approaching venues for booking

[PauFerro]

I've done a lot of these. Here are my tips

1. In my experience, most bar owners don't care about the musical quality as long as the genre fits the venue. That is sacrilege to musicians, but I've heard that over and over again. What they care about is whether you can increase their sales for the night. So, your pitch needs to focus on how your band can increase sales with your following.

So, pointing the bar owners to a new facebook page with only 40 likes (all your personal friends and family) isn't going to cut it. In fact, it's a liability. And although the video is great, don't expect that to be the selling point -- it's your ability to get people to "attend and spend" -- the holy duet of booking clubs. the only time the musical quality is as important as musicians think it is, is when the club has its own crowd and just wants quality musical acts to come in and play.

2. Face to face is best if you aren't using any other strategies (to be shared in a moment). I go when the restaurant is busy. Not crazy busy, but after the dinner rush, on the night the place is busiest, but its still full of activity. This is when you'll find the owner there, or the guy who does the bookings. Show up at a non-peak time and its a crap shoot whether s/he'll be there or not. So go when its busy. Also, YOU need to decide if the venue is the kind of place your friends and following will come to. So you need to check it out face to face to see it.

3. Get dates everyone in your band is available in advance of your visit to the club. I have enough on the books that I book about 3-4 months out -- normally the places in town have their calendars open that far out and I get my pick of dates, without having to coordinate with anyone in the band -- you can walk out with a date at the visit rather than playing phone or email tag like you do when you book close to the day you go there. And be bold, but not pushy -- for example, I say "I'd like to do something on Saturday April 10th since you haven't booked out that far in advance". You'll either get a put-off or a booking out of it.

4. It's best if you have a relationship with the club owner before you make your pitch. And better yet, do what Sherlock Holmes did -- he made the criminals come to him after he figured out they were guilty! There is nothing better than a club owner phoning you. You get their cell number usually, and you don't have to chase them. This is how I made that happen a couple of times.

Promote a band that is already playing at their venue. Get a whole bunch of people to go and see the band they have already booked there that plays a compatible style to yours. Schedule your birthday party there, hold business meetings there -- whatever you can do to bring people there, and always seek opportunities to show up with a big crowd. When I'm there I let the owner know that I have a mailing list of music enthusiasts and we are always looking for places with live music. At the end of the night, thank the owner for a good show and making all your friends happy. I don't tell them I'm a musician at this point. Just let them see your proof that you can get bums in chairs.

Sit back and wait for the phone call -- twice they've called me and asked me to bring my friends back again!! At that point, I share that I'm also a musician, so why don't they bring in my group for a night, and we'll not only entertain, we'll bring the following back again.

If you get the booking, make sure you pack the place. And that means work -- and by the way -- if you have a slow night when you gig there -- ask the bar owner if he wouldn't mind including your numbers from the first time you went there as a non-musician.

 

[Winfred]

The best way is to join an agency. They get paid when you get paid

2nd best way:

Go visit a club that you would like to play. When you go, please bring the following:

A laptop, or pad with your video on it
Business cards with your name, band name, phone numbers, email, URL, and facebook URL
Your phone, so you can play a video game while you wait
A folder with blank paper in it
A pen

You will ask to speak to the person that books the bands. You will be told, "They're not here".

Unfortunately, the person that books the bands will never be there. They're like mermaids, or Bigfoot. There's rumors of them, and people claim to have seen them, but you never will.

You will end up speaking to a bartender, waitress, or some half-stoned, college guy, loading beer into a cooler. Ask them their name. Write it down on the blank paper you brought. Ask for the phone number and email of the person who books the bands. Write it down. You probably won't get anything more than a name, but take it and be thrilled.

Leave all of your contact info with the bartender/waitress/stoner. They will forget about you as soon as you turn around and walk out. But leaving contact info helps. It will end up in the trash, but you've at least laid the groundwork, and completed your first recon mission.

If you managed to get any contact info for the Bigfoot/Mermaid, go home and send an email. Don't call. No matter when you call, they will never answer the phone, or the person that does answer will tell you, "Bigfoot/Mermaid is not in".

Wait a few days, then return for a followup visit. You will repeat all of the above steps. Continue to do that, at least once per week, or more.

Eventually, one day, out of the blue, you will receive a phone call/email from the Bigfoot/Mermaid. They may ask for: videos, your website, your facebook page, your full name, any other bands you've been in, who's in your band now, how many people you can bring, which clubs are you currently playing, etc., etc. You've already left most of that info at the club, several times, but they never got it.

HAVE YOUR BAND'S CALENDAR WITH YOU AT ALL TIMES. And always know the availability of your bandmates for gigs.

From there, good luck! Be prepared to listen to all sorts of things from the Bigfoot/Mermaid. They're going to tell you how tough the business is, how they're barely making ends meet, they can't pay much, you need to bring a crowd, they're short-staffed, they're over-worked, don't play too loud, how bad (or great!) the other bands are that play there... yada yada.

Be patient, be persistent. Or hire an agency.

Good luck!

 

[mattbass6945]

honestly, in my experience, booking people want to know three things:
1. how many people do you bring?
2. what style of music?
3. how much time can you fill?

that's it. they aren't going to take the time to listen to your songs, watch your video or read a band bio. no matter how professional it looks/sounds. after that, if you manage to get booked in, bring people out and you won't have to call them back. they'll call you, assuming they don't hit you up for another gig before you load your gear out.

 

[PauFerro]

The best way is to join an agency. They get paid when you get paid

2nd best way:

Go visit a club that you would like to play. When you go, please bring the following:

A laptop, or pad with your video on it
Business cards with your name, band name, phone numbers, email, URL, and facebook URL
Your phone, so you can play a video game while you wait
A folder with blank paper in it
A pen

You will ask to speak to the person that books the bands. You will be told, "They're not here".

Unfortunately, the person that books the bands will never be there. They're like mermaids, or Bigfoot. There's rumors of them, and people claim to have seen them, but you never will.

You will end up speaking to a bartender, waitress, or some half-stoned, college guy, loading beer into a cooler. Ask them their name. Write it down on the blank paper you brought. Ask for the phone number and email of the person who books the bands. Write it down. You probably won't get anything more than a name, but take it and be thrilled.

Leave all of your contact info with the bartender/waitress/stoner. They will forget about you as soon as you turn around and walk out. But leaving contact info helps. It will end up in the trash, but you've at least laid the groundwork, and completed your first recon mission.

If you managed to get any contact info for the Bigfoot/Mermaid, go home and send an email. Don't call. No matter when you call, they will never answer the phone, or the person that does answer will tell you, "Bigfoot/Mermaid is not in".

Wait a few days, then return for a followup visit. You will repeat all of the above steps. Continue to do that, at least once per week, or more.

Eventually, one day, out of the blue, you will receive a phone call/email from the Bigfoot/Mermaid. They may ask for: videos, your website, your facebook page, your full name, any other bands you've been in, who's in your band now, how many people you can bring, which clubs are you currently playing, etc., etc. You've already left most of that info at the club, several times, but they never got it.

HAVE YOUR BAND'S CALENDAR WITH YOU AT ALL TIMES. And always know the availability of your bandmates for gigs.

From there, good luck! Be prepared to listen to all sorts of things from the Bigfoot/Mermaid. They're going to tell you how tough the business is, how they're barely making ends meet, they can't pay much, you need to bring a crowd, they're short-staffed, they're over-worked, don't play too loud, how bad (or great!) the other bands are that play there... yada yada.

Be patient, be persistent. Or hire an agency.

Good luck!

That is the voice of experience. Right there. I find agencies ignore you if there is an oversupply of bands in your town, though.