Band Booking: Gig-Getter

Band Booking where no-one knows your name

2012-02-02T16:46:00.004Z

It can be tricky to get a band booking out of town, where you might be unknown. 

All the more difficult if you're trying to arrange a schedule of dates as a semi-pro or new pro band.

One of the main obstacles for you here is the lack of a crowd draw we all have in areas where we're not known.

You can go some way to overcoming this via the profile and buzz you can build with things like:

Facebook for bands 

Networking though, with other bands and in particular "Gig-Swapping" with them, can get you plenty of band bookings where no-one knows your face. 

Here's a great post from Gig-Doggy to get you started on out of town band booking:

 
Gig Swap

More about networking with other bands here

Should You Reduce Your Band Booking fees?

2012-01-18T13:17:00.000Z

With the economy struggling should you be reducing your gig fees to get band bookings?

I've been asked this many times over recent months and my answer is still the same. Getting all the band  bookings you want isn't about cutting your price until a venue accepts your offer.

There's one argument that says the less you charge for playing gigs the more work you'll get and to some  extent it's true. Offering to play for a temporarily or one-off reduced gig fee will often secure an untried band a gig at a new venue. If you want to be taken seriously though you don't just want to be known as a "cheap" act. 

A lot of venues will ultimately associate a band that's very cheap with one that's lacking in quality no matter how good you seem to be. 

The point to remember here is that while a one-off "trial price" can be a good place to start for a new band or an established one in an area you're unproven or unknown, you need to get your price up to your full levels for subsequent gigs or you'll be stuck at the bargain basement level with the no-hopers. 

Keep in mind that your gig fee, no matter how high, is only too expensive to the venue if they're not making enough of a profit on the night. 

You can charge more than any other band in town but if you fill the place to the rafters with the type of punters who drink the place dry (but don't trash it) and the venue still turns a decent margin on the night, no venue will care how much you cost them.....

Tips on setting band booking gig fees

Tips to bring and keep a crowd at your band booking

What won't stop your 2012 Band Booking Success

2012-01-09T10:24:00.000Z

Here's two facts about band booking that took me a long time to understand and which might surprise you.

1. Not having the best gear doesn't need to make any difference to the amount or quality of band bookings you get.

2. Not being a great musician, singer or band doesn't really matter either.

Years of working with semi-pro and amateur musicians around the world have taught me that what makes the biggest difference in terms of level of gig-getting is determination to succeed. To decide exactly what you want in terms of gigging and then keeping going until you achieve it - no matter what other people might be saying to you.

When I look back, I became a regular at the Hard Rock Cafe when I'd been a bassist for under 12 months.I was still playing a 2nd hand Musicman copy and a battered old Peavey amp bought off someone on Gumtree. 

Since then I've seen plenty of other average acts with mediocre equipment get themselves out from in front of the bedroom mirror and onto the stage (or at the very least, into the corner of a few local bars with their guitars and mics...). 

Makes you wonder what you might do with a little talent and some good gear!

Band Booking Tips and Articles

Band Booking from Your Sofa

2012-01-06T09:34:00.000Z

If you've been playing in a semi-pro gigging band for any length of time, you'll know that the early days of January can be quiet in terms of band bookings.

If you don't have much lined up after this month though for 2012 there's still plenty you can be doing to get gigs. Even from the comfort of your living room and sofa.

Start by spending some time thinking about exactly how often you want to be out playing band bookings in 2012.  

 Fully commit to this, your band booking goal.

Assuming you're in a band (rather than a solo artist) agree between all band members things like:

- Maximum numbers of gigs you want to be playing every week or month

- Nights of the week you'd prefer to be out

- Geographical locations (ie Towns) you want to target (or avoid) for your band bookings

- Minimum gig fees you'll accept for any booking

- Types of gigs you want to play/avoid (are you interested in corporate work where the money will be better but you might have to smarten up? Maybe you'd actually prefer to stick to playing bars where you can turn up in jeans and a tee-shirt?)

This will all help focus your efforts when you start pitching your act for band bookings this year. Something you'll want to get into later this month.

More band booking tips here

Your 2012 Band Booking Decision

2012-01-01T17:06:00.001Z

Last year I remember saying:

band booking success starts with a plan .

The bands I work with that enjoy the most (and quickest) long term success getting gigs are those that spend some time in advance working out a plan of action.

This plan of action should include what you want to achieve gigs-wise and how you're going get the gigs.

As far as band booking in 2012 goes though, there's something that's actually more important than you having a plan.

With band booking, what makes the difference between really successful semi-pro bands and the rest, is their desire and commitment to achieve their gig-getting goals.

Any musician can say they "want to start gigging" or "play live more often". You can spend as much time as you like planning and then pitching your band and act to venues. Without real commitment to succeed no matter what the chances are you'll give in before you get what you want.

Making the decision that nothing will stop you getting all the band bookings you want is what will keep you motivated through the early part of 2012 while you're finding your gig-getting feet....

Band Booking ebook

Band Booking Practise Part 2 - Going Solo

2011-12-31T08:06:00.000Z

A couple of you emailed after the post about rehearsals & band booking success. In answer to you, this 7th holiday tip is about what to do if you can't get the whole band together to rehearse as often as you need.

If this is a problem for you too, you could do worse than investing in what still my remains one of my best pieces of gigging kit.

A phrase trainer like the Tascam GTR1 on the left, is basically an mp3 player which you plug your guitar (or voice) into as well.

You can then mute your own part on the original recording so you can play along as if rehearsing with the band in question. You're also able to loop and slow down those tricky phrases until you get them absolutely nailed.

Any good semi-pro gigging musician will tell you that effective band rehearsals are not where you all learn your parts for a new number. You should do that alone, before you all get together.

That way you'll be up and playing those band bookings in 2012 in the fastest time possible.

How to Rehearse your Material for Band Booking Success

2011-12-30T10:01:00.000Z

Here's the 6th  day of band booking tips for what to day while you wait for the gigs to pile up.

Actually of course, band bookings don't just arrive. You have to go out and get them. But that's for later. For now, there's plenty you can do to ensure great gigging success before you get near the stage.

One thing you can spend this time doing is of course rehearsing your material. Don't do it like most other bands though. To stand out from other bands when you gig you want to do 2 things.

1. Rehearse as if you're playing a gig. 

This means deciding on your set-list(s), writing it down for all band members and them rehearsing in the order you'll play them on the night.

This will do a number of things for you. 

Firstly,  playing all the same numbers in the same order countless times before will reduce gig-night nerves. You'll know exactly what's coming next at all times. Second, playing everything through as if gigging, you'll quickly be  aware of any "trouble spots" with potential gaps in between numbers. You can then spend some time working out how to eliminate these for a much more professional show on the night. The third benefit you'll get from rehearsing as if you're gigging is you can plan any stage banter between numbers in advance. how much more easier is that than struggling for something to say with an unfamiliar song order prepared shortly before you go onstage?

More on  rehearsing for gigs

2. Rehearse until you can play the songs in your sleep

Or until you're blue in the face - or however you want to describe it. Having no doubt about your ability on the night will not just eliminate band booking nerves but also allow you to focus a little more on putting on a show and interacting with the audience.  To a gig crowd this looks a whole lot better than two guitarists staring at their fretboards and a singer frowning at his lyric sheets....

Band Booking ebook

Crowd rousing ebook

Band Booking Succeess through Better Set-Lists

2011-12-27T14:48:00.000Z

Here's the 5th thing you can do to improve your band booking success if you're not gigging enough over this holiday period.

You're not alone if you've never given too set-lists. 

Often gig set-lists just evolve over time with new songs coming in and old material being taken out of the lists. There's no thought to planning the overall structure of the show or balance of the material.

Playing a band booking with a well-planned and well-structured set-list will go a long way to securing a repeat gig for you. The more regular repeat work you can get from venues, the less ongoing effort you have to put into getting your band booked. Poor set-lists result in luke-warm crowd responses and little repeat bookings. 

Ultimately you can split up or give up just because you didn't spend enough time planning out what you were going to play....

Check out the balance between uptempo material and versus slower numbers for example. If you're a covers band make sure too much material isn't from the same  all the songs from the same era or genre (unless you specialise of course). 

Think about the function of each song within the set-list. Do all of them merit a place there? If so, why?  Which numbers should be played next to each other and why?  

Do you have a strong number to start with? Is it also one which is not too technically taxing so you can relax and gain confidence early on in the show? Which song can ease you into the gig and make a big impact at the start?

You'll also want to plan which song will create the most memorable ending (and most favourable impression) to the set for you. Also, how can you structure your set so other numbers give you a strong, logical build up to your "finale"?

Do a Google search for "band X set-list" and have a look at the structure of some of your favourite bands set-list structures. Ask yourself why you think certain songs might be in and others no,t and why they're positioned where they are in relation to other material..

Band booking ebook

Better Gig Crowd Reactions ebook

4th Day of Christmas Band Booking Tips

2011-12-22T12:09:00.000Z

When you want to increase your band booking success how do you make finding gig venues even easier?

You can check the basics on the link further down but here's a couple of simple extra tips many bands don't think of.

Your aim should to establish a good size list of potential live music venues you'll target. My own band started with 50 prospects but you'll have more (and faster) success if  aim to draw up a list of  100 potential band booking venues.

"No way!" you cry. "I don't even know of 10 places that have live bands on around here!

The trick is to carve up the responsibility for finding venues between band members and areas.

So for 100 venues if there's 4 in your band each has to find 25 venues. Much less strain  than one person being faced with finding 100 venues. 

You can make this even easier still. Designate different towns for each band member to focus on. Join the Facebook pages for "nights out" or "night life" in each of these towns to get abreast of live music venues - as well of course using the techniques mentioned earlier for finding band booking venues.

For solo artists of course, you'll have to do the work yourself but you too can  think about who you know in each town you want to target.  Who amongst your friends or work colleagues might be able to "scout" for you to find even more venues. 

The key point to remember about establishing a long list of venues to target is that band booking is just a numbers game. The more venues you pitch the more gigs you'll get. If you focus on just a small handful of  potential gig venues the tougher you'll make it for yourselves. 

And we all want band booking to be easy don't we?

Band Booking ebook

Band Booking Paperback

3rd Day of Xmas Band Booking Tips

2011-12-16T09:08:00.001Z

(Image from realor.com)

While you're looking for ways to improve your band booking success, tip number 3 here is something missed by a lot of musicians.

