the best use for you, purely as a scouting process.
Assessing artists live can be a really appealing side to life at an independent label, and for good reason! Seeing live music and meeting artists might just be the reason you got into the industry in the first place, but being aware of the pitfalls and imperfections of the process will help you streamline your overall artist assessment process moving forward.
If you’ve found this relevant and helpful, visit Instrumental to see how we can help you further grow your label!