This is the definitive guide to selling live stream tickets and maximizing your virtual show’s viewership, payout, and fan tips.
Not sure where to start? Are you having a hard time figuring out the best promo plan for your live stream show? Today I’m going to show you exactly what to do.
As the founder of MyAfton LiveStream, I’ve talked to hundreds of rappers, bands, and independent musicians that have booked a virtual live stream gig with us this past month. Some artists are killing it and selling a lot of tickets, but some artists are struggling. I’ve identified what promo steps those struggling artists are forgetting to do – and they are such simple steps.
Here’s some good news: Selling live stream tickets is much easier than selling tickets for a real-world show. Here’s why:
- Live stream tickets are cheaper than real-world shows.
- Fans can buy a live stream ticket no matter where they live! Sell tickets nationwide and worldwide!
- Facebook ads are much more effective for live stream tickets.
- All the promotion is digital: social media, email, texting, etc.
- Fans watch from home – perfect during COVID-19.
- Fans don’t need to hire a babysitter, find a ride to the venue, get stuck in traffic, or spend $100 at the bar!
- It’s easy for fans to buy online instead of meeting up with you to buy physical cash tickets.
BUT IS IT REALLY WORTH THE EFFORT?
You tell me. We just had an artist sell a small number of tickets (23 tickets), and they walked away with over $280 between payout and artist tips. Another act sold 33 tickets at $5.00 each, and walked away with over $380 including payout and fan tips! Even smaller artists than that are moving just 10 tickets and making $120+ between tips and payout. Larger acts are selling 500-1,000 tickets and making $5,000 to $10,000 per live stream plus fan tips.
Remember, MyAfton LiveStream payout is 70% to 90% of ticket face value, with the higher tiers easily reachable for indie artists because selling just 20-50 tickets gets you in the 75% to 85% payout range. Indie acts that move 75-100 tickets for live streams get upgraded to our major artist live stream platform for 100% ticket face value payout and a dedicated account manager.
So the question is: How much promo effort are you willing to put in? To make $200, $300, or even $500 to $1,000 per stream?
If you put this live stream promotion guide fully into effect, you’ll quickly be selling 50-100 tickets and earning anywhere from $500 – $1500 including fan tips PER SHOW.
LIVE STREAM PROMO ACTION STEPS… LET’S GO!
We wrote another article about the RULE OF 7 HERE. Basically, studies have found that, on average, a fan needs to see your Live Stream promotion at least 7 times before they take action and buy a ticket. So FOLLOWING UP with fans and constant reminders are the key. You can’t just post the “buy tickets here” on your Facebook page 2 times or blast your email list 1 time.
STEP 1: PRIME THE SOCIAL MDIEA ENGINE!
You’d be surprised how many artists DO NOT fully utilize all of the promo mechanisms on social media. Do this for every single show:
- Create a FACEBOOK EVENT.
- Then invite EVERY friend of your personal Facebook page and all followers of your band/musician Facebook profile.
- Post regularly about the show with the Buy Tickets link clearly listed in each post:
- Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Linked In, Reverb Nation, Twitter.
- I highly recommend you run Facebook Ads and also do paid boosts to your posts. Facebook is pay to play, meaning they only show your posts organically to about 3% to 5% of your followers unless you pay them to BOOST your post.
- Mix up the content for your show promo posting. The best results come from VIDEOS. Create a video of you talking about how cool your live stream is going to be and why it’s important. Post a video of you performing 1 minute of one of your songs as a teaser and at the end talk about how to buy tickets. Be creative!
- CONTESTS! Create some contests and incentives so your fans SHARE your posts on Facebook and leave comments to organically boost your post.
STEP 2: DIRECT MESSAGE EACH FAN 1-ON-1.
If all you’re doing is posting on social media about your shows and you’re NOT directly messaging every single fan and person that you know – then you basically cut down your ticket sales for the show by about 70%.
Have you ever posted about your upcoming shows like crazy on Facebook, but nobody bought a ticket? Then you see your friend at a party and ask them to buy a ticket to the show, and they buy one right away? Even though they have seen your Facebook post multiple times already and never bought a ticket until now?
You need that 1-on-1 interaction with fans – or else they won’t buy. Posting is a good “reminder tool,” but 1-on-1 direct messaging to each fan is the key to actual ticket sales.
YOU MAY NOT REALIZE IT, BUT YOU KNOW A LOT OF PEOPLE.
Look at how many Facebook friends and Instagram followers you have. The average musician has 304 friends/followers in their social network. Multiply that by the 4 rap members or band members in your act – that’s over 1,200 people. Utilize that huge existing network of people who already know you.
During COVID-19, we can’t see friends face to face as easily as we used to before the pandemic. But you can STILL initiate 1-on-1 conversations with each fan and person you know through direct messages on Facebook, text messages to their phone, and emails.
Make a list of everyone that you personally know. This is well worth it because you will use this list anytime you are promoting future shows!
