Booking advice

[Mike Meyers]

I don't think either of the groups I'm booking for are ready to bust out a contract/agreement. In fact, I think pulling that out trying to get booked at the venues in Austin will just get us laughed at and gigless.

Well, I'm playing in a cover band that does gigs from 9-1 or 10-2. It really depends on how long you play or if you are playing with other bands. I played in a band that got to open for many touring top 40 country bands at a local country music club. We only played a 45 minute to a 1 hour set, but we still had to have a contract. The owner wouldn't sign it, we wouldn't sign it, but it was our gentleman's agreement on how much we would get paid. I didn't mean to say that you should pull the contract out for each place you are playing, but you may get into a place or open for a touring band at a venue where a contract is required. It's nice to have one, just in case. I guess that's one of the things I learned in Boy Scouts...Be Prepared.



Mike

[Tombo 7/4]

You said it: Professionalism.

Be professional, confident, cordial and express yourself well in person or through email. With this (rare) attitude (from a musician) they sometimes won't even listen to your music before offering a gig.
I've always been involved in the booking of "hard to book" bands: prog, latin, fusion. I'm used to: "No, thank you." In that case, call back later after a gig that went very well in another place and try again with that as an argument.

Don't lie but don't sabotage. In my case, I don't always say we're an instrumental band. Just gage your interlocutor. Club owners will look at the numbers and if you draw a good crowd, they won't even care what you played.

And on the contract thing, I wouldn't pull that out, at least on the local club scene. I did it on the 1st gig I booked and was taken for an alien. It'll scare them more than give them confidence. Club owners want the less trace left of what's going on in their place. The more things under the table, the better they feel (you know: taxes, musician's union,...). Gentleman's agreement work in general. We've used contracts for festivals. More formal/corporate/wedding gigs also use contracts but I'm not on that scene anymore. Also, I wouldn't hang in clubs drinking beers while trying to catch the owner and hope to become friend to get a gig... Lots of time and energy for not be taken seriously.

Now if you book blues, anything goes...

[Odd-Arne Oseberg]

In the end it's all about drawing people and selling beer.

Every place is different.

Generally speaking, if it's to hard to get rapport it's not really worth it. If you know other bands that play there as well, take advantage of that and get them to recommend you.

[Rhythmatist]

Start getting testimonial statements from any client that you feel you've done a great job for and ask if you can use that person as a reference. I know a young guy who started doing that several years ago and he's now working between 15-20 dates a month. Of course he offers clients anywhere from a duo to a six piece so he's very flexible in terms of events, venues, budgets etc. But he said the sheer volume of great "reviews" has really turned the tide. He is always extremely polite and cordial with his dealings with clients even when things go South and tries to end on some kind of positive. Word of mouth can be your best ally. Good luck Willy.

[YamahaPlayer]

In the end it's all about drawing people and selling beer.

Every place is different.

Generally speaking, if it's to hard to get rapport it's not really worth it. If you know other bands that play there as well, take advantage of that and get them to recommend you.

Bingo. Particularly if it's a cover band vs original bands.

In the city I live the larger popular clubs simply will not book original acts anymore, period. It's all cover bands of some sort or another.

[Rhythmatist]

Bingo. Particularly if it's a cover band vs original bands.

In the city I live the larger popular clubs simply will not book original acts anymore, period. It's all cover bands of some sort or another.

It's weird here in the Chicago area. There are a couple very high profile places that only hire original acts; no covers at all. Of course there's not much money involved so you have to have your merchandising thing together. The prestige factor and the ability to get some press are the main reasons for booking these venues. One of the bands I'm with has been kicking around doing some original material to record and begin working into the sets alongside the cover stuff and would also like to get a foot into some of these places just so we can have that distinction. We'll still rely on the "normal" venues and stick to the types of cover material that suits us best though.