How do you get new gigs?

[WaylonFan76]

Very interesting thread. I'm in that same exact situation. Unfortunately, I'm slowly coming to the realization that it is way harder to book gigs when you cover Buck Owens and Faron Young than Lynyrd Skynyrd and Bon Jovi. To make matters worse, we write a lot of our songs... We are the only Country band in our area and a lot of places will not hire us because there is typically no ready-made audience for that type of music. I know we could draw a crowd and build a following if someone gave us a steady regular monthly gig... The search is on...

[Billy B.]

I answer the phone when My booking agent calls

[Wrong-Note Rod]

This drummer friend of mine could sell ice to an eskimo. He's an old marketing dog like me and he REALLY knows how to lie, er, um, I mean, liberally embellish. This guy used to be able to get his band gigs all over the area but even he says now its harder and harder... AND he's also running into the "cant bring enough people out to keep from getting fired" thing.

we all need to face it... when the economy is tough, bands suffer because its harder to get people to come out and hear you. Bars tighten the belts and pay less money and they sure as hell are not going to do any promotion for their club themself... in their opinion, thats what they are hiring the band for.

A LOT of musicians take offense at that, and are forever pissed off and at war with club owners for that attitude.. to me, the anger is a waste of time... its the bar owners game and you have to play it their way, if you want to play at all.

[Wrong-Note Rod]

Oh i forgot to mention, my drummer friend told me, this is how you do it:

you meet the bar owner in person, to drop of your package, if at all possible.

Then you start calling them. Repeatedly. Dont give up. Make a nuisance of yourself. Eventually, so says my friend, they will tell you one of two things:

"I'll give you guys a chance to play if thats what it takes to get you to stop calling"

or


"dont call me anymore, I'm NEVER booking your band".

He says usually its the first one. I've had band members who dropped off a package, then complained the bar manager never called them. Haha. It doesnt work that way.

[T Prior]

The thing about it is this, it is very competitive and you are not the only one dropping off packages or visiting the owner. Imperative to be above the fray, clean, neat and professional. Act like you are a professional. Generally speaking , a few minutes with the actual person WHO BOOKS WILL GET YOU 1 GIG. If you are dropping off a promo kit with someone other than the manager or whoever books, odds are it will never come to be. They may or may not want to hear a CD demo ..bring one and be prepared.

If you represent yourself well and are willing to negotiate on a first gig, odds are you will come away with a gig. If you act like a rock and roll guitar player who thinks they should be handed a gig because you can play Louie Louie and Satisfaction..well..you know what I mean here...


Caution, if you drop off a package with someone other than the one who actually books, you may be handing a package to someone connected to another band..and you know whats gonna happen to that package...Best to call ahead, make an appointment when the owner is on site...Also try not to do this when the bar is slammed or busy..actually , do not do it when the bar is slammed or busy...

Don't be afraid to bring an acoustic guitar with you and sing a few songs right on the spot...we have done this in the past...

[Wrong-Note Rod]

Originally Posted by T Prior

The thing about it is this, it is very competitive and you are not the only one dropping off packages or visiting the owner. Imperative to be above the fray, clean, neat and professional. Act like you are a professional. Generally speaking , a few minutes with the actual person WHO BOOKS WILL GET YOU 1 GIG.


Also try not to do this when the bar is slammed or busy..actually , do not do it when the bar is slammed or busy...

...

Your first point I dont agree with at all, altho, that may be your experience and perhaps you are a fabulous negotiator or perhaps your band has a long history that speaks for itself. Our package was pretty good BUT we rarely got hired on the spot. Occasionally. It helped if they had heard of us, or knew one of us, or had seen us someplace else, or they knew we had played at some other rival bar in town and had done well there.

Your second point I do agree with. Its a lot easier to sit down with the bar manager/owner on a dead Tuesday afternoon than it is at night when the place is hopping and loud.

And yes, giving your package or CD or whatever to someone besides the owner/manager, is probably not ever going to get you anywhere.

Case in point: A long time ago we used to play this one place regularly, I was on first name basis with the entire staff. I called to get "that months gig" and didnt talk to the band booking manager guy, I talked to the head waitress that we all knew. She told me she was doing the booking on the guys days off, and yes, she scheduled us a gig for a month in advance.

Evening of the scheduled gig, we show up and lo and behold, another band has already set up. Not only did head waitress NOT tell the booking guy that she had "booked us", but she did also NOT write our "gig" down on his calendar... and the biggest mistake of all, made by ME... I never called back to speak to HIM, not her, to confirm.

Live and learn, lads (and ladies, if any are reading this)

[T Prior]

Ok I'll change it to


" a few minutes with the actual person WHO BOOKS MAY land YOU 1 GIG"

I think it really depends on the conversation, the give and take..if it goes well..then good..if it goes bad..well..not good .

Sometimes the package is only part of the deal, you are selling, you are selling yourself and your band. You are asking someone to give you money for playing music. You are in a direct conversation. You really need to know if they feel your music fits the venue, you may think it does but they need to think it does. You can actually ask that question...

