I’m in the same boat from Waco, TX (hardly thriving metropolis). If you want to find a club with ANY type of music (even top 40, hip-hop, etc.) you need to go to Dallas or Austin, 90 miles away. I started trying to find places to play, but just became known as the “techno” guy (“techno” naturally, meaning anything with a 4/4 kick. I play mostly house and trance). I’ve found it best just starting through friends. I’ve been playing house parties and have been starting to build a following just through that. Once you’ve got that following (it doesn’t have to be hundreds of people, it can even be ten), you can post mixes of what you like to play and word will spread through people listening to them. With any luck, that music will catch on, even in just your group of friends and you can use that to host your own nights. Moving on from there, there are some great blog posts on here about hosting bigger nights and upgrading to bigger venues.
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