The art (talent) of hustling gigs......

[Dana]

I've been playing gigs for about 15 years now (wow, I'm getting old).

Ever since I was a kid I had a dream of playing live. To me it's the ultimate goal of being a musician. I love the excitement of performing in front of an audience. When I got old enough to start going to clubs to see bands, I would think, "That is so cool! I've got to figure out how to do that."

Since then I've been in a number of bands, some of them fairly good. But often the problem with many bands was, no one had the talent
(drive? determination? personality?) to go out and hustle gigs for the band. Eventually we broke up due to lack of interest.

Awhile back a bass player friend told me one of the main things he looks for in joining a band is whether they have a person in the band with the talent, ability, and drive to hustle gigs. To him that was equally as important as musical talent. I never thought of it before he said it, but he was right!

But how do you do it? Obviously some people are born with it. These are the type A personality types. Probably they work in sales or customer service. They have a talent for schmoozing people and giving them the warm fuzzies in order to win them over.

But what if you don't have this kind of personality? Many musicians, myself included, tend to be on the shy side. I've never been comfortable with cold calling someone and asking for a job, or walking into a bar/club and glad handing the owner and schmoozing him.

I've been thinking about this since I started my current gig. Currently I play in a jazz trio/quartet that performs 2 a week at a Japanese restaurant. The bassist got us the gig. In addition, he's been booking us at parties, weedings, and the like. We've been making some decent cash, so that's been great. The drawback? He's not a good bass player. His time stinks, he doesn't know how to support the rhythm section, his improv is terrible, he often gets lost, etc. Many times tunes have 'trainwreaked'. Needless to say I'm not happy.

But, he's amazing at 'hustling the gig'. He's friendly, outgoing, and evidently he knows how to interact with people in a positive way, at least positive enough for them to hire him despite his bad playing.

My reason for this long rant is, how do you hustle gigs? For those of you who are sucessful at it, what methods do you use? And do you think you can learn this skill even if you aren't the most outgoing person in the world? Is it talent? Can this skill be learned?

Also, what materials do you use? Do you have a press kit? If so, what does it consist of? Photos/bios/CD/website? I should explain that we have none of this, we've been getting other gigs simply from people seeing us at the restaurant, and from the bassist's shining personality.

Are there certain 'tricks' you use to get the gig? For example: in my last band the bassist also was the guy hustling the gigs. He would go into a club and sit down and order lunch. After the food arrived he would ask the waiter if he could speak with the owner/manager. Then when the manager came over he would ask for the gig. He told me he had a lot of sucess with this method. He said that by ordering something he put the manager in the position of wanting to make the customer happy, and therefore was more receptive to listening to him rather than just walking in and asking for the gig.

What methods to you folks use for getting the gig?

[Horrorshow]

Originally Posted by Dana

What methods to you folks use for getting the gig?

Word of mouth when the band is real good has a tendency to help quite a lot.

[Jakedog]

Ordering somthing is always a good idea. I do it without fail. I don't know if it makes the owner want to accomadate me, I always thought of it as showing some respect to the owner and their venue.

Rule number one: Unless they are/have been a musician, most club owners don't like musicians. They feel that we are a lazy, flaky lot, looking for a handout. I always go into a new place nicely dressed and well groomed, not a suit and tie by any means, but clean jeans, and a new looking t-shirt with nothing printed on it that anyone might find offensive.

Rule number two: Most club owners don't like musicians. They think we're stoners and drunks, not professionals. I always be as respectful and courteous as possible when speaking with an owner or manager. I avoid using slang and profanity unless I really feel like it will help get closer to him.

Rule number three: Most club owners don't like musicians, but most of the good ones will make an effort to be cordial and listen to what you have to say. If they are very cordial, they might even offer to buy you a drink while your talking with them. If you accept, stay for one more after the conversation is over, and tip the value of the first drink. He'll hear about it, and he'll know that you aren't a rude jerk looking for a hand out. However, don't sit at the bar after the conversation, drink for six hours and get s#!+ faced. It's not a good idea. You are asking for a job afterall.

Rule number four: If he or she says they are too busy to talk right now, just drop your kit off, finish your lunch, and leave. Trying to push them into talking to you right away because "it will only take a minute" will piss them off. They are a very self important lot most of the time, and whatever they are doing, even if it's nothing, is far more important to them than whatever another musician has to say.

Rule number the next one: Always visit the club during the day, on a week day. You may have to sacrifice a lunch break, but trying to approach a club owner or manager in the evening or at night when it's busy is almost surely a suicide move. At these times, they SURELY have more important things to think about than you.

