There's no such thing as a "Natural" Gig-Getter

In the UK they have a saying to describe someone thought of as a "natural" salesperson, someone who should be perfect for pitching their band to venues. This kind of individual is said to have the "Gift of the gab".

I'm not sure if there's an equivalent phrase in the US (anyone know?) but another suitable description for this kind of person as far as I'm concerned would be a: "Bullsh*tter".

If you're an introvert and the thought of pitching your band (or anything else for that matter) scares you, you're in good company.

Many of the hundreds of musicians around the world that I've taught to fill their gig diaries are (like me), dedicated introverts.The fact is that pitching your band is genuinely no more difficult to learn than is mastering an instrument or learning the lyrics to that new number you've never heard before.

Can you remember how intimidating that guitar, keyboard or dumkit seemed when you first tried to get any recognisable noise out of it?

Who among us are "natural" musicians? Did'nt we all have to learn from scratch?

So, there's no reason gig-getting should be any different. And it isn't.

Like most things in life, the prizes go to those most committed to their own success - not the most "naturally" gifted....

Get started band booking here

Could You be Your Own Band Booking Agent?

You might have seen an eye-opening  post on another site recently about how to become a band booking agent.

What amazed me was the statement about needing "very little capital (money) to start - just a stack of business cards and a simple website"

Wow.

Contrast that with the investment needed by the musicians themselves in gear and time needed to learn to play, write and rehearse.

But the writer went further. Actually, many band booking agents apparently don't  even bother to go to the "lengths" of investing in said simple website or  business cards. They still though, take a 15-30% cut of the gig fee of course....

The writer of this post says that the only"skills" that anyone needs to succeed as a band booking agent are:

1. Being a "Social butterfly" (because you need to spend time at the venues wording-up the management)
2. A love of music
3. A knack for salesmanship

In fact, many semi-pro and amateur bands have found out that:

1. You can do all your "wording-up" via the phone, newsletters and a website that gets found
2. The only music you need to love is your own
3. The ability to sell your band or act is no different from the ability to play an instrument. Most people can learn how to do it.

There are of course many great band booking agents out there and it does them no favours to suggest they don't need anything much to be able to succeed.

On the other hand, you could always learn how to do your own band booking and keep the 15-30% of your gig fee....

Here's the post I mentioned above