Why bigger is not always better

Every musician has a daydream. The dream starts with, “If I could only get onstage in front of the 10,000 fans of that band, everything would change.”

You could perform at a free street fair, a multi-act festival, or as an opening act for a major headliner like the Dave Matthews Band. This could be at a street fair for free, a festival with multiple acts, or as an opening act for a big headliner such as the Dave Matthews Band

Dave Matthews Syndrome

It can be a dream to get a gig as an opening act for Dave Matthews in front of 10,000 fans. Over the years, I have delivered this dream for many of my agency’s clients.

Dave’s fans would be ecstatic when they saw them perform. A few months later, when they returned to that same city for a nightclub show, only 20 people more than before. Multiple bands repeated the same pattern for several years.

It’s called the Dave Matthews Syndrome.

I began to realize that, no matter how great the opening act was, the fans of Dave Matthews Band were there to see Dave. The opening act was just an interlude while they waited to see Dave.

When one of my artists opens a small club or theater, they often gain many more fans than they did when they performed in front of 10,000 Dave Matthews fans.

Maybe fans of an arena act who draws more than 1,000 people would be more interested in finding new music. A developing artist may be able to compete more effectively with a theater or club-level act than with an arena act with a dozen hits and a million-dollar stage show.

Experience has taught me that, while there are exceptions to the rule, opening for a band two or three rungs more often results in more real fans than opening an arena show.

You can still find many reasons to play in front of major headliners. I told talent buyers for weeks that my act wasn’t available because Dave Matthews was opening. This became an important part of their story.

It was surprisingly insignificant when it came to building an audience for their tour act. Dave Matthews taught us that bigger isn’t always better.