How To Find Musicians In Your Area

There are a ton of apps and websites centered around connecting musicians with each other.

And I’m sure they have a lot of good things about them. But there are simpler ways to do it. Based on my experience, here’s how to find musicians in your area.

Reasons You May Want To Meet Local Musicians

If you want to do any of these things, this post is for you…

Start a band

Forming or joining a band is smart, if that’s what you want for your music career.

It’s simple math. The more people who promote the same music, the more listeners who hear about it.

If you start a band with musicians you find in your area, that’s four people with four different social circles promoting the same music and shows.

This leads to more exposure and faster growth (assuming the music is great).

Network

Networking is not just for hoighty-toighty business people.

Networking is great for the solo artist who wants to collaborate with other musicians.

And it’s a good way to meet people in the industry other than musicians, like venue owners, audio engineers, people in sync licensing, or whatever other niche you’re interested in.

Co-write

Not every co-writing session will be productive. Not every songwriter you work with will vibe with you.

That’s okay.

I’ve found co-writing helps me improve my songwriting, even if we don’t end up with a song worth releasing.

Plus, you never know when you’ll meet someone who you work well with.

Learn something

Whether or not you create music with musicians in your area, you can learn from them.

Be curious. Ask them about their creative process. Try to pull out any knowledge they have.

For example, I treated a music composer to coffee, and I learned a lot from him.

How To Find Musicians in Your Area: 4 Ways

Here are a few ways I’ve connected with musicians in my area (and globally). Give these a try…

Facebook groups

I have mixed feelings about Meta/Facebook for many reasons, but Facebook groups are a great way to connect with local musicians.

This is how I’ve gotten a production client, hired local session musicians, and learned more about the sync licensing industry.

As long as you don’t live in the middle of nowhere, there’s most likely a Facebook group for musicians in your area.

Meetup app

Through the Meetup app, I’ve found songwriting groups and a networking group for musicians.

And the networking group led to a co-writing session with two other musicians.

This app can be a great way to meet multiple musicians at once, which means you’ll have a better chance of meeting someone you connect with.

Open mics

Open mics are one of the most underrated resources for musicians.

It’s a way to test out your new material, kind of how a comedian does at open mics.

If you’re good, you can gain some new listeners.

And you can scout out musicians before you introduce yourself. You can make sure you like their sound before you meet them.

Emailing artists you respect

This one works with local musicians or people from anywhere in the world.

When you find a musician you like, find their email on their website. Then shoot them an email. The worst that can happen is they don’t respond.

What do you say in the email to increase your chances of starting a conversation?

Try this:

• Start off with a genuine compliment
• Quickly introduce yourself
• Ask them a question (you want them to respond after all)
• Keep it short

Come up with a personalized question, like “How do you like to start writing a song?” People like to talk about themselves and their creative process. And you’ll learn from it. Don’t ask a basic question you could find on Google.

So, that’s how to find musicians in your area, based on my experience. Try these out and pick the ones that work for you.