It applies whether you're gigging already and you want more, or if you haven't yet started playing live. 

You might find this hard to believe at the moment - especially if you're facing a Xmas holiday period without any or enough band bookings. The fact is though that once you've learnt the steps for how to get your band booked a few times there's be nothing to stop you completely packing  your gig diary with dates. 

Band booker beware though. If you don't do a little preparation ahead of the game, that's where your trouble can begin.

As a band, you need to agree in advance between you, how much work you want. How many nights a week or month (or year) you want to be out gigging. 

This will do more than give you all a target to focus on and motivate you to get the bookings. As importantly it'll set limits that all band members "sign up to" so that everyone is happy and  gigging doesn't ultimately become a pain and get in the way of other commitments. 

I've worked with enough bands over the years to know that once some band members start complaining about your gigging schedule, or even worse, you have to cancel bookings - your days as a successful live act are numbered....

More about band booking preparation

Xmas Band Booking  Tip #1

Xmas Band Booking Tip #2

Band Booking ebook

Band Booking Xmas Tip 2

2011-12-15T09:04:00.000Z

Do you need to improve the amount of band bookings you've been getting?

If so, here's the 2nd of twelve days of band booking tips you can use over the holiday season. These simple techniques have all been used by bands and solo artists in over 15 countries around the world to fill their gig dairies.

Once you've found out about other bands and acts who are playing gigs at the potential gig venues in your area (see band booking tip #1), you need to look at how they compare to your act.

You do this, because when the time comes to start trying to sell yourself to venues, you'll need to know what makes you guys different from other bands. This will give you a lot more confidence when you're pitching your band and also help to make it clear to venues why they should book you.

The best way to start this process is just by listing down all the "features" or facts about your band (or yourself if you're a solo act). Things like:

- Numbers of people in the band
- Instruments played
- Band and individual band members musical history
- Ages
- Where you're based
- Where (if anywhere), you've played before
- Type of material

No matter what your answers are to the above questions, if you have some real differences between you and other bands competing for the same gigs, you'll be able to use the differences to sell you act.

Once you've got your list of features, and you've compared them with the other local bands you've found, ask yourself which features appear to be your strong and weak points. Think about whether and how you might improve your weak points and how you'll aim to push your strong points when it comes to marketing your act to venues for band bookings.

More ideas on this 2nd Xmas band booking tip here

Band Booking and the 12 Days of Xmas

2011-12-13T09:14:00.000Z

Do you have enough band bookings over this coming festive period? If you don't, here's the first of 12 tips to make sure you're not in the same position next year - and to get you off to a flying start in 2012.

Before we get on to today's tip, make sure you really have done everything you can to secure those last minute December bookings this year. Have a look at this Last minute Xmas Band booking post first.

When you've done that,today's tip is simply to check out your competition.

Yes, really. 

If you're going to be one of those rare bands who actually fill out their gig dairies with more band bookings than they can play (and you can, trust me on this), you'll want to know all about the other bands or acts in the same genre as you who are playing your target area or region. 

Google "originals rock band Detroit", or "Covers band Birmingham" depending on what you're playing. "Band for hire Detroit" or "party band Birmingham" and you take some time today to have a look at these other acts. Your "competition" if you like.

How do they describe themselves on their websites? What sort of material do they play (any cover material ideas you might be able to use there?)If they have mp3s on line how do they sound and how are they different to your own act? 

Do they have a "Gigs" section on their website? If so, take note of the venues they're playing and add them to your own list of target venues for when the time comes to start trying to make your 2012 band bookings.

Keep in mind, as well as finding useful info such as gig venues, what you're trying to do here is to get a picture of how your band compares with the others who will be competing essentially the same gigs. 

Later, you can look at using what you learn from this activity to create a strong identity and points of difference for your own act.

Gig-Getter Band Booking ebook

Can You Still Get Band Bookings for 2011?

2011-11-14T09:32:00.000Z

Even this late in the day you can still band bookings for this year if you approach it the right way. If you have the availability and are ready to confirm a date at short notice you can keep adding bookings to your band’s diary in November and December.

Clearly now we’re mainly talking about other bands or acts cancelling pre-booked gigs and you being called on to take their place.  

Here are three proven actions you need to take NOW to maximise your chances of last minute band bookings for the rest of this year.

Make sure you have an up-to-date Gig-calendar.

All band members need to have access to this and confirm which nights they’re available on.  The chance of a gig can be lost if a venue calls about your availability and you tell them you’ll have to get back to them. Often they have a list of potential replacement bands to call and the gig will go to the first to say “yes”.

Search “Online calendar” (there are numerous available) and you’ll find one something which you can all share online. This will make sure you’re ready to confirm at a moments notice – crucial when you get the frantic phone call from a venue where the band has let them down.

2. Create a Newsletter and mail to Potential Venues.

Its’ all very well being ready to take a booking if a distraught venue calls you, but how do you get them to pick up the phone and ring your number when they need a band?

You have to get your name in front of them on a regular basis as the “Go to” alternative when they have a night to fill. 

The first step in doing this is creating a long list of target venues. Once you have these. You need to make sure they have something they can refer to when they need a band or act in an emergency. That something is a band newsletter. You can send them via email or post. In my personal experience I’ve found hard copies to be more effective – although many bands I’ve worked with had booking gigs via their digital newsletter.

Great. But what do you say in your newsletter? 

Here are some ideas which could get you started

 - Have you      got a New(ish) band member you could write something about? 

 - What      about New equipment you might have invested in? 

 - Details or      photos of any gigs you’ve  recently      played 

 - Forthcoming      gigs 

 - New      numbers or material you’ve added or written

 - Clear      contact details for how you can be reached and booked via email and phone 

 - An idea      on the genre of music you play 

 - Photos      of any of the above 

 - A      statement close to your contact details saying something like:

 “Some dates in December still available due to late cancellation”

If you have a good demo you’re happy with, you can enclose this with the newsletter.  Make sure all your contact details are printed on the CD. Don’t worry if you don’t have a demo though, a well crafted mail-out can get you band bookings even without being heard.

3. Follow-up your newsletter with a phone call

Talk to the person who makes the decisions about booking the bands. Check they received the mailing and remind them you have some availability in December should they need it.

It’s easy to give in this late in the day and believe all the 2011 band bookings are taken. Don’t be fooled. There are still gigs to be had if your band’s name is the one in front of the venue when they need one at short notice.

3 Questions to Unlock Band Booking Venues

2011-09-22T03:13:00.001+01:00

Contrary to what some musicians might think you don't fill your diary with band bookings by sitting back waiting  for them to call  you.

Neither do you get fully booked with gigs by calling up  venues and telling them how great you are. 

One of the biggest secrets to successful selling (or "pitching") is the importance of asking questions of the the person you're trying to sell to. NOT just talking at them...

Now, nobody want to be cross-examined by someone trying to sell them something. Especially if they've never met the "seller" before. However, we're not talking about you needing to interrogate a venue booker with a long list of probing demands.

Here though are 3 Key questions you can you to unlock even the most reluctant venue you might be targeting.

1. "Can you tell me who's the person responsible for booking bands?"

I'm always amazed by the amount of bands who attempt to plough into a pitch without establishing whether they're talking to someone who can actually give them the gig. If you're trying to sell your act to the wrong person you won't only be wasting your (and their) time. You'll run the risk of  relying on them to pitch on your behalf to the person who can actually make the decision. Can you afford to rely on anyone else to have your best interests at heart?

Make a separate call to the venue - ahead of when you're  trying to pitch your act, and establish the decision maker with the question above.

2. "Does your current supply of bands meet all your needs or do you think there may be some room for improvement?"

I remember one of the first ever  readers of the Gig-Getter band booking manual calling me up to query using this question. He told me it wasn't something he felt he could ever ask a venue. I told him that the question (and the answers I'd received to it) had played in huge part in generating 000's of band bookings for my own act and others I'd helped. he tried and called me back to apologise!

When you stop and think about it, don't we all decide whether or not to buy anything based on whether our needs are being fully met by what we already have?

What can the venue booker say when you ask him that question?

He or she may of course be perfectly satisfied with the acts they already use. In which case you add them to your newsletter mailing list (circumstances at every venue will change at some point).

Often they'll say something along the lines of:

"There's always room for improvement" (Honestly, I've lost count of the amount of times I had that answer).

At other times, you'll be told they're "actively looking for new acts".

No really. This will happen when you're pitching enough.

3. "How do we get considered to play at your venue?"

Here, you're just checking what are obstacles between you getting the gig. Some acts assume every venue wants a CD. Some prefer mp3 demos. Others want a full press kit. Actually, not all will even need to hear you. Some might prefer to check out your website or Facebook page. Others might only need to know what kind of material you play or how much they'll have to pay you before deciding whether to book you.

If you don't ask what they need how you will ever know?

Band Booking Tips

Gig-Getter ebook

Pre-Planned or "All Natural" Audience Banter at Your Band Bookings?

2011-09-21T15:06:00.000+01:00

Should you use pre-planned audience banter or let everything just be spontaneous when you play band bookings?"

This is a question that often divides musicians and band members.

I was reminded of it again last week when one half of a duo from New Zealand emailed me. He told me how well some of the "one-liners" in "Rouse the crowd" band booking manual had worked for him during their latest gig. He said that even his partner in the duo was now able to "Play up to the audience".

I do understand those musicians who feel uncomfortable with the notion of using”scripted banter" during their gigs. They worry that they'll come across as false or contrived during the performance if everything isn't natural.

For me though, not having at least some idea of what you'll say to a crowd in between songs is like turning up for a gig without a set-list worked out.
Just because you've played a song (or even the same set) before, doesn't mean it can feel, look and sound fresh to any audience..

The key really is in the way you use any pre-planned banter. Obviously you don't want to be looking down reading from a script or use one-liners which have no relevance for that particular crowd.

Most musicians, when they've tried using some pre=planned audience chat will never go back to turning up on the night and hoping for the best. Not least of all because if you have at least some idea of what you're going to say to an audience (and when during the show), you have no chance of those awkward moments or long pregnant pauses when you "dry up".

The best one-liners are those that you can adapt to suit the particular gig or which give you further ideas for some of your own creations. Either way, many musicians find that once they do a little work on audience banter ahead of the band booking it will do two major things for you.

1. Hugely boost your stage confidence

2. Help your performance and delivery come across as much more professional.

Now unless you're going for the nervous/amateur look, who wouldn't want those benefits?

