Band Booking by Getting to "YES"

A guitarist emailed me last week to ask what he was doing wrong trying to secure a band booking at one of his local venues.This place was important to him because it was quite a "name" venue and he reckoned that having it on the bands "resume" would help him secure more gigs elsewhere over time.


I asked him why he felt his approach to getting his band booked was wrong.


"I've dropped a demo CD in there 2 weeks ago like they asked me to and when I called them this week- they still haven't listened to it!" he complained.


I had to smile a little at this. I told him that band booking isn't always as simple as contacting a venue once and agreeing a date with them.there can be a lot of follow-up. Chasing them. the skill of course is to do this in a way where you don't come across as a pain in the backside to the venue.

You need to stay in touch when they haven't yet said "yes" to you - but without getting on their nerves. Scroll down to point 2 on this link for one highly recommended way to 
succeed with reluctant gig venues 



Here's a simple (and hopelessly drawn) sketch to illustrate. 

 When you get a "Yes" from a venue to your request to play there, here's what most other bands don't see.


When musicians see bands with full gig dairies they often think they must have "know the right people" or be the best bands. Believe me, none of this is true. It's all about keeping going trying to get that band booking long after another artists has given up their efforts.

 It's often taken a lot of "No's" or "Not yets" from the same venue before you've got that "Yes, you're booked". 

The beauty of this of course is that much of your competition (other bands vying for a gig at the same venue), will have given up trying to get on there long before they get the band booking.


Of course, all that following-up with venues, and chasing them to see if they've listened to your CD is only effort you need to do up until you get that first gig there. 

As long as you play a reasonable gig there on your first appearance you can make one follow-up band booking after another there. All with no effort apart from playing the gigs themselves. Taken to it's logical conclusion, once you have enough regular venues you won't need to try to get your band booked anywhere else.


This effort in securing the initial band booking at any venue makes it all the more important not to let the venue down once youv'e got that first gig there. 

I mean, who wants to make an effort booking their band when they don't have to?

Check out the quote on this old post about 

how to get a band booking