There are some common mistakes many semi-pro and amateur bands make when approaching venues for gigs. Avoiding these will make a big difference to your success in getting bookings.
1. Making it tough on yourself
The easiest places to approach are those already featuring live acts like yours. You can persuade a bar or club to try a live band but this will be harder than giving a venue more of the same.
2. Limiting your targets
Dont restrict approaches to that handful of places you can immediately think of when youre considering locations to approach. These are only the start. Constantly research for unknown venues via other bands websites, local press ads and word of mouth.
3. Only thinking of yourself
Many musicians put pressure on themselves by focussing only on what getting the booking will do for them. Keep in mind how the venue could benefit from you playing there. You should be trying to hep them improve the entertainment they give their customers. Focus your thoughts on how your band can give their customers a night to remember or swell the money through their tills by the people you take along to watch you. It will make your attempts to persuade the venue much easier.
4. Wasting time and effort on people who cant give the booking
Concentrate your efforts on the decision maker, the person who actually books the band. Its pointless giving your demo CD to a member of the staff. You have little hope it will reach and get listened to by the person who can give you the booking. Make a phone call to check for the name of the person who actually books the bands and best time to contact them.
5. Approaching at the wrong time
Dont start trying to sell your band until youve prepared. Make sure youve established in your own mind whats different about your act. Also, there are wrong times to approach venues. Avoid the weekends and Thursdays and dont try them in peak trading hours.
7. Only trying once in a while to get some bookings
Devote regular time every week for making contact with new venues. Get into the habit of making a set number of approaches a day if you can.
8. Using one way only of approaching.
Widen your methods of gig-getting. The phone is often the cheapest and most successful route, but try a regular newsletter to update venues about the bands activities and development. Call in person if the venue is local enough.
6. Giving up too soon on a particular venue.
Just because a venue says No when you first try them doesnt mean you should cross them off your list. Venue managers change. What if one of their regular bands may split up or decide they dont want to play there again? You need to make sure yours is the band they think of when they look for a replacement.
Gareth Bird is an active semi-pro musician who gigs regularly at venues like the Hard Rock Caf. He has his own Sales & Marketing business advising a number of leading European companies, has written about getting gigs for Total Guitar and Bass Guitar Magazines and is the author of Gig-Getter: How to get more gigs than you can play.
Gig-Getter is available from http://www.gig-getter.co.uk
By: Gareth Bird
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