Audience Banter Tips

Rouse the Crowd ebook

Where and How Do You Find Band Booking Venues?

2011-09-18T18:47:00.000+01:00

You may well have asked yourself this question if you're not yet playing all the band bookings you want

Certainly I've  been asked it by a lot by the bands I work with.

Some  bands (and solo artists)think they should try and persuade local venues to start hosting Live  Music nights. This is possible but will need more persuasion and effort than simply  finding those venues which already feature live bands and then introducing  your act to them.

So  where do you find potential band booking venues to play? 

It's incredibly simple when you think about it,  but these are the ways I've used and recommend to others and more importantly which should give you  most success.

1. Other bands websites.
Search  for other bands in your area and then check out the "Gigs" section of  their websites. These will often include venue phone numbers.

2. Search for "Live Music venues Chicago" (or wherever you're aiming for)

3. Scan music and local press for music event/night ads

4. Keep your eyes open when visiting any town you'd like to target. Ask around while you're there for venue details

5. Networking.  Talk to other musicians you know. Swap details so that if they're  offered a gig when they're already booked up, you can pick it up for  them. (You'll probably need to offer to do the same for them in return).  

You  may not believe it now, but when you start to build your reputation and  numbers of gig bookings, you'll be grateful for a substitute band you  can offer to venues if you ever have to cancel. This can enhance your  reputation as reliable and professional even when you're letting a venue  down.

Remember: 

* Build a long list of potential venues to target.

Aim for 100 over time. If this sounds a lot, remember you should be sharing the finding of venues amongst ALL band members. So a total of 100 is only 25 each. Just make sure you each focus on different towns or regions to avoid any duplication. If you're as solo act try to recruit a friend or two (who ideally don't live too close to you - to widen your target area)to help you track down potential new venues
 

* Always keep adding to your list.

Times  change and some venues will stop hosting live music. Others won't be  interested in your act. So, to continually maximize the numbers of band bookings you can aim for  you can play - keep adding to your list of venues.

More band Booking Tips

How to Start Band Booking Before You've Formed a band

2011-08-20T18:49:00.000+01:00

Someone asked me this week what they could do to prepare for band bookings - before they'd finalised the band line-up.

The answer is there's plenty any act can do about getting gigs before they're actually ready to play them.

Obviously once you have your line-up in place it's all about rehearsing the music and show. While you're still doing that though, in my experience there are two key actions you can take:

1. Spend this time looking at your competition and working out what's different (or what will be different) about your band/act. Your USP if you will. This will pay big dividends when it comes to pitching your act to venues

The Band Booking Difference

2. Collect as long a list as you possibly can of the potential venues you'll approach for gigs once you're ready. Getting a venue to say "Yes" when you approach them is a numbers game and the longer your list of targets the better.

Find Gig venues

Band Booking Venue Ideas

Doing these 2 things will save you a lot of time once you're rehearsed and ready to roll...

Can Any Act Get Band Bookings?

2011-08-14T09:03:00.001+01:00

The short answer to this is "Yes". You don't actually even have to be able to play a note to be able to convince some venues to give you a band booking. 

All you have to do is pitch enough venues in the right way. 

Getting paid, not being booed off  stage and booking a follow-up gig though of course different matters...

The fact is, frequent and regular band bookings and gigs for solo acts don't only go to the greatest musicians or even the best "performers" (there is of course a difference between the two).

Give me a band that's keen to learn how to pitch themselves properly to venues ahead of one who are "only in it for the music" every time.

Of course, we're all in it for the music  -or why else do it?  However, you need to get yourself heard, and one of the best ways to do this is by knowing how to get band booking after band booking for yourselves...

Band Booking Tips

3 Band Booking Keys

2011-06-22T10:01:00.001+01:00

Some good band booking stuff in this post here from Chris "Seth" Jackson who describes himself as:

" A bass guitarist and composer. ... an average musician, working a day job as a software engineer, in pursuit of fulfilling my life’s dream of being a self-sufficient musician." Chris' aim is to "share the ups and downs of this adventure and, hopefully, find great techniques that everyone can use to achieve success in the extremely difficult world of music".

He's right about one thing, band booking can be "extremely difficult" especially when you're not sure how to approach it.

3 keys in particular stood out for me on his post:

1. Prepare BEFORE trying to book by making sure you have a demo and decent online presence.

2. Crucial to be able to talk about bringing people into the venue. Building up your friend/fan base on Facebook is a great way to work on this even for bands who haven’t gigged yet.

3. Venues get so many approaches all the time it’s vital bands to hone their message to cut through “all the noise” as you say. Bands and acts that understand why they’re different, and who are able to quickly and clearly communicate this will always stand out from the crowd

Here's Chris's post and the blog is worth spending some time on overall if you're struggling for band booking inspiration

http://howtorunaband.com/2011/05/20/how-do-i-book-my-show-part-1/

More Band Booking Tips here

Are You Too Original to Get a Band Booking?

2011-05-26T12:53:00.001+01:00

"Isn't DIY band booking just for Covers bands?"

You may have wondered whether the same techniques for how to get gigs apply to original artists as well as covers bands.

The general answer, very definitely is "Yes".

The outline of your overall approach to
successful band booking is the same no matter what you play.

Having taught both original and cover bands and solo artists in more than 15 countries how to fill their gig diaries I can give you some additional insights though.

Certainly when you're starting out, ie before you've got a name of any sort or a good fanbase you'll find:

- There are more venues for acts who play covers material
- You'll get a lot less private party/function and corporate work as an originals-only act

3 tips you can draw from this as someone playing your own material are:

1. You need to get building your fanbase as early as possible in the gig-getting process.
This will both help you persuade venues to give you that initial gig, and the more new customers you can draw when you do play - the easier it will be to secure follow-up appearances.

Get more people to your gigs

Build your band fanbase with Social media

2. You'll have to work that little bit harder than a cover band might, to locate enough venues to target
You use all the same techniques though and as ever it's only a numbers game. Scroll down the piece below for more ideas to improve your success with band booking venues

3. You'll increase your chances of at least that first band booking at a new venue if you include a cover or two in your shows
Some acts have a hard time "swallowing their pride" to do this. Really though, name me a global superstar act who never played the odd cover or two (at least in their early days) to get the crowd into them? have a look at the info below if your pride is choking you:

Covers and original bands

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

2011-04-26T11:30:00.000+01:00

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?

2011-04-06T17:15:00.000+01:00

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

How much Band Booking Crowd Banter Do You Need?

2011-03-27T09:45:00.000+01:00

A timely reminder from a member of the audience last night that crowd banter can be overdone.

We were two songs in at a gig and the lead singer, in a bit of a wise-cracking mood, had made another comment to the crowd prior to the start of a song. Someone shouted:

"Are you comedians or musicians? Play something else!"

Now it will always pay you to get the crowd involved, to interact with them at your band bookings. But this guys' comment did make the point.

Sometimes, especially when you're used to getting a crowd going, you can get carried away with the audience banter side at a band booking.

As far as we were concerned last night, we adjusted the amount of chat after the comment last night and it turned out a great gig.

I'm a firm believer that none of the very best semi-pro bands rely on the music alone to play shows a crowd won't forget. However, you have to be on guard to make sure you get the balance right between verbal interaction, getting a audience member or two up on stage with you- oh, and of course playing the music....

Audience interaction article

All Band Booking Success Starts with a Plan

2011-03-17T09:55:00.000Z

"Everything Starts with a Plan"

When musicians hear the phrase "Planning" as far as band booking is concerned, often their eyes glaze over. Almost as if the idea of setting gigging goals is too much like hard work.

The truth is though that if you don't know what you want to achieve with your band or your act, you shouldn't be surprised when you end up disappointed.

If you're not playing enough gigs, if there aren't enough people at your gigs, or you don't go down as well as you want when you do play, you CAN change this from now on.

To change things though, you need to know HOW you want things to be different in the future.

In a band situation this means a discussion involving all band members.

Ask yourselves:

- Exactly how many gigs do we want to play this year?

- What's our preferred type of gig? (ie, Club, Bar, corporate,
festival etc etc)

- What do we want to achieve with these gigs?

If you're "weekend warriors" your reasons may be to get some pay-back on all the gear you've invested in or an additional income from your hobby. If you're in a band as your career you might want your gigs to build a fan base, attract band management or label interest for example.

- What prices do we want to charge?

- How far are we prepared to travel to play a gig?

- What do we consider to be a good crowd reaction when we play?

- What size of fan base do we want to build?

Once your band is able to agree answers to questions like these, you'll be able to get started on an action plan to achieve these goals. You become focused and far more likely to get what you want for your band.

If you don't ask and answer these sorts of questions about your band booking future , well, anything can happen - including nothing.

Everything does start with a plan...

Band Booking Action Plan

9 Reasons You're not Getting Band Bookings

2011-02-26T10:58:00.000Z

If you're already scratching around for the next band booking in 2011, here are 10 things you won't have in common with the busiest bands and solo artists.

1. You don't know enough venues
Selling your band for a gig is like all selling, a numbers game. The more targets you have to aim at, the more you're going to hit. To the extent that if you knew enough venues you could get some gigs no matter how bad you were or how you went about trying to get the band booking.

How many venues is enough? Well, we have around a 100 on our database although they're not all active. But, you can fill you diary for a year with less half that amount. Much less as time goes on if you know what you're doing.

Find gigs by knowing more venues

2. You don't approach enough venues
Having a good list of target is vital of course but if you don't do anything with that list what's it worth? You've got to get out there and pitch your band. You might feel you're not a natural salesperson , that you don't have what us Brits call the "Gift of the gab". Well, remember this. Once, you had no idea how to play a guitar, drums, keys, sing or whatever exactly it is you do onstage. If you're a driver, remember how unnatural it felt at one time to try and remember all those things you needed to do to make a car move?

If you can learn a song tab or lyrics you can easily learn what and how to say and do the things necessary to get your band booked over and over. However, not if you're not approaching venues you can't...

3. You don't approach venues in the right way
As mentioned earlier, with a long enough list of targets you'll get the odd gig no matter how you go about it. For consistent, repeat work at quality venues though you'll need to know what you're doing. The what to say when you pitch and how to say it. Doing this successfully doesn't involve phoning a gig venue up and spouting off awkwardly about your band for a several minutes before being told "NO".

