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Bands & Recording Artists

Free for bands · 40 page PDF

The Band Launch Kit

Seventeen songs on building a following that shows up, and launching the fan club that keeps them. The plans, the scripts and the checklists, free and yours to keep.

  • 17 songs
  • 14 scripts
  • 50 ideas
  • 5 checklists
The cover of The Band Launch Kit: a concert stage under pink and amber lights, a crowd in silhouette, and an all access laminate that reads Your band here.

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Your name and email, then the download. No account needed.

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Inside the kit

  • The fan ladder
  • Thirty days to doors
  • Release and tour plans
  • Fourteen scripts
  • Five checklists

What's inside

Tonight's set list

Seventeen songs in four sets, the way the kit lays them out. Read it front to back once, the way you'd play a set. Then keep it next to the laptop.

Set oneSoundcheck

  1. Song 01: Know Your Sound A one line pitch, three words and a one pager the whole band fills in, so every fan describes you the same way.Starts on page 5
  2. Song 02: The Fan Ladder Six zones from the line outside to side stage, and the one thing worth asking for in each.Starts on page 7
  3. Song 03: Get Found loud!Clips that stop the right stranger in two seconds, and six more doors into the room.Starts on page 9

Set twoDoors

  1. Song 04: Home Base Rent the stage, own the house: every platform points home, starting with the link in your bio.Starts on page 12
  2. Song 05: Pick Your Wristbands A free tier that lets anybody in, one most fans say yes to, and one for the people who want everything.Starts on page 14
  3. Song 06: Fill the Room 50 ideasFifty things to put in your fan club, most of them already on your phone.Starts on page 16
  4. Song 07: Thirty Days to Doors the big oneA day by day plan for launching your fan club, and the run of show for launch night.Starts on page 18

Set threeOn Tour

  1. Song 08: Every Week A small rhythm you can keep on your worst week, because people cancel when it goes quiet.Starts on page 21
  2. Song 09: Release Day An eight week release story that starts in the fan club, and the listening party the night before.Starts on page 22
  3. Song 10: On the Road Every show is a recruiting night: tell the fan club first, then pitch it from the stage.Starts on page 24
  4. Song 11: The List Where the email addresses come from, and three welcome emails for every new paying member.Starts on page 26
  5. Song 12: Superfans singalongNine levels named after a night at the venue, and a street team with links of their own.Starts on page 28
  6. Song 13: Follow the Money What a few hundred fans are worth, beside the same money in streams.Starts on page 30

EncoreThe Toolkit

  1. Song 14: Check the Levels Five numbers, fifteen minutes every Friday, and what to try when one is low.Starts on page 33
  2. Song 15: Feedback Eight ways fan clubs stall, and the fix for each.Starts on page 34
  3. Song 16: Steal These Scripts copy theseFourteen scripts with the blanks highlighted, from the bio line to the founding fan message.Starts on page 35
  4. Song 17: Load Out tape to wallEvery step as a checklist, with a blank for whose job it is. Print it and tape it to the wall.Starts on page 38
Every song ends on a featureSee the fan club this kit buildsEach chapter closes with the MemberPad feature that does the job. Our page for bands shows them all working together, for a band we made up. Tour the fan club

Pages you'll use

Plans you can follow on your worst week

Not a pep talk. Calendars, run sheets, maps and scripts, written for a band with day jobs and a van to load.

Song 02, The Fan Ladder: every fan is standing somewhere in the room. A venue map in six zones, from the line outside and the back of the room to the bar, the floor, the barricade and side stage.

Song 02 The Fan Ladder

Know what to ask for, and when

Picture your audience as a venue on show night, six zones from the line outside to side stage. The kit names the one thing to ask for in each zone, and the mistake most bands make: asking for the wrong thing at the wrong time.

  • Six zones, stranger to superfan
  • One ask per zone, and where to make it
  • Why the room narrows toward the stage
Song 07, Thirty Days to Doors: open the doors like you would drop a record. A thirty day calendar in four weeks, Build the room, Fill it, Founders and Countdown, ending on day thirty, Doors open.

