How to Get Gigs Without Waiting

How to Get Gigs Without Waiting

How to Get Gigs by taking action

You might identify with this. I got a call from a guitarist in Europe about which was the best way to get gigs without waiting for venues to contact them. 

Like most musicians he had his band up on the relevant websites, a pretty well optimise site of their own and was active on Twitter on FB so potential bookers could find him. But he still wasn't getting enough gigs and wanted to get more proactive about it. 

He asked me whether calling on the phone, dropping by the venue in person or mailing was going to get them out more.
If you've tried any or all these methods you've probably come to the same conclusion as me and most of the artists I've helped. When you want to know how to get gigs, the quickest, cheapest, easiest and least stress-free way to do it  is using  the phone.

How to Get Gigs if it's not by phone

Even when you don't  want to wait around in the hope that people or venues might contact you and offer gigs, you can still feel uncomfortable at the thought of picking up the phone to call someone you don't know. That's why preparation and working on your attitude are crucial to success.


If you don't believe me about how to get gigs using the phone - let's take a quick look  at the alternatives to calling when you want to be proactive and bag that band booking.

 

1. HOW TO GET GIGS - IN PERSON

This is fine if time and expense are no issue for you. It can take up a lot your of time and money to travel to a venue if you take the face-to-face "selling" approach.

If you've tried this as a method for how to get gigs,  you've probably often found the "booker" concerned wasn't there or he wasn't available to talk to and you've had  to hang around and wait for them to be free. This can happen even if  you call first to set up a
meeting time.

If you're  visiting a music venue  as a customer of course (not making a special journey there) you can try to talk to the manager/booker without any additional cost or wasted time while you're there. You just need to make sure he or she's
got time to listen to you pitching your act while they're working...

 

2. HOW TO GET GIGS BY POST

Personally I still recommend this method  for bands and musicians  for at least a couple of times a year. It will  still gets gigs.  You can send venue bookers who are hard to get hold of on the phone or who've previously said they don't have any space for your band - a one sheet band newsletter. 

This costs the price of a stamp, printing, an envelope and a little time. The largest amount of time is in coming up with the "news" you'll include.

More about newsletters for band booking


Mailing is more time consuming and expensive than the phone but can work well alongside your other efforts if you find it really difficult to face using the phone to get gigs....

How to Get Gigs using the Phone


Image above courtesy of openclipart.org