Band Booking tips

4. You have too much similar competition for gigs at the venues you're targeting

If you feel this is the case, actually, you're fooling yourself. "Too much competition" , "Other bands doing the same thing as us are getting all the gigs" actually means one of two things. Either you don't understand what makes your band distinctive from others. Or, it actually isn't any different from other bands of the same genre who are targeting the venues. Either way, your first step is to find out more about these other bands and working out how to create a stronger, more unique identity for yourselves. This "difference" is what you'll focus on when you talk to venues. Ultimately, you'll should be able to briefly and quickly summarise reasons why any venue should chose to book your band.

5. You give up too easily when you're told "Thanks, but no thanks"
We all get rejected from time to time, no matter what we're doing. Pitching for band gigs you will be told you're not needed more often than you're welcomed for a band booking. Fact. You can either try to avoid this and hope you somehow get gigs anyway. Don't hold your breath though. Or you can do what every successful salesperson or businessperson does and realise that every "YES" made up of a lot of "no"s.

Once you're regularly pitching your band you'll get to know on average how many different venues you'll need to call you need before you get a band booking. This will keep you going through the "rejection".

Another important point about venues saying "No" though. The most successful at booking their band know that circumstances change at venues. They might be fully booked for the year with their usual roster of bands as of March, for example, but a band can cancel a particular date leaving the venues with a sudden vacancy they need to fill. Bands can split up suddenly, giving a venue a longer term problem. Venue management changes and the new band booker often wants something fresh. Don't give up on a venue because of one initial "thanks, but no thanks". The busiest bands stay in touch with all their targets.

6. You're online presence isn't attracting gigs
In addition to the more pro-active and direct methods of band booking bu directly approaching venues yourself - are venues coming to you? If you're website isn't attracting regular enquires about your availability from new sources then you probably need to do something to make sure you get found online more easily. Find out what search terms people are using to book bands like your in your area and have your website optimised for these.Consider a wordpress blog as part of this if you're struggling to rank highly enough for your keywords.

7. You don't cultivate a fan-base

You can say all the right things to get the band booing, turn up and play a great couple of sets but if there's no-one in the venue you'll be doing well to get a repeat booking. Put bluntly, a lousy band with a huge following will generally get asked back more often than a technically brilliant one with pull.

You need to bring hundreds of people to your gigs. Just a handful will be enough to swell many bars. You can achieve a lot more than this by using Facebook in the right way though for example.

Facebook for bands

Bring and keep the gig crowd

8. You're missing opportunities to get more gigs while you're playing
When you're onstage does everyone in the venue know the name of the band and how they can be booked? Are you asking for multiple repeat bookings from the venue when you come offstage?

9. You don't play "Shows".
The best bands, the ones which are out all the time, don't strum through two sets while staring at their fretboards. You want to make an impression on a venue and the crowd. You want to keep them at the venue throughout the night - boosting takings at the bar for the venues. You don't do this by playing in the background. You do it by putting on a show, getting the crowd (no matter how small) involved in the performance. You don't need to be "natural performers" to do this. Just take a little time planning out the gig and inserting one or two little memorable moments in there.

Stagecraft for bands

Should you hand over your Band Booking to Music Agents?

2011-02-11T17:15:00.001Z

Not getting involved in your own band booking and handing gig-getting over to music agents can seem like the easy option for many musicians.

If you're trying to build a career for yourself as a musician, and you're successful, the time will come when you'll need the input of music management companies in some way, leaving you free to concentrate solely on the music.

Until that time, or if you're a "weekend warrior" playing gigs part-time, you might be best served doing your own band booking.

Here's a short video of the Gig-Getter author talking about using music agents and another link on the same topic underneath.

Music Agents & Band Booking

Some Band Booking Venues You May Not Have Though Of

2011-02-04T09:21:00.000Z

The most obvious kind of venue to target for a band booking is usually somewhere established for live music. Bars, clubs, festivals etc.

Even most private function work comes from having been seen in one of these "traditional" venues.

There's a strong argument too that these places are the easiest to get a band booking because you don't have to convince the owner/booker about the merits of having live music in his venue.

Before I wrote Gig-Getter I remember reading about someone recommending funerals as a possibility for a band booking. Yes really. A bridge too far for me though I think.Having said that, how rock n roll would it be to arrange for a band to play at your own final "appearance"....

Now, on the subject of gigs in unusual places here's a brilliant post naming 20 non-traditional types of venues to consider. Not all these will appeal to everyone but what I like about this post are the further examples and videos they give.

Great stuff from a site well worth book-marking methinks....

Should you use the Phone or Email for Band Booking?

2011-01-20T13:05:00.000Z

Some bands like to turn up at a venue out of the blue armed with their demo CD to try and secure a band booking. Others post out newsletters, email or telephone to pitch themselves. Each of these methods will work to a greater or lesser degree.

Here's an article than looks at the differences between two of the most cost-effective ways to get a band booking at a new venue. Email or telephone.

Here's my take on using the phone for band booking
In my experience a far more reliable way to bring those band bookings in - and fast...

Anyone prefer email to the phone?

Stagecraft Tips For Bands and Musicians

2011-01-12T15:55:00.003Z

If your gig crowd reactions suggest you need to improve your stagecraft, this might be of interest.
You can check out the new Stagecraft for bands article written by the author for the December issue of play Music Mag in case you haven't seen it.

This article looks in a bit of detail at the performance confidence aspect of playing gigs.

You can check for other updates through 2011 on the main Gig-Getter band booking articles page

Fast & Simple Facebook Starter for More Band Bookings

2010-12-04T11:01:00.000Z

If you only ever do one thing to use Facebook for band bookings here it is

Don't be put off by the reference to "Jazz", this works for any musician or band. 

If you're really interested in putting the power of facebook to work as far as band booking are concerned try these as well:

Facebook for Bands 

Using Facebook for more Fans at your Band Booking

Successful Band Booking by Bringing and KEEPING the Crowd

2010-11-22T10:34:00.000Z

Trying to catch up with things on Sunday  I read a  band booking post which amongst it's "Top 10 Tips" talked about bringing and keeping a crowd. 

I didn't agree with everything in the post (see bottom of this piece), but those two points about the crowd got me thinking.

Certainly any band or solo artist who wants to keep the gig(ie, get asked back), should ideally be trying to take some people with them. Although not necessarily literally in the same transport as the band of course.... 

If you can't do this, how are you ever going to build a following or make a full (or part)-time living out of  your music?

You don't need to take hundreds of people. Just a handful can often be enough to swell the coffers of small venues. 

It all comes down to working on the promotion of each band booking you play. 

Letting people know you're playing somewhere and giving them reasons to turn up. 

Here's one online way:

Getting more fans to your band booking

There's more to a successful gigging act than this though. Taking your own people to a gig generally gets more difficult the further away from home you gig. 

That's where you need to know how to RETAIN the people who are already in the venue. The venue's regular gig-goers. 

When it's been a particularly successful gig at the Hard Rock for example, the venue will often refer to the fact that we kept the crowd there (and so the bar busy),- rather than brought people with us...

Achieving this boils down partly to your music of course, but overall it's all about the kind of night you give the crowd. 

Isn't having a good time what going out for the night is all about?

A lot of bands find that getting a gig crowd to talk about you and the gig you've just played for days after is usually more than the music alone. Any thoughts?

 Audience interaction at the band booking

So anyhow, here's the post I was reading over the weekend

Talking between songs? Does your Gig Crowd care?

2010-11-13T09:15:00.001Z

"Every band booking is only about the music"

or.....

"Your gig crowd expects and wants some chat in between songs"

Which camp do you and your gigs fall into?

I've played 100's of gigs and worked with too many semi pro and amateur bands not to have a firm opinion on this.

Give me two bands of the same ability, equipment and genre, pair them with the same crowd and watch what happens.

The band with even just a tiny amount of audience interaction (when it's done in the right way) will win hands down over the "music only" act every time. 

You don't have to recite passages from War and Peace in between every song but you do need to show them you're human and not "up yourself".

Here's a neat post where other musicians discuss talking between songs with their gig crowds. The site itself is one of the best for all kinds of discussions and help for musicians. Worth bookmarking I reckon..

More audience interaction tips 

Gig-Getter Band Booking Tips in Play Music Magazine

2010-10-28T17:34:00.000+01:00

The first in a series of three Gig-Getter band booking features is in the latest edition of Play music Magazine. 

If you pick up a copy (free) at your local music store you can check-out tips about how to get that band booking. 

The next issues starts to look at the performance itself, starting with overcoming any nerves you might have and making sure you get every crowd going - whenever you play live

Here's a sneak preview of the band booking tips

You can check the Play music website (including the full digital edition of the latest magazine) here

7 Sound Band Booking Tips

2010-10-20T15:56:00.000+01:00

Could any musician argue with the 7 tips on the post at the bottom of the page about how to secure band bookings?

The only one I've never personally tried is the 6th tip - namely  Open Mic nights. 

That said, a number of singers and other musicians I've worked with used Open Mic nights to get their confidence in front of an audience up before even thinking about playing a band booking. 

You just need to make sure you don't get stuck in the rut of playing Open Mic nights and not "graduate" into playing for real.

As the writer of the 7 Tips post says, getting band bookings does take a little work. At first, at least. the key is consistency and knowing that contacting venues is a numbers game.

Some of the other tips are:

- Make sure you have a demo ready for when you get a venue interested.

Of course. Check out this for more advice re band booking & demos

- "Buddy up" with another band (Gig-swapping)

- Take "any" kind of work at first.

Not necessarily, and certainly there's no need to EVER play for nothing)

- Let people know when you do have a gig coming up.

Certainly if you want people to get a gig crowd)Or here's more ideas to get a crowd to your band booking

- Recruit someone to act as a manager or sole Gig-Getter.

Unless he's bringing something extra special to the party, a band manager if you're part time or just starting out can be a very expensive luxury.

Howverem you do need to establish who in the band is ultimately responsible for organising gigs if not actually pitching for all the band bookings. 

Here's the 7 Tips Post

More Band Booking Tips

Do You Interact with Your Band Booking Audience?

2010-10-07T19:04:00.001+01:00

Some ideas to get your crowd going in this post below from Harmony central this week. 

You can't beat getting your audience involved in the show, whether it's having them up on stage or you getting into the crowd.

Suggestions about inviting someone to play tambourine or other percussion, dance onstage and even do some backing vocals can all work well for you.  

Personally I can't wait to try the "Hoola hoop" recommendation from the Harmony Central post below...

