Often, as promoters we focus so much on the top rated artists that we forget a fundamental part: the opening act.

And why is this such a relevant aspect? You will ask yourself. For many reasons:

A good selection of openers can attract a large audience. If you know how to identify those who are really working on their music, spreading it and growing, they will be the first to reach out to everyone that your show exists.

All the great artists were openers at the time. Take care of them, grow with them. They deserve it and so do you.

They are an unequivocal contribution of value for your event. They bring incredible musical quality to your event and warm up your audience before the big stars.

In general, with the opening act, everything is much easier. They are willing to help with the backline, with transportation, to make accommodation facilities easier, to help you with information of any kind, etc.

The opening acts are usually local. This means that they know many people in the location of your event. Use this to get information about your target audience.

How to get good opening acts

• Attend to the quality of your live music. It is what is most important, since it is the indicator of whether it will satisfy the public of your event, of whether the opening act will continue to grow and whether it really deserves to share your stage with bigger artists.
• Although they are small, take a good look at their growth in recent months. The relationship between assistance and digital presence of the opening act is not the norm with large artists, since the opening act tends to pull their friends and acquaintances. I have known openers capable of selling many tickets by inviting their entire circle. However, this is difficult to measure, pay attention to point 4 of this list.
• It provides stylistic variety. Select supporting artists that will be liked by the audience of your main artist, not only artists of the same style as your headliner.
• Check out his other events. Small artists accept all kinds of shows, and if they’ve performed 4 times in the last 2 months, they may not bring anyone to your show. This does not have to be bad if they are good with their music and your accounts are already with your great artists. The contract with the opening act would include the condition of not being able to play in the city in the three months prior to the event.
• See their interactions on social networks. Sometimes, even if the artist is small, he has the support of all his friends and friends of friends. This usually has representation in likes and comments on Facebook and Instagram, as well as in their YouTube videos.
• Make a list with the opening acts to consider and rate all these values. It seems tedious, but it will only take you several hours and can make a big difference to your show.