
Gear Checklist for Your First Gig: What to Pack and What to Leave Home
A role-by-role packing checklist for a small-venue show with a house PA, so you bring the cables, spares, and backups you need and skip the gear that stays in its case.

A role-by-role packing checklist for a small-venue show with a house PA, so you bring the cables, spares, and backups you need and skip the gear that stays in its case.

Spotify tracks a number called monthly active listeners. It counts the people who deliberately played your music at least once in the last 28 days.

September brought updates from four platforms most independent musicians already use: Apple Music, Instagram, TikTok, and Spotify.

Use this week-by-week checklist to confirm load-in times, send your input list and stage plot, and pack gear so no dead battery or missing cable derails the night.

Nothing else on this list works until your songs are available. Releasing through CD Baby puts your music on more than 150 platforms worldwide.

Run through this pre-recording checklist—cables, interface, headphones, DAW settings—so buzzing gear and clipped vocals don't ruin a great take.