Harmony Central Post

More Audience Interaction Tips 

Got all the Band Booking Venues You Need?

2010-10-01T16:24:00.004+01:00

If you're struggling for ideas about where you could play next, check out the latest post over at band booking hub

There are some good tips to point you in the right direction. 

The key is to build up a large number of "Target venues" to aim at.

The larger the number of venues you're pitching - the greater your odds in favour of you filling your gig diary. 

 Also, if you have plenty to go at, you'll feel far less pressure/stress when you contact any of them if they're "just another name on my list".

Contrast that with only having a couple of places to aim at. You'll need to score them both or it'll be the TV again at the weekend....

Get Ready to Rouse the Crowd at your Band Booking

2010-09-02T09:07:00.000+01:00

Getting the band booking is one thing as is going down well when you play. 

What happens though if your confidence doesn't match your desire to book and play the gig?

I found someone writing about how to overcome pre-gig nerves here:

Gig Nerves 

Nervousness does happen to the best of us and will get in the way of performing to your full capability when it strikes. Here's some more help:

Develop Confidence in front of gig crowds 

Who Cares about Your Band Booking?

2010-08-25T16:10:00.000+01:00

Holiday reading over the last few weeks reminded about one crucial reason to do your own band booking. 

Why I and many others do it rather than hand over the band booking to a 3rd party (like an agent).

 The writers of the DIY Music Manual  I was reading, were talking about all aspects of being an Independent artist (i.e. one not signed to a label). 

They posed the question about who cares as much about your music as you do yourself?

The point here is that no A&R man, no band manager or agent is likely to hold your interests (and your interests alone), as close to their heart as you do.

That being the case, whether you want a career in music or you're a weekend warrior, should you rely on someone else working with other priorities (and artists)  - to put your band first? 

The facts is, if you know how to get the band booking, put on a good show and build your fan base  - you don't need to surrender a % of your income to a 3rd party do you?

Band Booking versus band agents 

Can Band Booking & Band Promotion really be this simple?

2010-07-26T11:09:00.001+01:00

When your head's a little muddy after the weekend it's nice to read of an approach to band booking and band promotion that isn't complicated.

I came across a very simple little post which reduced the "art" of band promotion (without band management) to 2 key actions.

1.Get Your Music in Front of People

No point sitting in the bedroom waiting to be discovered. You need to get started initially looking for local events where your band can play.   Do  whatever you need to do to get people to know your name. This means band bookings and lots of them.  You need to make sure you hand out flyers with your contact details (website, Facebook,Myspace,Twitter page, Youtube etc). 

On these flyers you might want to state your availability for private functions and you can even offer a discount (with limited time period) for anyone mentioning the flyer and where they got it  - when they contact you to book your band.

 2. Create and Interact with your fans online   

Start with your friends and be you can be pretty sure that their friends will over time notice and  start adding you.   This can  work wonders for gig crowd numbers if you manage it in the right way. Commit  to working on building your fanbase on it every day.  If you goals are loftier than than plenty of band bookings, once you go international with your fanbase members it can only help you secure band management or a deal too.

Check these other online music marketing tips

Band Booking when venues are closing down

2010-07-21T16:39:00.000+01:00

We've all seen the ongoing headlines about headlines about bars closing every day because of  the  economic downturn. Some of these are obviously live music venues. So, the market for where you can play a band booking is likely to be shrinking isn't it?

Quite possibly. But it's not all doom and gloom. 

Keep in mind the following:

1. Effective Band Promotion is more important now than ever beforeIt's becoming increasingly vital to know more about band promotion than your competition. Mastering this will make sure can stand  out from the herd fighting for band bookings in those remaining venues which  are open.

2. There are still plenty of band booking venues.You'll  hear it argued that in "recession", venues will cut back on having live  music or at least reduce gig nights. A few will for sure. In reality  though, these will  be the places that never had a crowd there in the first place.

To avoid becoming a "casualty" and closing down too, successful bars and pubs  will more need a "Draw". Something to get people out from in front of  the TV or Wii and into their venue.  Without their point of difference (ie having live music on versus the  bar down the road which doesn't) they will be MORE likely to fail not  less.

3. Getting asked back for another band booking is simple and essentialReduced numbers of  gig venues means you need to make  sure you're getting repeat band bookings from as many places you play as  possible. The keys are to ask for the next booking on gig night itself  and ideally get more than just one further booking at a time.

4. If you can Succeed when times are tough you'll clean up when they're not
This  is a key point I advise all my business clients on. When times are  tough you need to improve every aspect of your business to stay  profitable. From a band situation this means you look at everything from how much you pay for your guitar strings through to the  quality of your band booking performance (see point 4 below). Make  improvements everywhere you can.

Once you're set up to  prosper when times are tough your band booking success will be easy when the economy picks up again.

5. You need to Stand Out at every band bookingIt's never  has it been more important to give each audience (and venue) a night  to remember. This doesn't always  mean playing naked or setting  your drummer on fire when you play.Just think about how you can work  some "events" and audience interaction into your shows. Aim for a "stand-out"   moment or two that people will remember and tell others about when they wake  with a hangover the next morning.

And You thought Band Booking could be tough in your home town?

2010-07-07T14:17:00.000+01:00

 Ever had one of those days when it just seemed tooo difficult to get a decent band booking?

How about regularly having to cancel gigs due to security threats?

Take a look at this and you might think again

Why you can't get a Band Booking

2010-07-02T14:49:00.000+01:00

Band Booking trouble? You're not alone.

The just-published Gig-getter survey of  original and cover bands and musicians across 15 countries  gave the four most common  band booking problems as:

1."Knowing the right contacts"

I have to say, this one's always seemed a bit of a cop-out to me. Finding out who to talk to to pitch and develop your band is only ever a matter of a little research. To then make it work you just need the right words in the right order and commitment to applying yourselves 

2. "Getting into NEW venues"

Finding "new" venues (i.e. ones you haven't yet played), should be an ongoing process. Everyone in the band keeps their eyes and ears open. Keep adding to your list of potential venues you can pitch. Oh, and if you make sure you're getting asked back everywhere you play you'll actually need less "new" venues over time anyhow.. 

3. "Finding suitable venues for our genre of music"

See points 1 and 2 above. A little research (boring though it may seem) , can go a long way 

4. "Finding venues that pay - well"
This is where you have to give the venue Reasons why you're worth what you're trying to charge. It comes back to:

- Establishing your USP over other bands pitching for the same venue

- Building a fan base and so crowd numbers for the venue

- Being able to put on a live show people will remember and talk about (and which in turn helps further develop your fan base)

Band Booking: What Makes A Great Gig?

2010-06-23T09:18:00.000+01:00

Sometimes we can all forget the basics of what a band booking should be. What makes a great gig.

Namely, something which:

1. Lives in the memory of the crowd (so you build your fan base with each performance)

2. Leads to more band bookings

Further down the page is a post which has some reminders of points to keep in mind and which help with both of those aims above.

To me, the most important are:

* Know your audience: Don't turn up at a rock venue to play 2 sets of country music unless you want to be heckled, play to an empty room or never be asked back by a venue. This all comes down to some basic, inexpensive venue research in the first place.

* Give 110%: - The difference between strumming through a couple of sets on stage or really rousing a crowd.

* Accessorize: Little extras can make a big difference. Whether these are lights, clothes, unusual or over-the-top onstage behaviour or the way you involve your audience. Keep in mind the 2 goals above...

Here's the post

Band Booking Disaster?

2010-06-14T16:18:00.000+01:00

If you had a less than successful weekend as far as gigs go -

you might enjoy putting things into perspective with this:

50 Shocking Live Shows

Kind of makes you think again about calling the odd snapped string and unenthusiastic audience a "disaster" doesn't it?

Turn any unenthusiastic crowd around

Band Websites and Online Band Booking

2010-06-10T16:55:00.004+01:00

I was talking to a music teacher come weekend warrior this week who is doing OK for himself as far as band bookings are concerned. He was though, embarrassed to admit his new band didn't even yet have a band website.

If you're pro-active enough off-line and get asked back often enough you can actually get away without an online presence. 

I wouldn't recommend it though. A simple, reasonably optimised band website can get you plenty of passive band bookings - especially in the corporate or private party sector (if that's of interest). 

It should also be more cost effective and less time-consuming than mailing or hand delivering demo CD.

 So, here's a post and answers from someone asking how to get started with a band website. 

Bandzoogle and wordpress are good suggestions or you can also try a hosting company like Hostgator who have hundreds of  website templates to chose from. 

Band Websites which never bring in a Band Booking

Importance of Band Bookings for Unsigned Acts

2010-06-05T11:06:00.000+01:00

Three simple but effective band promotion tips in the post below to remember if you're trying to get your band signed.

The key for me is the point about how you'll be far more attractive to the labels with a good following. 

Obviously the main way to build that following is through exposure playing plenty of  successful gigs together with online music marketing via a good online presence.

Check out the reminder about not putting too much pressure on yourselves to get that deal too in the writer's first point below

Unsigned Advice 

Facebook for Bands (and other Online Music Marketing)

2010-06-01T10:13:00.000+01:00

Whatever you think of some of the darker aspects of Facebook and privacy, there's no doubting the benefits of using it for band promotion. 

Not least of all in terms of getting more people to your band bookings. It can be a great tool for getting the message out and interacting with the people who come to your gigs.Letting them know when you're playing, talking with afterwards etc.

No wonder really. Check out some of the numbers on this post  which also gives a reasonable overview of other avenues open for band promotion via online music marketing. Many of these you'll be able to use to not just boost audience numbers at your gigs but in getting the band booking in the first place as well. 

Playing gigs is arguably the number 1 method of band promotion, but any band without a reasonable online presence working alongside this is likely to be missing out in terms of numbers of approaches from venues for band bookings and also crowds pulled per gig....

Band Booking 

Band Websites which never bring in a Band Booking?

2010-05-24T13:15:00.001+01:00

Band websites were always meant to help bring in the odd band booking or two and communicate with your fans - even if you're just a weekend warrior.

If your band website isn't helping you this info may be of interest. 

These guys supply band websites which offer:

- Customisable merchandising store  for selling CDs T-Shirts etc  which  is "easily" configurable to Paypal

- Music Player so you can include demos (essential for help landing the band bookings)

- Automatic synchronisation with your bands' Facebook, Twitter and Myspace accounts so you don't have to be signing in and out whenever there are updates for your fans

- Free first month trial 

Pretty neat

Facebook for Bands - Getting More Fans to your Band Booking

2010-05-23T11:27:00.000+01:00

On the subject of Online Music Marketing (see last post), here's some useful ideas about getting more fans to your band booking. Specifically on the topic of Facebook for bands.