I don't know if I am a great negotiator or not but I am a sales guy and have been for years . Some club owners are willing and easy to work with right away, some are bears that you have to walk a fine line with. You don't learn that until you are toe to toe with them.

just my views, not saying it's the only view...

t

[jimdandy]

Originally Posted by Wrong-Note Rod

Oh i forgot to mention, my drummer friend told me, this is how you do it:

you meet the bar owner in person, to drop of your package, if at all possible.

Then you start calling them. Repeatedly. Dont give up. Make a nuisance of yourself. Eventually, so says my friend, they will tell you one of two things:

"I'll give you guys a chance to play if thats what it takes to get you to stop calling"

or


"dont call me anymore, I'm NEVER booking your band".

He says usually its the first one. I've had band members who dropped off a package, then complained the bar manager never called them. Haha. It doesnt work that way.

Totally agree wi this. I am in this process now. I check back once a week, in person, wi the owner, to see if he's listened to our CD yet. I tell him, if he thinks we suck I want him to tell me we suck, so we can get better. I stopped by this morning, he hadn't listened to it yet, so I told him I'd be by next week. It sucks, but this is how it goes.

[T Prior]

the thing about the above post is that there is something else going on...it may have nothing to do with the band, the CD etc..or it may be that the guy just doesn't like the person who dropped of the demo. THEY DO NOT OWE ANYONE AN ANSWER. Maybe the bar is in deep debt and they are about to go under..who knows.

May I suggest to go there on a social visit rather than a band gig promo visit...maybe just sit and talk , ask why he won't give you a shot ? It really is that simple...tell him you don't want to be a pest but before you walk away you thought you would come down and ask....Don't use words like SUCK and such.... Maybe you will get the answer you are looking for !

[Wrong-Note Rod]

Those are all the fine points of being a negotiator -

thats the apprach an excellent salesperson might use. Some of us have those skills and some of us... well, we just dont. One can improve and get better, but, some people just have a way of friendly negotiation that can usually get what they want... and some of us just werent born with that gift.

You're right tho, I've gotten gigs just thru sheer persistance and found out later, the club owner never even bothered to listen to the CD. Just looked at our picture and our list of covers. Thats kind of important too. Your music has to be something the owner likes or at least thinks the usual bar patrons will like.

Its tough, doing the booking, there are no easy answers, theres a reason why almost everyone hates doing it

[Wrong-Note Rod]

I was in one band, I did ALL the booking myself, made the promo packages, even recorded and mixed the CD and furnished most of the bands PA, and ran the sound from the stage during the shows! Talk about Little Red Hen syndrome!

Anyway a couple of the other members often bitched about the gigs I got for various reasons, so after a few months, I announced, OK, I'm not booking the band. You guys can try.

Guess how many paying gigs we got after that?

Thats right.

ZERO.

Needless to say, our party soon broke up.

[T Prior]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that what I said is the answer, it is not...it's very difficult booking a band. My comments are to be considered optional...Do what works best...

Sometimes all it takes is being neat, well spoken and very polite...I have seen and worked with countless musicians that do not fit that bill but yet they walk the streets looking for a gig with a band or at a pub...NOT....

Negotiation doesn't actually mean you have to negotiate with the person in front of you to the end of the earth, it just means to recognize what you have in front of you, it may mean to be aware that you may have to modify your approach...


One thing I do know and this is a very old wise statement..and this is what came to mind when reading about the "calling the guy every week and getting nowhere"..


Insanity is doing the same exact thing everyday and expecting different results !


Go Crazy, do something different..Although I did book our bands for years I don't book the band I am in now, our band leader does and he is getting real good at recognizing whats in front of him and knowing when NOT to negotiate anymore. He has been known to flat out say NO, we are not doing that, call me back when you have a better deal for us..and a few have called back !

But he's young and got the right attitude and a good approach, me , I'm just flat out tired of it all !

t

[Big John Studd]

I'm in a mediocre classic rock (and country, motown, 80's) cover band. We've been gigging regularly about once a month at local bars/restaurants for three years now. We don't really have a CD or promo material. What has worked for us is a two minute live youtube clip that has snippets of four or five of our better songs...honestly I don't think a bar/restaurant owner is going to spend any more time than that listening to anything you give them. We have a regular crowd that comes see us...and this is the key to our success. Like someone else mentioned, yes, the classic rock audience is "old" (eg. 40-50) and goes to bed early, but they are also grown ups with jobs who have no problem spending $50 or whatever for a night out. If we got a weekly Wednesday night gig could we consistently count on them coming out? Absolutely not.

Anyways, I guess what I'm saying is bringing an audience is more important than website, CDs, etc. if you are trying to play bars/restaurants. If you're going after private gigs, weddings, events, then that's another story of course.

As a point of reference, here we are at one of our regular gigs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3YHF_oey_g

[WaylonFan76]

Originally Posted by Big John Studd

I'm in a mediocre classic rock (and country, motown, 80's) cover band. We've been gigging regularly about once a month at local bars/restaurants for three years now. We don't really have a CD or promo material. What has worked for us is a two minute live youtube clip that has snippets of four or five of our better songs...honestly I don't think a bar/restaurant owner is going to spend any more time than that listening to anything you give them. We have a regular crowd that comes see us...and this is the key to our success. Like someone else mentioned, yes, the classic rock audience is "old" (eg. 40-50) and goes to bed early, but they are also grown ups with jobs who have no problem spending $50 or whatever for a night out. If we got a weekly Wednesday night gig could we consistently count on them coming out? Absolutely not.