- Fan email list and your personal email contacts list.
- Friends from your personal Facebook account.
- Followers from your band/musician Facebook page.
- Don’t have one? What are you waiting for? Create one now, and invite all of your friends to like the page.
- You can’t run Facebook Ads without a band/musician Facebook page!
- Linked in profile followers.
Next, send a direct 1-on-1 message to every person on your list:
- Direct Message on Facebook
- SMS Texting their phone works so well.
- Use every messaging mechanism you have.
If you’re not directly messaging EACH person in your social and personal network then you’re ticket sales will be 70% lower than they could be. This isn’t just about making money, it’s also about sharing your music and growing your fan base.
STEP 3: DON’T FORGET TO FOLLOW UP!
But wait, you say, I posted on social media just like you told me to, I made a list of everyone I know, and I sent 1 direct message to all of them. Am I done?
Not quite yet. You are now off to a great start. In fact, statistically speaking, if you did everything I’ve talked about for your show you probably have done MORE promo than 85% of indie artists do for their shows.
However, if doing the above promo tactics have gotten 70 fans to “promise” they’ll buy a ticket for the show – probably less than 1/3 of them actually will buy a ticket.
FOLLOW UP IS THE KEY. If you forget this last step – you are going to drastically hinder your ticket sales for this show.
When I promote my band’s shows, I typically follow up with each fan 1x per week. The key is following up with a clear CALL TO ACTION. You want them to REPLY BACK so you know what their plan is.
If they don’t want to buy a ticket? That’s good to know, now you can stop following up with them.
If they are busy during your live stream performance date/time? That’s good to know, so you can cross them off of your list!
If they say they’re going to buy soon – ask them if they can do you a favor and buy a ticket now real quick so you know they’re good to go and can spend your promo time getting other fans to show up.
By taking this kind of confident, result-oriented action with your follow up – you’re fans are going to see that you take your music VERY SERIOUSLY and they will respect that. If you don’t show your friends and fans that your show is IMPORTANT TO YOU – then they are not going to spend their time and money to support you.
HOW TO TRACK FOLLOW UPS.
If you set up a great promotion strategy now, it will pay off for every future show you play. I track my fan follow-ups on a google docs excel spreadsheet. I copy/paste over all my email contacts, phone numbers from my phone, Facebook friends’ page URL’s, etc. so that I have a MASTER LIST of every fan and every person I know on social media.
This helps me easily direct message them on Facebook or shoot them an email or text.
But more importantly, it helps me create a duplicate of my master fan list for each show and when they buy a ticket, say maybe, or say they can’t go I mark that off on this spreadsheet.
This helps me see WHO I need to followup with again.
TURN THE “NO’S” INTO TICKET SALES.
Don’t be sad when a fan says they don’t want to attend or are busy that night. Thank them and tell them how much you appreciate their support and that you hope to see them at the next show!
But then, ASK THEM if they’re willing to do you a small favor to help your music career. Ask if they’re willing to SHARE your Facebook post about the show, and text or email any of their friends who they think would enjoy your music.
I can’t tell you how many times I had a friend or fan say they can’t go to my show – and after I ask them for this small favor they end up connecting me with 4 of their friends that I had no connection to, and those 4 friends bought a ticket to my show.
Every fan counts. Every ticket sale counts. Every action you take in your promotion efforts count.
TIME TO GET STARTED!
If you haven’t already booked a live stream gig then head over to MyAfton LiveStream, sign up for free, and create your first live stream to put these action steps into a huge payday.
If you already have an upcoming live stream, it’s not too late to implement these strategies RIGHT NOW!
It might “seem” like it’s a lot of work. But it’s not. Most artists can do everything I went over in this guide in about 2-3 hours or less. I know, I know, some musicians don’t want to “work hard” and they just want to make music and get famous.
But if putting 2-3 hours into this promotion guide for your live stream is the difference between you selling 2 tickets for your show and making a very small payout, OR making $200, $300, or $500 for selling 20, 30, or 50 tickets including fan tips – isn’t that well worth it?
There are thousands of new fans waiting for you on social media. But they’ll never become fans if you don’t put in the work. At least now you see how easy it is to attain your goals. Each month, thousands of artists are using our promo strategies to sell more tickets, grow their fan base, and to achieve that next level of success.
OTHER RESOURCES:
HOW TO SELL MORE TICKETS FOR YOUR LIVE STREAM
MAKE YOUR LIVE STREAM SO UNIQUE THAT FANS PAY FOR IT
WHAT PROMO STRATEGIES WORK BEST FOR YOU? POST BELOW!
snowboard, travel and spend time with family and friends. He’s been an avid animal lover, and Vegan, since 2013. Ryan is a Booking Manager, runs day to day operations, creates new artist services, and constantly optimizes how our booking and ticketing platforms can help our artists succeed. He also is the head of our national tours division for signed, nationally touring acts.