High audience numbers will often do more for you in terms of band promotion and getting asked back by the venue than playing well will. Especially if you know how to get the crowd going for it when you play.

Below are some useful tips around Facebook for bands and gig crowd numbers. Couple of things which struck me were:

1. Don't call the band booking an "Event", it's a "Party". 

Big difference in the mind of the potential punter - and so the likelihood of them coming along

2. Get your long term fans to invite ALL their Facebook friends and show them HOW to do it

Not least of all that they should be inviting their friends to a "Party" not an "event" - as per point 1. above

3. If you're charging for tickets, increase this and include a "Free" CD in the cover price

CDs can be great band promotion tools for you - and doing this means everyone leaves the show with an advert for you.  Even if there's no charge for tickets you could offer free (or discounted?) CDs at the show - if you don't want/can't easily sell them.

Here's the post in question

Band Booking - Playing "Support" to a major act (and other online music marketing tips)

2010-05-23T10:43:00.001+01:00

Found some neat band promotion ideas from a guy who went from obscurity to supporting people like the Foo Fighters, Chilli Peppers and Metallica.

There's loads of useful stuff on his website but if you're interested in online music marketing Hagop has some good starters.

One key pointer is the suggestion that any new band target the fans/audience of bigger bands of a similar genre. These can be huge signed acts or those with just a slightly bigger following to yours at the moment.

He talks about the need to find where fans of these other bands congregate to talk about the music they love.Whether that be Facebook or Twitter etc. This was you can aim to "divert" some of the attention they're getting - in your direction.

I especially liked his idea about posting your own performances as "Video responses" to large acts videos on youtube.  The writer (Hagop Tchaparian), likens this to playing a band booking outside the venue where a larger act is gigging. 

Nice.

Here's his website

Band Booking - How to Compete with Band Agents

2010-05-21T12:47:00.000+01:00

If you're coming up against the Band Agents objection when you're trying to get a band booking at certain venues - this might interest you.

Here's a brand new post just published on the Band Promotion Tips page at the Gig-Getter site under

How to compete with Band agents

Band Booking - How to Make Hard Work of it

2010-05-20T22:01:00.000+01:00

We all know there can be benefits to hanging around in bars. 

There are though, far more efficient ways to get a band booking than the recommendation one writer made this week. 

He suggested going to the venue(s) you want the band booking in and said:

"If you tip well, the bartenders will remember you and by your third or  fourth visit you may even be able to get them to hand your press pack  to the person that books shows at the venue."

That might be fine for the odd local venue that you're going to anyway. How many venues though can you reasonably get around in a week? How much would this cost you in time and transport - not to mention beer?

Personally, I've always found it far easier to pick up the phone and spend half an hour ringing round a few venues. With the right questions you can pitch around 10 venues in less time that it takes to get served in most bars.

Visiting the venues for anything other than having a good time (or watching other bands sometimes) sounds like making hard work of gig-getting to me. 

Here's an outline I use when making calls if you're stuck for something to say on the phone to get a band booking 

Band Booking - Getting a Crowd to Your Gigs

2010-05-11T15:13:00.003+01:00

"If you don't promote your shows no-one will come to them. If no-one comes to them you won't get a second shot"

So says the poster of this tip-packed piece about getting a crowd to your band booking.

Put another way, it's one thing to get gigs, quite another to get people into the venue for the band booking itself.

Some of the specific tips you might like are:

* Space out your plays
Don't play any town too often. You want people to think a gig by you in any town is something special - not something they can see every week.

* Don't list all your future gigs on your website - just the next one
You don't want people picking and choosing which gigs they'll go to. The idea is to "get every fan to come and see you every time you play"

* You're not playing a band booking because you make good music - you're playing so you draw fans and so sell beer (a sobering thought eh?)
This is actually a great leveller. I've long said the band booking doesn't go to the best musicians. Rather those who know how to book the gig, get the people into the venue and then give them a great time

Here's a link to the post

Band Bookings & Stage presence

2010-05-04T09:50:00.003+01:00

 I just found this cool site  which seems aimed perfectly at semi pro bands and solo artists like you and I.

The blog positions itself as:

"Articles about making it in the music business.  These articles  are not aimed at the bands who are already signed to major labels, they  are aimed at the hard working local and regional bands who plug away  each weekend and are trying to make a living" 

The page on the link below has some good stuff about the importance of dressing for Stage presence (once you've "mastered the music") and getting the gigs in the first place. Will be a useful blog to keep an eye on I suspect. Interesting to hear what anyone else thinks.

MusicBiz  

Band Bookings and the need for whole band agreement

2010-04-28T17:45:00.000+01:00

I've just had an email from an incredibly frustrated drummer who's had to cancel a gig he'd only just booked for his band.

Jamie complained to me that he'd made a number of calls to potential new venues for his indie band which had recently re-formed and was trying to start gigging again.

One called him back to offer a date which another band had cancelled on. Jamie agreed a good fee and then alerted the other band members to let them know.

The only missing ingredient here is the fact that the band themselves hadn't "signed up" to what dates they were and were not available on. The result was the singer being away at a family function on the date in question and the gig "that never was" needing to be cancelled.

It will be that much harder now for Jamie to go back and approach that venue with the band's professionalism and credibility somewhat shredded.

We've all done it for sure, but it really doesn't take much in terms of organising to share a calendar so that gigs cannot be booked when any one's not able to play.

One final thought for those gruesome occasions when you may have to cancel a gig for whatever reason. If you've done a spot of networking with other bands you may be able to offer a "substitute" to the venue for the night you bail on. This can often soften the blow and keep your relationship with the venue as positive.

So, you might want to network a little with a good band who aren't gigging as frequently as you ( and so are likely to be available if you ever have to cancel) - as well as a busy band or two who may be able to push gigs your way from time to time for a similar reason....

You can learn about stage presence from any musicians

2010-04-25T21:08:00.000+01:00

Shouldn't we all be open to picking up tips about how to get gigs or improve our stage musicians from other musicians of all genres?

I spotted the post below where Flamenco guitarists were discussing the importance of Stage Presence.

As someone who believes that playing the music when you gig is only part of the show - there were some good points made.

1. Ask yourself what sort of atmosphere you want to create for the audience...Serious? Fun? 

In many ways this one goes right to the core of the image or identity you want to create for your act and so is well worth giving some consideration to

2. Think of people you enjoy listening to and watching speak or perform and those you don't - and ask yourself why.

An interesting exercise to try out really. See of you can identify why some people annoy the hell out of you as soon as they open their mouths and why you enjoy listening to and being around certain other people.

3. "Stage presence is mostly about being confident and looking as if you are enjoying yourself"

'Nuff said and I couldn't agree more

and if nerves are a problem for you when you're trying to develop and display stage presence:

4. "Start you gig with something simple...something you  have played for years and can pull off every time"

Here's the post in full

and more Stage presence info

Band Bookings - How to Get started

2010-04-22T12:19:00.000+01:00

Probably like you, I've read loads of posts and articles online about how to get gigs. Most are just are OK, others state the blindingly obvious and are - clearly written by people who gave up playing gigs years ago.

Once in while though we all come across something which offers an approach most of us would never naturally think of.

Here's one such idea written by a band manager in L.A. In it the writer talks about how to get started gigging by hosting your own "party".

Yes, we've heard this idea before - but most of us won't have considered the professional approach she suggests. I can really see this working for a lot of bands.

If you're still trying to get yourself established (or you haven't even started) have a read through this tell me you don't feel inspired....

BAND BOOKINGS - GET STARTED

"Can't build a live career without an agent"?

2010-04-22T10:37:00.000+01:00

There was a piece in the Guardian here in the UK recently called "Rock n Roll jobs explained".

It talks about the various types of people involved in getting and keeping a live pro act on the road. IN it, Geoff Meall of the Agency Group who represent Muse (amongst others) says:

"You can't build a live career without an agent. You won't get any doors opened"

Obviously it's in Geoff's interest to say this - opening doors to gigs for bands is his business. He is of course right though for pro acts, none of whom will have the time (or probably inclination) to get involved in booking gigs.

Agents can take-over the band bookings hassle for us semi-pro acts as well of course - providing we don't mind surrendering control and of course a % of our income. Bookings though are far from impossible to get for yourself and doors will in fact open for any semi-pro act which commits itself to getting it's own gigs.

Also from the Guardian post - if you're concerned about the number of people you're currently attracting to your gigs, the knowledge that the mighty Oasis pulled 12 punters for the first promoter who got involved with them is enough to give anyone hope for building their own fan base....

How to Get Your own gigs

Look outside your Musical Genre to Develop Stage Presence

2010-04-14T21:59:00.001+01:00

“If you want to be a headliner, you better put on a headline show.” - Jay Z

How interesting (and reassuring) to read about this enormously successful artist struggling with his live show in the early days. I've often thought musicians should be able to adapt ideas they can learn from other kinds of performers and use the best of them in their own shows. Rouse the Crowd for example, contains certain crowd-pleasing ideas inspired by a successful magician but which work brilliantly to ignite any band's gig audience.

If you'd sooner not stray too far away from music for your inspiration, here's Jay Z again talking about how he looks to broaden the spectrum, soak in what he can from artists from all genres of music and use that for his own shows:

“In hip-hop, there's not many great performers. I look outside the genre, measuring myself against others. I look at Madonna's production and envy that. Daft Punk's set, I'm like, what the… And I look at the way U2 can command an audience. Bono's a performer pretty much like I am. He's not a dancer; he's not jumping around. He's having a conversation. He's using his stillness as movement.

How to Get Gigs as an Indie Band

2010-04-14T21:37:00.000+01:00

Getting cover band gigs is one thing but as an indie band with your own material getting started playing live can be tough.

 Here are 6 tips you might want to think about which mainly revolve around getting together with other musicians. I wouldn't recommend the 6th suggestion about trying  to persuade non-live nusic venues to hire you as that can be a tough sell. 

The other suggestions though are all worth including in your toolbox for getting gigs and will work alongside directly approaching the existing live music venues you target.