Song 07 Thirty Days to Doors

Thirty days from an empty room to doors open

A fan club launched quietly stays quiet. Week one builds the room, week two fills it, week three brings in your founding fans, week four counts down, and day thirty is launch night, with a run of show down to the minute.

  • A task for every day of the month
  • Twenty founding fans before the doors open
  • Launch night, minute by minute
Song 09, Release Day: release it to the fan club first, then to the world. A timeline from eight weeks out to release day, with what to do everywhere beside what to do in the fan club.

Songs 09 and 10 Release Day and On the Road

Release days and tour nights that grow the club

Release it to the fan club first, then to the world: an eight week story with what to post everywhere and what to post inside, and the listening party the night before. On the road, every show becomes a recruiting night, with a thirty second pitch you say mid set.

  • Eight weeks out to release day
  • The listening party run of show
  • The pitch, taped to the monitor
Song 16, Steal These Scripts: copy, paste, make it sound like you. Scripts for the bio line, the stage pitch, the opening slot pitch, the curator note and the launch post, with the blanks highlighted in pink.

Songs 16 and 17 Steal These Scripts and Load Out

Fourteen scripts. Five checklists. Copy, paste, play.

The encore is built to be copied: the bio line, the stage pitch, the curator note, the launch post, the founding fan message and more, each with its blanks highlighted and a line on why it works. Then the checklists, with a blank for whose job each box is.

  • Fill in the highlighted blanks
  • A note on why each one works
  • Checklists made to print

Case file · a made up band

Meet Low Tide Radio

The kit follows a four piece we invented, so you can watch every step happen. Their fan club lives on our page for bands: seventeen things bands do for their fans, the wristbands at the door, and what a few hundred fans can pay.

Visit their fan club

By the numbers

Forty pages of things to actually do

Most of it is something to say, post, print or switch on this week, with the blanks already marked.

  • 40pages
  • 17songs in four sets
  • 14scripts to copy
  • 5checklists to print
  • 50things to put inside
  • 30days to doors open

What you'll need

  • The phone in your pocketFans want proximity, not polish.
  • About two hours a weekSplit between the band.
  • What you already haveThe songs, demos and photos on your phones and drives.
  • Twenty peopleWho already love what you do.

Flip through

A few more pages from the set

Worksheets to fill in together, ideas to steal tonight, and the numbers worth five minutes every Friday.

  • Your band one pager: a worksheet with blanks for the one line pitch, the three words, what your fans are called and what you will never post.
    Song 01The band one pager, made to print and fill in together
  • Song 05, Pick Your Wristbands: three tiers drawn as wristbands, a free Street Team, a five dollar Inner Circle and a fifteen dollar All Access.
    Song 05Three wristbands at the door, and what goes behind each
  • Song 06, Fill the Room: fifty things to put in your fan club, numbered, from the voice memo a song started as to alternate takes and stems.
    Song 06Fifty things to put in your fan club
  • Song 12, Superfans: nine levels from Walk-up to Legend, with a fan named Maya 340 points from Side Stage.
    Song 12Nine superfan levels, named after a night at the venue
  • Song 14, Check the Levels: five numbers for fifteen minutes every Friday, with what to try when one of them is low.
    Song 14Five numbers to check every Friday
  • Song 15, Feedback: eight common ways a fan club stalls, numbered, each one followed by its fix.
    Song 15Eight ways fan clubs stall, and the fix for each

Free, letter size, and made to print.

Yes. Fill in your name and email and the download is right there on the page, no account needed. It is yours to keep, whether or not you ever start a fan club on MemberPad.

Doors at eight

Get the kit. Then open the doors.

Forty pages, free and yours to keep. When you are ready, the fan club it builds is free to start too, and we only take 9% when a fan pays you.

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Free · 40 pages · letter size PDF