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Book yourself or use a promoter?

zjanderson

zjanderson

May 3, 2011
49
58
Warwick
www.leadfootrock.us
#1
Which have you found to be the most successful option: booking your own gigs, or going with a 3rd party promoter/booking agency?

Success can be defined as both quality of the gig and/or $profit$.

My band's first gig is this Friday evening. As stoked as I am, the promoter seems to be a bit flaky. I'm thinking we'll be better off setting up our own shows in the future.
 
#2
Do it yourself and save the hassles and money. We had one doing a tiny bit of work for us. They screwed us out of one of our biggest paying gigs when they didnt communicate with us and it was too late to submit for it this year.
 
#3
haha, "promoters" :rollno:

I've never worked with one that actually promoted. seriously.

book your own gigs. promote your own shows. never count on anyone to promote your gig the way you would.

now, "booking agents" on the other hand...those guys, with the right connections, can have you playing fantastic gigs...there are some LEGIT booking guys out there. some also can cost you a lot of money, but well worth it
 
#4
Our lead singer / band leader handles all our bookings.

He... as well as pretty much every other member in our band... have all been jacked by 3rd party promoters/booking agents at some point in our respective careers. So we keep it all in-house and it has worked out great. We had this year booked solid by Memorial Day, and we're filling up spring/summer 2012 as we speak, and getting more money all the time.

One thing that really helps is that even though the rest of the band is weekend warriors, our BL does this full-time, for a living. So he has all the motivation in the world to get as many gigs as possible and as much as possible per gig.
 
#5
Spinal Tapper said:
haha, "promoters" :rollno:

I've never worked with one that actually promoted. seriously.

book your own gigs. promote your own shows. never count on anyone to promote your gig the way you would.

now, "booking agents" on the other hand...those guys, with the right connections, can have you playing fantastic gigs...there are some LEGIT booking guys out there. some also can cost you a lot of money, but well worth it
Click to expand...

+500

This has been my experience.
 
#7
Have tried all 3 but so far all the gigs we've booked have been DIY of one sort or another; referrals, word of mouth......

Know several "self styled" promoter or booking agents that all have our promo material & they talk a big game but until they put numbers on the board it's all hot air, :rolleyes:
which they seem 2 have plenty of.
 
#12
Strangely enough, with my band the bandleader/rhythm guitarist is handling the booking, and we have a pretty good promoter to handle, well, promotion. It's working out okay, as we're gaining a pretty good local/regional following. However, he says he wants to find a good booking agent/manager to take that responsibility over, and maybe be able to leverage better money and bigger gigs.

I agree with him, because I know from experience how much of a pain in the ass it is to handle performance and business issues at the same time.

But our promoter is great. Does his job well.
 
#13
If you go to a club or whatever and personally ask to be booked there then it shows that you care, but if you send your manager it makes it look like you're working very hard to perfect the songs you wanna play, but either way it could make yon look lazy.
 
#14
a Promoter that you have to pay isn't really a promoter... they are in it for the cash..... fans/word of mouth = best promoters

but as said a booking agent= a lot of open doors all over the place...

My band has booked everyone of our gigs since we've been together while trying to find a booking agent/agency to take us under their wing and exploit us for all that we are worth (bout $1.25 on todays market).... so do it on your own get word of mouth started (best way is free merch, imo shirts are best but cost a ton to give out) until the booking agent/agency comes into play....
 
#16
Promote yourself!!!!! Use all the websites like Facebook, Myspace, and Eventful. Stop by local clubs and venues. Meet other bands in the area. Do some charity events, etc. Its pretty easy. Once you get the ball rolling, places will be calling you. Good luck!!!
 
#17
A good "agent" is worth their weight in gold! It sounds better to the venue if someone says "these guys are great" rather than "We are great"...worth the 10% if you ask me...I hate doing the leg-work, and phone crap...Just want to play (like nature intended!)

edit..so called "promoters" can kiss pecky!
 
#19
On the topic of promoting yourself, does anyone write their own press releases and put them on the wire?

Our expensive publicist did little more for us than put their logo on a typo-filled news article announcing our shows, and put them on the wire service. True enough, these releases got picked up by websites and local news places looking for content, and we did get a lot of press out of it. It was basically the same article on 50 different websites, and they were some really off-the-beaten-path websites, but it was better than nothing.

I have seen other services that allow you to write your own press release and put it on the wire. There is no guarantee that anybody will pick it up and reprint it, but there is little to risk and much to gain. I want to do this myself without spending thousands on a publicist.

Does anybody do this? What services do you use? What kind of fees? And what have been your results?
 

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