How to Get Gigs

Rouse the Crowd - Amazon out of Stock

2010-04-09T15:32:00.001+01:00

If you're one of the people trying to track down a copy of the new paperback version of Rouse the Crowd here's a link to buy direct from the author as Amazon are now out of  stock until some time next week

One Special Reason to be Thankful you Get Gigs

2010-04-09T12:10:00.003+01:00

Someone asked me to write a piece called "10 Reasons to love gigging" and I'm working on it now. But yesterday's death of Malcom Mclaren gave me another reason I hadn't thought of until I heard the news.

There's a lot of us who were teenagers in the mid/late 1970's and who were hugely influenced by Maclaren bringing to us the Sex Pistols. Most of those people may stop for a moment and think of where they were when they first heard about the Pistols. Me, I was a paprerboy delivering the papers which had the Bill Grundy furore on their covers. 

Over the weekend there'll be some of us who will doubtless quietly toast what Mcalren did for music and the impact this had on us growing up. Those of us who are gigging though are lucky enough to have another option.

For me it's something special that tomorrow night we can dedicate an encore of Anarchy in the UK in MM's memory. Oh, an in case you're wondering what all the fuss was about, check out what Alan McGee (who discovered Oasis) has to say about the guy the NME once called TalcyMalcy

How to get Gigs without visiting the Venues

2010-04-07T09:09:00.001+01:00

The person who posed the question about how to get gigs without spending a lot of time and money travelling to and from the venues got one thing right.

The best way to get gigs is usually to talk directly to the promoter or venue manager.

If you don't have the time or the money to visit all the venues you need to speak to (and who does?) then get organised and hit the phones.

The good news is that it get easier with practise and you can do it in your dressing gown without even washing or shaving.

Here's some tips:

Calling venues to get gigs

How NOT to get gigs on the phone

How to Get Started Getting Gigs

2010-03-31T22:05:00.000+01:00

Here's a question I got this week from a band in New Zealand

"What's the first things we need to do to get started playing local gigs?

These guys had only played a couple of private parties for friends and wanted to start gigging regularly. 

I suggested two key first actions which will help get any band or act started gigging regularly.

 1.  Start searching and compiling a list of all the venues in your area which feature live bands

A lot of would-be gigging bands (or solo artists) make the mistake of only focusing on one or two venues to target for gigs. Usually these venues will be the ones they go themselves as a customer or the most well-known venues in the area.

The problem(s) with this of course is that if it's the most well-known venue it's the one most other bands will be targeting. So, the competition for bookings will be tougher. 

Take a little time and do some serious research to find those more obscure, less well-known live venues when you're starting out. They'll generally be easier to get gigs at.  Not least of all because most other bands will be chasing the more obvious targets. 

The more venues you can find out about and then target, the greater your chances of getting out of the bedroom and onto the stage playing gigs. Like many things it's a numbers game. 

2. Study all the other bands in your area playing the kind of music & venues you want to

When you do this you'll be able to see what makes your band or act different. Once you know this it'll be clear how to pitch your band to the venues you target. You don't always have to go and watch these other bands live (although you should try). You can learn plenty by their look and sound on their websites and Myspace/Facebook pages.

You need to do both these things before you even think about approaching venues with a pitch or a CD. Many bands plough straight into dishing out CDs without any thought for what they stand for as a band and how they compare/differ from every other band out there.....

How to Get Gigs 

Rouse the Crowd - New paperback latest update

2010-03-22T14:19:00.002Z

To everyone who keeps asking - I can only show you a picture of the new Paperback version of the Audience Interaction manual. 

Printing delays again, but I'm promised we'll have stock to ship from this coming Friday 26th March.

You can pre-order from here and it will also be avilable on Amazon some time next week. 

Here's the Amazon link so you can keep your eye out for when they have stock.

Sorry for the delay again - I'm leaving the office now to go and beat the printer (again)

How to Get Gigs from Reluctant Venues

2010-03-20T07:40:00.000Z

I wrote something in this month's Gig-Getter newsletter about the one method of getting gigs than many musicians overlook.

Namely, mailing (or emailing) a regular newsletter of their own to venues where they want to play.

I get more queries about how this method "could possibly work" from new bands than anything else I write about.

For everyone who can't see the point of making the effort to publish a one-pager every couple of months while their trying to fill their gig diary - I have a question.

How else will you continue to try to pitch those venues who initially say "Thanks but no thanks" when you first approach them for a gig?

I've used newsletters not only to get gigs when we needed them, but they've been responsible for literally £00,000s worth of business for my marketing company as well.

Don't think you band needs to have huge news to talk about. All you're doing is keeping your name in front of the venue and gently reminding them of why they should book you. The alternative when you're turned down is to either forget about the venue or try them again with another call 6 months or so down the line.

What happens if another band lets them down one night or there's a change of management in between times?

Try putting together a newsletter for yourself if you're not playing live as often as you like. MS Publisher is a good a format as anything.

There are some more ideas via this link below

Power of Newsletters to get band gigs

Is there a "Best day of the week" to get Gigs?

2010-03-19T08:18:00.000Z

Large marketing companies whose business it is to know what works and what doesn't, spend $000's analysing things like the best days of the week to try and sell or pitch their products.

The fact is, not all days of the week are created equal when it comes to the average attitude of your potential "buyers".

As far as gig venues are concerned, whether you're approaching them in person with a personal visit or trying to interest them on the phone, some days of the week will work better for you than others.

It's not only days of the week, but times of the day that can make big differences to whether or not you get the gig.

There's one main reason for this and its no different from when someone tries to sell you something. It boils down to have much time you feel you have available to listen. How open you are.

For venues, Thursdays, Fridays and the weekend are not generally good times to try and approach them. They should be busy and preoccupied with their daily trade. If they're not at that time of the week the chances are they won't be around long enough to become a regular venue for you.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday will prove to be your best days for targeting new venues for gigs. This is when the bookers will have more time to listen and will be able to think and plan ahead rather than managing the busy day to day affairs. Time-wise, leave it until after 2.30pm.

If you can't call in the afternoon (the best time in my experience), then do it after 6:00pm but early enough to avoid the main evening trade.

How to get gigs

How to Get Gigs with a price cut

2010-03-13T10:09:00.000Z

Some bands recoil in horror at the prospect of cutting their gig fees to land a booking.

"The price is the price" they say, and if a venue won't pay it,

"F*** 'em".

I understand this point of view and any band does need to be able to say:

"No thanks. Not at that price".

But, if you're not getting enough gigs at the price point you're aiming for, or there's one particular venue where you're very keen to get a yourself booked, it can help you to offer a "Special" price.

"Special" in this case means a "One-off" price. A "Trial price" to prove yourself to the venue.

The understanding being that if the venue (and you) want to agree a repeat booking, it will be at a your usual higher price. You see this kind of price-promoting all around you on every conceivable kind of product.

If it helps, you can look at the difference between your usual cost and the discounted one-off as a marketing investment. No different really from spending money on advertising. Just do make sure you raise the price after that first appearance.

How to Get Gigs by Covering all the demo bases

2010-03-11T17:43:00.000Z

Which is the right or definitive demo tool?

I just got involved in a discussion about which demo method is essential for bands to use get gigs.

Fascinating to hear how sometimes completely opposite approaches can be equally as successful for different bands and circumstances

To demo or not to demo?

You can get gigs without the person who books you ever having heard you play - for sure.

The kind of venues that will take you "blind" though are generally at the lower end unless you've been recommended by someone who has seen you.

So if you want better quality gigs you're gonna need to let people hear what you can do before they commit.

Should you give out Demo CDs to venues?

Yes, but only when they're expected and wanted.

Dropping them off either by themselves or as part of a promo kit in the hope that the "right person" will listen to them - and then book you, is futile. It's a waste of time and money.

Surely you need to talk to the venue first? "Qualify" them, as salespeople say.

This means checking out whether they have any potential interest in booking a new band (i.e. yours)- now or possibly in the future.

But what's the one killer tool?

Demo CD? Video? Mp3s? YouTube? MYspace? Own website or Facebook?
In simple terms, you'll get more gigs if you cover all bases.

Venues differ on how they want to see what you can do. This means if you have your demo and some promo/marketing material in all the recognised formats you'll naturally multiply the number of venues who will book you. If you're getting all the gigs you need with one or just a couple of the above that's great. If not, you know what you can do.

And finally on the subject of demos.....

Should you put together a demo/promo kit BEFORE you've even played your first gig?

Two schools of thought here. one says you need the promo kit to get gigs.

The second says that if you agree you can get some bookings without people having heard you (see "to demo or not to demo" para above), you'd be better off without a promo kit. At least to start with.

The reason being you need time to fine-tune what your band is about, to really discover your strengths and weaknesses. Once you've done that you can put your promo kit and demo together confident that you won't need to adjust it any time soon and that it will get you more quality bookings.

Any thoughts?

How to Get Gigs: Sonicbids?

2010-03-03T18:45:00.000Z

Sonicbids is very active advertising itself as a method of getting band gigs. If you've ever thought about adding it to your repertoire to get gigs yourself you might be interested in the responses to a post from the great Backstage with the Bands forum on Harmony Central

Personally I've never been keen on paying anyone else to do what we can do fairly easily for ourselves. A proactive DIY attitude with a phone, demo and newsletter (backed up Facebook) is all any half decent band needs as far as I can see..

Playing bang gigs -Don't keep your website a secret

2010-02-28T09:00:00.000Z

More interested visits to your bands website or myspace page will (unless your site is a disaster) inevitably lead you to to get more gigs and a bigger fan base - even if you're weekend warrior.

At the bottom of the page here is a post which when you click on it takes you to something entitled "How to drive traffic to your website". More accurately I think it's really about maintaining/creating interest in your myspage page.

The writer re commends:

1. Changing you main image frequently
2. Change you page layout frequently
3. Sending newsletters (if you read Gig-Getter or subscribe to my monthly newsletter you'll know these can be killer methods in your tool-kit to get gigs - never mind drive traffic to your site...)

These are all good tips but without this next one you're really missing a trick

4. Mention your site when you play gigs
Many bands feel awkward about doing this last one so if this is the case with you need you should remind yourself why you're doing it. Keep your focus on giving those people in the crowd looking for more info about you - exactly what they want.

If you get your website (or myspace address) in front of people when their interest is at it's highest (ie when they're enjoying the gig) you give yourself the best chance of them visiting and contacting you re future gigs.

