1. Tour. Tour. Tour. Then tour some more. Ideally, you will want to spend two to four weeks here, playing live most nights. It is hard to believe how huge the US is until you’ve hit the road here, and its essential to play different regions of the country to reach all the people who may be into your music.

Here are cities generally good for your first tour, based on population, media coverage, strength of support for live music, and routing:

New York
Boston
Chicago
Minneapolis
Denver
Seattle
Portland
San Francisco
Los Angeles
Phoenix
Austin
New Orleans
Atlanta
Washington DC
Philadelphia

The above list is by no means comprehensive. If a city not listed is playing your music on a radio station, or if it has fans living there that can put your band up for the night add it too.

2. Record some lyrics in English. Most of the population can’t understand anything else. While there is the occasional non-English song that catches on, it is a rare event here. You might get some specialty play on college or public radio, but commercial radio for the most part won’t play it. Even just having the chorus in English gives people imagery or phrasing they can react too.

3. Find someone to represent your music to film, television shows, and commercials here. For better or worse, these are the most economical ways of getting your music heard by the most people. Hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of people will hear your music, and you get paid. You can then apply this money towards your tour! (See point 1.) There are many small companies that do this. Drop us a line if you want more info.

4. Make sure you have music and t-shirts to sell. This is crucial. Aside from the fact that income from these sales can help with your expenses on the road, you need to provide people with something to remember your band by after you have left. It is the sharing of this music and images that spurs talk about your band. This plants the seeds of awareness about your music that can lead to a bigger audience and more well-attended shows in the future.

5. Buy most of your touring gear when you arrive in the States before you’re first concert date, then resell it before you leave, or rent a storage space if you will be back in the US soon. This can help you save a lot of money on rental gear and overseas transport. With Craigslist and other music sites, it is very easy to buy and sell the gear you need almost wherever you are.