Using Your Demo to Get Gigs

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..

Some Gig-Getting Tips I'd agree with...and some I wouldn't

Here's a post I came across recently which has some food for thought for anyone looking for gig-getting tips.


Fill up your touring schedule

The author (Daniel Kohn) advises you to "Take Whatever You Can Get In The Beginning". I think I understand where he's coming from here. I've always advised artists who are starting out gigging that they should consider early gigs as investments, tools to:

1. Gain experience at playing live (and so improve their "art" and their confidence)

2. Get more gigs. Truly, the more people who see you play, the more gigs you're going to get. Unless of course your'e underehearsed (or just plain lousy). Then of course, your live appearances will work on your behalf to prevent you getting further gigs.

One important point here. Although you should take the kind of gigs ( Monday or Tuesday night as DK recommends) in the beginning, and lower fees than you'll accept as time goes by, I wouldn't ever recommend going out for free. it will only make it harder for you to justify your fees later. A discounted or "Trial" price perhaps. But free? Nope.

A second recommendation on the post is to "Personally Deliver Your Demo To Each Venue Booker". OK if you have the time but I would stress you should only ever deliver (or mail) a demo if:

1. The person you mail or hand it to is the one who makes the ultimate decision about whether to hire you
2. This person is expecting your visit or the mail (contact them separately first).

Please feel free to add your own thoughts or comments....

If I'd known then what I know now about getting gigs

Back in 2006, the MIA (Music Industries Association) were reporting that there were over 18 million "lapsed musicians" in the UK alone. These were people who'd tried their hand at playing an instrument, maybe joined a band or whatever. The bulk of these 18 million had given up by the time they were 21. I don't know what the figure is or was for the US, but with a population of around 5 times the size it could equate to about 90 million there.

At the time of writing Gig-Getter it struck me as incredibly sad and I was reminded of it by an email I received recently.

Mike, a middle-aged IT manager wrote to me to tell me how as a teenager he'd played guitar in a band in the 1980's. They had tried to stay ahead of the trends in pop music and peddle their own material to the record labels in the UK. In amongst the seemingly endless rejection slips for each of their series of demo tapes (and back then it was "tapes"), Fiction (who had The Cure and were run by the guy who supposedly discovered the Jam) and A&M called to say they might be interested.

The problem was that both labels wanted to know dates they could come and see Mike's band gig in London. This was a problem because their only experience of playing live was the odd gig or two for friends in their Northern hometown. They had no manager and as far as getting gigs in any other city went - they "didn't know where to start".

So the chances with the record labels, and the band itself, came and went. Mike got himself a "real job" and today gets his kicks playing in a thriving tribute band for which he gets all the gigs.

He says that he does sometimes allow himself to wonder about what might have happened had he known back in the 1980's what he's since learnt now about getting gigs. But on the other hand, as he says, "Self control wasn't a big quality of mine back then so God knows how I'd have ended up!"