Why Every Musician Needs Photos and Videos of Their Gigs

You’ve been working hard, preparing for your big night. You’re worried your guitarist might be late. Well, here’s another thing to worry about. Too many artists look over this important detail. Without photos and videos, did your gig even happen? Check out these three reasons below why your next gig should have a content person present.

1. Not all of your fans can make it to your gig. Invite them to join a live-stream.

While concerts are probably the best way possible to connect with fans directly, they happen at a specific time and place. Your fans probably admire you, but the weather and forgetful fans are your greatest obstacles to maximizing your time with them. Luckily, we live in an era where live-streaming is possible. It is as simple as grabbing your phone or tablet, putting it one of these incredibly affordable tripods, and hitting ‘Go Live’ on on either Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube. Now fans all over the world can tune in to experience you live. In addition, you’ll gather valuable data on who is interested in your music by looking at who watched your live-stream. This will enable you to personally follow up and thank fans for tuning in, and then you can invite them to attend your next gig in person perhaps.

2. Review Your Craft and Improve Stage Presence

One of the main reasons many performers decide to record their performances, is to review their craft and stage presence. Time flies when you’re playing, and you might interpret things differently than your audience does. By recording yourself, you (and your band) can be more objective. Best is to setup the camera so that the audience is visible as well or at least audible. That way you’ll be able to review what worked well, and what didn’t. Always review footage a couple of days after your gig. It’s important to give yourself some time to digest.

3. Re-Purpose the Content

Lastly, you probably already know that content is king. Why not grab as much quality content as possible during your gig? You can hire a photographer/videographer, or ask a friend to record two or three of your preferred songs. This content will serve you well down the road. From Facebook cover photos to Instagram Stories, live performance content is great because it shows fans what you do.

As you can see, a picture really is worth a thousand posts. With the right strategy, you can optimize your live performances to take your career to the next level. If none of your friends can help, you can always post in a local Facebook group or ask your musician friends for photographer/videographer recommendations. Happy gigging!