Importance of Promo Packs?

chaosMK · #1 09-23-2005, 02:15 PM

My last band spent a lot of time putting together a folder of band information materials, for club owners/booking people. This thing had bios, photos, all kinds of other information. We never once used it to get booked, but got booked all the time.

Anyone have experiences like this? How important is the promo pack? Would it be better for out of town/long distance gigs? Locally here it seems like you can get by without it.

Tsal · #2 09-23-2005, 02:53 PM

Well, I wouldn't expect bar owners to hire you just because you phone them and say "hey I have a band, will you pay us 500 to play at your place?".

Getting a proper info pack that shows that you are capable of doing what you promise, ie. entertain the crowd and pull people in, can be very valuable.

chaosMK · #3 09-23-2005, 05:30 PM

I see your point. Although we got booked a lot, we were never paid much either!

jimbob · #4 09-27-2005, 02:39 PM

We have not had a "promo pack" but we do have a website which works great for us...no sound on it yet. We are going to be recording some upcoming shows to put on there.

Kael · #5 09-27-2005, 05:56 PM

Sounds like your promo "pack" might have been a bit of overkill. One page with a one or two paragraph bio, pic, contact info, and maybe one bit of press info is usually plenty. If you are running a band that does covers, then give the club owner a sample set list that is packed full of easily recognisable songs. The more the better. Even if you do a mix of originals, they don't know your originals while they do know the covers. Don't hand them a song list! That inplies that this is all you know/play, while a sample set list doesn't.

One, maybe two pages, is plenty for booking shows most anywhere.

Oh, and make sure that the pic scans well into black and white well. I've known several bands that had a temp photo fall into the hands of local media. They were stuck with that being a "stock" photo that was used anytime they got any press. They couldn't get a new photo used to save their lives.

PS: go and buy some card stock and print off some business cards too

bonscottvocals · #6 09-28-2005, 09:03 PM

All good info, Kael. Remember, no one wants to wade through a long write-up. It's like a quick resume, just something to whet the appetite. As far as the pic goes, get black and whites as well as color and keep them up to date. There's nothing like seeing a different front-person from the photo because new pictures hadn't been taken in three years.