A CD demo and a press kit consisting of a photo, short bio, and any press you might have gotten is imperative if you really want to get things rolling. You can continue to work by word of mouth, and eventually you could be VERY busy, but it takes a long time to build a base this way.

I'm not really as bitter at club owners as I sound, in fact I have become very good friends with quite a few over the years. But some flaky musicians have steeled them against us, and getting them to treat you as trustworthy responsible adults is now an uphill battle.

PM me if you want some tips on how to negotiate money with them, I've turned it into an art-form in the last ten years.


Jake

[TheGoodTexan]

I've never thought about it, but I am a salesman, with a customer service background, and I have no problem making cold calls and getting gigs. Just like sales, it's all about marketing a product and building relationships.

I call a place and tell them that I'm the booking manager for the "Insert Band Name Here", and I totally act like they are supposed to know who that is. My current newly formed jam/groove band is called The Sugar Shakers, featuring Joel Terry.

"You're with who?"

"The Sugar Shakers and we're needing to fill a open night in the schedule on September 9th. Does that night work for you guys, or do we need to push it to the next week?"

Never leave any open air time in the converstaion. If they are not talking, you should be. I'm not saying to lay on the BS at all - that stuff will always end up back firing. I'm just saying that you should act like you've done it a thousand times, and that you're going to be shocked if they decline.

If you give them the feeling that you're a newer band that's just fishing around for a gig, and you give them an out in the conversation - they'll take it every time.

And I try to never talk about money on the initial phone call with a club, unless they bring it up. For local gigs, I'm pretty much willing to play for tips and drinks and such, so if that's all I get, no problem. Even if you confirm a date on the first phone call, wait a week and make a second call to confirm the date. If everything is still on, then sneak the money talk into the tail end of the conversation.

"Oh yeah, before I forget again, what's the going rate for Thursday nights?"

And whatever they say, you should agree with it and move on. If you do require more money, bring it up on a different call. Always make them feel like you really appreciate their efforts, and that they are one of the top places in town to play.

Did I say I was a salesman? oh yeah...and I work on commission.

[Hucklebilly]

Ya know, it doesn't matter how great your band is, if you're not getting good gigs on a regular basis, people's interest flags, and before to long the thing folds. It's just too much work to keep a band going if there's no payoff. Booking gigs is a lot of work, but someone's got to do it. I'm more than willing to give a larger share of the gig money to the band member who went out and beat the bushes to find the gig. That's one way to motivate people. Also, sometimes you find someone who is a friend and really likes the band and wants to be involved, but is not a musician. At any rate, that part of band life is just as important as getting your musical chops down. At least that has been my experience.

[halouis]

i've been doing the booking for my current main band. and it can be a pain. definitely word of mouth is good. Go out and see other bands and befreind them. once you get in the scene its easier.

of course different towns/cities can be easier/more difficult. NYC was a pain when i lived there. Down here in VA is much easier.

Out of town gigs are harder to get. usually we trade shows w/ bands from out of town. bring them here, then they bring us to their town.

PRESS KIT. a good idea. we just finished ours. and with help from a now extinct, but popular local bands help.

pages: Bio, Press/media, Posters/ads, list of past gigs, stage plot. a band photo and a CD of you tunes.

Bio: keep it short. no one reads. perhpas 4-5 sentences. interesting to the point.

press/media. if you have any writeups/clipping from local papers.

posters/ads. just show a bunch of the prmotions youve done. we show about 6 posters on 1 page.

past gigs: date, venue/town and what other abnds were on the bill

stage plot: seems stupid for a small band, but i've been told clubs like it. just a simple overhead diagram of your setup. show where vocal mics need to be and monitors.

best of luck.

[Dana]

Originally Posted by Hucklebilly

Ya know, it doesn't matter how great your band is, if you're not getting good gigs on a regular basis, people's interest flags, and before to long the thing folds. It's just too much work to keep a band going if there's no payoff. Booking gigs is a lot of work, but someone's got to do it. I'm more than willing to give a larger share of the gig money to the band member who went out and beat the bushes to find the gig. That's one way to motivate people. Also, sometimes you find someone who is a friend and really likes the band and wants to be involved, but is not a musician. At any rate, that part of band life is just as important as getting your musical chops down. At least that has been my experience.

I completely agree.

I've seen bands that royally stink, but continue to gig regularly and play GOOD SHOWS simply cause there is one guy either in the band or related to the band who has the GIFT and knows how to find the right contacts, and schmoozes them. I've also seen great bands fold simply due to being able to effectively book gigs.