We've played gig where we've forgotten to mention the website on mic and the traffic versus the spike in visitors the morning or Monday after when we have told people our address confirms how valuable this is. You might also want to get a visual reminder of your website /msypace page onstage either on the back of your monitors or use a banner/backdrop behind you..
Either way, don't waste the opportunity by keeping your website a secret

Improve your myspace page

The Importance of Getting Gigs

2010-02-24T22:26:00.000Z

Here's a great post below about "Working in the music industry".

I love point 2 : Never Give up playing live.

Though of course I think it should rank as #1...

Most successful live acts would also agree with the writers' point 3 about continually improving on your instrument.

If you want to make sure you keep your band at the forefront as far getting gigs is concerned you'll be polishing up your technique and your act as a matter of course.

10 Essential Tips for Musicians

How to Keep Your Gig Crowds Going - after the Gig

2010-02-23T18:15:00.000Z

I must have missed this post from one of my favourite blogs when it was first published earlier this month.

Check out point number seven in particular here where the writer talks about making 3 versions of a song available.

This technique could be easily used to keep up the interest of your fans even if all you do is play gigs part time at weekends.

Different versions of any song could be messaged as links via Twitter, Facebook, emailed to a subscriber base or just as downloads from your website.

Even if you're a covers band you could keep fans in the loop as you're learning new material by letting them hear (or even see by using video) how rehearsals are developing. Record and "release" different versions from live gigs and even work on a cleaner or extended "Studio" version.

Then if you gig your own material of course there's always making money with these different versions. Whatever your situation this could be another way of staying in touch with your gig crowd in between gigging in a particular venue or region.

Some interesting food for thought here...

Music 3.0: 10 Music Marketing Ideas

How to get the crowd going AT Gigs

Can a band like yours really get gigs?

2010-02-20T17:07:00.000Z

If you're just starting out you might not believe you'll ever be good enough to play live, or that no-one would want to pay you for effectively having a night out every weekend.

Well, I remember before I got invited to join my brothers band a few years ago. I was amazed that people were actually paying him and his mates to bash out a couple of sets worth of covers on a Friday or Saturday night.

Eventually, out of curiosity, I went out to watch them one night.

They were "O.K" as they (a little self-consciously) served up a mix of rock and indie material to a handful of very vaguely interested drinkers. Their gear was bog-standard, their stage presence less than zero.

I still couldn't work out why a bar or club would want to hire this kind of "entertainment".

So now, working with other bands and solo artists I can understand musicians who "rehearse" just for pleasure and never even consider playing in public or who doubt they could ever command a fee.

The fact is though, there's very much a market up and down most countries in the world for "weekend warriors" playing songs the crowds know and love. It doesn't matter how mediocre you feel you are when you start. It's all about gaining experience playing gigs and being committed to get better.

That includes improving your technique, tightness, choice of material, ability to get gigs, your stage show and your gear over time too.

That same band of my brother's (which includes me now) has since gone on to appear regularly at the Hard Rock Cafe for the last 6 years.

Believe me, if you'd been to watch that first 3/4 empty gig I saw them at you wouldn't have believed it possible either....

How to Get Gigs

Using Your Demo to Get Gigs

2010-02-16T08:00:00.001Z

I read another mention of something I've long subscribed to in terms of getting gigs and marketing your band in general. Namely that you don't give out your demo (or press kit) unless it's asked for.

Why is this?

After all, hasn't every one of us seen some people who give out their business cards like confetti, to everyone they meet. In the hope of course that someone (anyone?) will buy what they're peddling.

The danger with doing this if you're using a CD as a demo is that you risk a venue making a decision about you without knowing all the facts. Without you first selling them on what's in it for them. The crowd (or couple of car loads) you'll pull into their bar or club or the exclusivity for example(maybe you don't play anywhere else in their town). Whatever it is that makes you different from the hoards of other bands beating a path to their door.

If the demo gets into someone else's hands at the venue before the decision-maker you run the risk the most important person will never even hear you. They won't even know you send the demo.

To use a demo (or press kit) to successfully get band gigs you should only send it to venues that sales people would call "qualified".

That's to say, people who have heard your pitch and expressed an interest in you. Just make sure all contact details and at least one strong testimonial are on the CD itself..

How to get Gigs where the competition is Intense

2010-02-15T09:37:00.000Z

Here's an interesting approach to getting gigs if you're based in an area with a lot of other bands trying to get booked at the same venues. It's is an excerpt from an interview with someone called Corey Smith and "Maroon Weekly" are the people asking the questions. You might be interested in the info I highlighted in blue italics

Maroon Weekly: I’m interested in how you got started. From what I understand, you began by playing the Athens scene in Georgia, right?

Corey Smith: Oddly, I didn’t start in Athens. I went to school in Athens and I live twenty minutes from Athens. Athens is sort of my adopted home. But Athens, much like Austin, is a difficult music scene. There are so many musicians there that it is hard to get gigs and hard for people to take you seriously. So I actually didn’t start there. I started playing out further in the country. I played a bunch of smaller college towns and kind of built up a buzz. And oddly, when I was playing those smaller markets people thought that since I was from Athens I had a big thing going on in Athens. But I really didn’t. So it wasn’t until later when I went back to Athens after we had generated a buzz that we were able to do really well there.

So the lesson about how to get gigs here is that if you can't get them in your home town to start with - look just a little further afield.

Build up a track record and following then you'll have more leverage when it comes to booking your band closer to home..

Here's the full post the above quote was taken from

2 Questions to Get You Another Band Gig

2010-02-14T19:20:00.001Z

I was out with a new rock band who were playing a venue for the first time this week.

The guy who booked the gig wasn't sure how to approach the venue manager to get the fee after they'd finished playing. Nor when I asked him, did he know what he should do about a repeat booking.

He'd said he'd probably call them in a couple months to try and get another date. Before he went over to ask for his money I made the suggestion of two questions he could ask which should get him the cash (without the embarrassment he was clearly feeling) and get 2 repeat bookings there and then.

1. "Was that OK for you?"

Asking this question of the venue manager after you've finished playing does three things for you.

A) Makes it clear you've completed your side of the bargain (i.e. playing the music) and that now is the moment for them to fulfill their side (coughing up the money)

B)Gets them to give you some feedback on how they feel the gig/night went

C) Assuming the feedback is positive it gives you a testimonial you can use by quoting them on your future marketing/pitching for your band.

Then the following fairly long question (which obviously you can adjust to suit yourselves as far as actual months go). I suggested he ask this while the money was being counted out by the venue manager

2. "We've been getting quite a lot of gigs coming in over the last few weeks and we haven't got that much left. Do you want to put a couple more dates in the diary for this year now while we've got them? We haven't got anything before October though.."

What the above does is:

A)"Shows" the venue you're in demand

B) Encourages the venue manager to make the follow-up booking now while you're there

C) Saves you the time and money by not having to call separately to re-book.

It also targets the venue when their enthusiasm for you should be at it's highest - i.e. when you've just come off-stage after a great gig.

The rock band in question got their cash and two more bookings.

If you're not playing great gigs yet leave it several weeks and call them back.

In the meantime you might want to try this for better crowd reactions and the Rouse the Crowd eBook itself.

More ideas on How to get gigs here and in the Gig-Getter eBook

The Impact of your "Confidence" on a Gig Crowd

2010-02-12T17:14:00.000Z

An incident this week reminded me of importance of "appearing" confident when you're gigging - even when you don't feel it.

I was at a conference where there were a number of people making speeches to an audience of several hundred. Everything was going fine until one guy got up who was clearly nervous.

You might have been at a similar kind of event yourself. Within a minute or two a growing number of the audience began shifting around uncomfortably in their seats.

I have admit it was pretty painful to watch. I was probably not alone in willing him to be able to relax so that the rest of us could too.

What was interesting is that the effect he had on the crowd had nothing whatsoever to do with what he was saying. The content was actually quite useful (well, relatively so).

The problem was all about how he looked while performing (nervous) and his "delivery".

When I though about it, he had nothing to be nervous about. Nobody really cared what he looked like (pretty much the same as everyone else). Nobody wanted him to make a clown of himself on stage and the point of this is that no gig crowd will want you too either.

If like many of bands, especially when they're just starting off, you're nervous when you play - it can help you to remember that every gig crowd will generally be "on your side". That's to say that when you step out there in front of them, they'll actively want you to have a good gig and give them a great time.

They'll even be prepared to forgive a few cock-ups as long as you don't make them feel uncomfortable in the process. The secret if you don't feel confident is to "Fake it 'til you make it". Just act as if you feel confident. Eventually your feelings will follow.

More ideas here:

Developing Confidence Onstage

You're never too old (or late) to Get Gigs

2010-02-10T09:06:00.001Z

And in case you thought you'd left it too late to start getting gigs (or to start up again) check this out.

Here's a guy gigging 30 years after his previous performance. he says he "can't wait for the next one".

Well if it's another 30 years he needn't worry about it I guess.

Heartwarming though to see someone back gigging- but man, what a waste of 3 decades!

How to get Gigs

A word from the BBC about How to Get Gigs

2010-02-09T13:14:00.000Z

You might like some of the ideas in the link below about How to get Gigs. Although it's aimed I think mainly at Original/Indie bands most of the tips will apply to covers acts too.

"Getting to know" the venue promoters by regularly visiting the venues will work - but you can obviously only do this if you have the time. Watching other bands play the venues you're aiming for though is always a good investment of your time. You can learn how good you need to be, how you can improve on what these other bands do and also network for gig-swapping or even to host your own gigs as the writer Henry Carden (himself a promoter), says in point 4 of the link below.

Hosting your own gigs with another band (or two) is often a great way to break into gigging before you have the experience you'll need to get work in more prestigious venues. With a little work at self-promoting your events it can also guarantee good crowds and some income to help with new gear.

Here's the link - the tips will work if you're not on Teesside btw!

BBC - How to Get Gigs

Get Gigs from a Music Agency?

2010-02-05T17:31:00.000Z

I watching a video about how to get gigs and it recommended "sub contracting" out through an agent to get your first gigs.

The idea being that they music agency would take on untried acts and "train" them to do bigger gigs.

I've got a couple of issues with this for bands who are just starting out trying to get gigs.

1. Most music agencies won't touch you if you haven't gigged before

2. Why would you want to surrender a % of your gig fee to someone who will never care as much about your music as you do?

OK so a music agency can in theory take away a little of the effort involved when you're trying to learn how to get gigs. But I don't know why anyone would chose turning up at venues they've never heard of just because some middleman or woman tells them too.

Not when you can be master of your own destiny - and gig fee.