Tag: booking
Secrets to NOT Getting Booked for a Gig.
by claybutlermusic on Feb.08, 2010, under Band Management, Career Building, Marketing & Promotion, Uncategorized
You’ve seen the tips on how to get booked for a gig. But I bet you haven’t seen the secrets of how to NOT get booked (or booked again) by a club or venue. Here are seven sure-fire ways to ensure that you won’t get a call to perform:
1.) Don’t give them a complete press kit. Venues and club owners want to know what they’re getting when they book you. While CDs are a given, most venues would like to see a bio, press clips, or fact sheet.
2.) Don’t put your contact info on everything. Press kits get misplaced and separated from CDs. If the venue loves your music and wants to book you, but your contact info isn’t on your demo, then you can bet you won’t get the call back.
3.) Don’t follow up. Club owners get busy. After all, they do have a business to run. If you don’t get called back after a reasonable time, it may not always be because they don’t like you. They may not have gotten around to listening to the demo, or they may have forgotten to get in touch with you. Out of sight, sometimes really is out of mind. So not following up with leads may just make you lose that gig.
4.) Don’t start on time. Fashionably late doesn’t exist when it comes to gigs. Similarly, taking breaks that are too frequent or too long are deal-breakers. Crowds get antsy. Owners get antsy. Keep them waiting, and you likely won’t get hired back.
5.) Don’t fill the venue. Club owners really don’t care about your music. They care about filling their establishment with PAYING patrons. They want to sell enough food and drinks to cover your band and make a profit for the night. Playing to an empty club definitely won’t get you hired again.
6.) Don’t cater to the audience. Even though your adoring fans show up to support you, not everyone in the audience is there to see your band. Some people just like the establishment. Make that crowd react negatively with your music, volume, or antics, and you won’t play there again.
7.) Advertise other gigs on nights that compete with the current venue. You’ve got a gig tomorrow night at a competing club across town? Great! Your fans need to know it, but do it discretely. Announcing that gig on the microphone tells a club that you’re stealing their crowd. That’s bad business. Do it and you won’t be asked back.
What other tactics can you think of that ruin your chances of getting booked?
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Facing the Facts: Hard Lessons for a Young Cover Band
by claybutlermusic on Jun.23, 2009, under Band Management, Career Building, Uncategorized
Length of the Gig
First of all, playing a clug gig requires knowing a lot of material. They were under the assumption that going to a club gig was like going to a typical concert-type gig, where the headliner plays a 90-minute set (at most). Jaws hit the floor when I explained that they would have to perform four hour-long sets, or about 40 songs total.
It’s Not About You
Finally, and perhaps the hardest reality they had to face, is that the gig isn’t at all about the band. It’s not about how cool the band is. It’s not about the band’s cool music. It’s about one thing to a club owner: can they make the club money? I had to inform them that the owner’s main concern is that you fill their club and sell a lot of drinks in order to make them a profit for the night. If you can’t do that, rest assured you won’t be playing there again. The same holds true, especially when the band “plays for the door”. If the band makes money solely off of the cover charge, it would greatly behoove them to bring in a couple hundred people!
I remember when I had to face these realities in my younger days, so I could empathize with them on the thrill of being approached by a club, immediately crushed by having to turn down the gig. But, in the long run, it’s far better to be prepared for a gig than to have the wrong expectation going in, thus blowing the gig, and ruining your reputation as a band. I’ve been there too.
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