Why Are You Here?
The question that changed how I play every gig. A free 20-minute game for solo acts and bandleaders.
Turn your sound up.
Free. About 20 minutes. Everything in the game is made up: the venues, the people, the money.
Welcome back.
Same act? Let's go. New players, new name or a new instrument? Edit it.
Your skills · in the gig fund
Every act starts with people.
Type your first name first. Lead a band? Add the players you hire most, like your drummer or a sub. Anyone who works your gigs can go on.
Solo or bandleader?
What do you play? Your sound effects play in your instrument.
Names stay on this device. Every lesson uses them.
Name your act. Pick a color.
9:30. The room is empty.
Whose fault is it? Lock it in. We'll come back to it.
I played to an empty room for months.
I was the entertainer on a major cruise line. For my first few months, night after night: empty seats. So I did what a lot of us do. Tap each one.
Down the hall: a packed house. Every night.
- A piano bar entertainer. Packed every night.
- The top seller of bar revenue for the entire cruise line at the time.
- The most charismatic guy I knew at sea. He became my friend.
The original Thriving Musicians logo. That's Rockstar.
The bar sells drinks.
The bar is your customer: it pays you. The crowd are the consumers: they enjoy you. You get paid by the one who pays, for what they need: people in their seats, tapping their feet, ordering another round.
That night it clicked. I set the mood of the room. Building the excitement was MY job: my setlist, my tempo, my mic skills.
"Playing music is a science. Getting people to tap their feet is important."
50 of every 60 minutes: uptempo.
Red: uptempo, feet tapping. Gray: slow. That's the whole hour.
Slow songs like Fire and Rain were killing my room. Now it's 50 of every 60 minutes uptempo.
Friday. The Anchor Room. $250.
Gig fund across every lesson:
Six rules that fill a room.
Flip all six. They're on your checklist.
Write your next first set.
One song per line. Tap U (uptempo) or S (slow) on each. It goes on your checklist.
Your after-lesson checklist.
Clear steps for your next booking. Download it, print it, keep it in your gig bag.
Where should I send it?
Your checklist is built with your act, your crew and your answers. Put in your email and it unlocks right here. I'll also send you the next lesson's first story.
Know Your Number
My first gig paid $5. Next lesson: how to stop competing with the $100 Guy and get booked at your number.