Anyways, I guess what I'm saying is bringing an audience is more important than website, CDs, etc. if you are trying to play bars/restaurants. If you're going after private gigs, weddings, events, then that's another story of course.

As a point of reference, here we are at one of our regular gigs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3YHF_oey_g

I've been in that type of band before and we used to have 8 gigs amonths, every Friday and Saturday. Monthly gigs at the same venues and a following. I left that situation to be able to play what I wanted the way I wanted to play it, and I find it's a lot more difficult to find gigs than when you play the usual Mustang Sally-Brown Eyed Girl repertoire. But, as young folks ( and and increasingly large number of adults ) say nowadays "it is what it is".

[Telesavalis]

I find it's a lot more difficult to find gigs than when you play the usual Mustang Sally-Brown Eyed Girl repertoire. But, as young folks ( and and increasingly large number of adults ) say nowadays "it is what it is".


Our keyboard player has a bumper sticker on his Leslie speaker cabinet
that says "Mustang Sally" with a Red Circle around it and line through it.

If I ever find one of those that says "Brown Eyed Girl" I'm going to stick it
on there under the Mustang Sally sticker!

[StarliteDeVille]

Originally Posted by Wrong-Note Rod

Consider the reality of trying to get people to come out to a gig at a smoky bar where a loud band plays. Just think about how much entertainment is literally beamed into peoples houses now. You're competing with 500 channels of cable, pay per view, computer gaming and the internet. If you're playing classic rock or old school country, you also have to figure that most of your target audience, is already in bed asleep by the time you hit the stage.

Yep. I've gone on facebook to do a last minute reminder push to get some folks out the night of a show, and I will have 50 friends on facebook chatting and not one at the show. It is tough to compete with being able to listen/watch whatever you want, make your own drinks for a tenth of the price and not have to worry about how you're getting home or to work the next day. Maybe it will come full circle and seeing a live show will be so novel and unheard of that people will want to come out. Until then, I may just spin records (play an ipod or whatever the DJs do these days) with a celebrity cut-out on stage and take people's picture with the cut-out for 5 bucks a pop.

[Big John Studd]

LOL. We of course do Mustang Sally AND Brown Eyed Girl...and a ton of other cheeseball tunes like B-52's, Go-Go's, etc. Personally I have no problem playing whatever it takes to entertain the audience that's in front of me, even if I don't particularly like the song myself. Those tunes do get the ladies up on the tables and out on the floor, and that does kinda make everybody have a good time :)

[jguitarman]

when I was booking club gigs for our band I used to go to the bar at a slow time, order a beer, start up a conversation and ask for the name of the person who books the bands. Don't ask for the owner or manager as was mentioned above. Find out who the decision maker is. After that I ask about his or her schedule. Once I know that, I would drop by when it was slow and order another beer, ask for so and so and hand over a demo package. Try to nail down an approximate time when you can call back. Never sit around waiting for the phone to ring; they will not call you. when it's time to call back I would either call so and so or drop in again, order a beer and ask for you know who and try and book a date. I always tip generously because I want to make an impression and I want to be remembered. Your server or bartender is not going to help you if you cannot be generous with them. I always encourage band members to tip generousley as well. This is even more true when the band gets free drinks to begin with.
You need to bring in your own crowd. I have a friend who plays in what I consider to be Sacramento's best classic rock band. When he plays locally he call the friends/fans on their email list (which you will need) and practically begs them to come out. Remember, the club's motivation is to sell drinks, not hear a good band. Help them with that and you will have gigs.
They always pack the place and they almost always get asked back.

[StoogeSurfer]

As someone mentioned already, it's simple economics. If you don't earn for the bar at least double what they are paying you in extra patronage, they're just not going to bother with you. At my band's last gig, our first time in our neighborhood watering hole, we invited our friends, they all showed up (and then some) and the manager was so thrilled he said actually next time he should pay us more.

So promote yourself heavily the first time you play somewhere, or make sure the people there have the time of their dang lives.

[briany]

On the flipside of the rival band thing, it's always helpful to cultivate the possibility that any buddies who are in a band already established in one or more venues can put in a good word for you if they can't make a gig one night. One good sub gig and you could find yourself on a regular rotation. Hopefully not displacing your buddies though.

I play about four regular gigs and they ,plus whatever else comes along, give out enough work to ensure that most weekends are pretty full. Two, maybe three gigs in a weekend and then on top of that some bonus weeknight work maybe will come of that

I can see that work drying up, though. The drummer I play with is of the opinion that people in Dublin just don't appreciate live music. People seem to like us well enough when we've played though.

One thing I can confidently say is do not agree to work for free to get your foot in the door, a reduced fee maybe but not free because unless you destroy, the bar will just see you as some mug band who was dumb enough to play for free and be a bit of entertainment for the punters who came. They'll do the same with another band the next week and never call you back.