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Getting Gigs

thisSNsucks

thisSNsucks

I build Grosbeak Guitars and Basses
Commercial User
Dec 19, 2004
4,636
2,952
39
Yonkers, NY
www.grosbeakguitars.com
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Grosbeak Guitars
#1
I was just curious how some of you guys go about getting gigs for your bands these days.

I may sound like a newbie, but I used to gig all the time in my old band. We were young so we were still in the high school scene. We used to make friends with other bands, trade gigs with them and we were playing at least 2 times a week.

Fast forward to now, I havent been in a band or gigged in 2 years. None and I mean none of the bands I used to play with are around anymore, and most of the venues dont seem to even have bands play there anymore.

Myspace isn't really cool anymore and I cant figure out how to make a band Facebook account.

So is it time to just start calling bars, posting ads on craigslist, showing up and offering to play for free? lol

Any help?

Thanks guys!
 
#4
Plissken said:
Never gig for free unless its for a charity or some good-cause.
Click to expand...

^^bingo

they are paying everyone else, and making money off of you. if a promoter wants you to play for free it's like a slap in the face. sure we love our job, but there's no rule saying that just because we enjoy it we shouldn't get what we're worth.

as far as getting gigs......................HUSTLE!!!!! i'd say out of every 10 prospective gigs I find, maybe 2-3 actually pull through. advertise the crap out of yourself, hand out demos to as many people as you can. gigs arent going to fall on your lap.
 
#5
thisSNsucks said:
I was just curious how some of you guys go about getting gigs for your bands these days.
Click to expand...

With great difficulty.

We manage to get our gigs simply because our little piece of the 'underground' is so incestuous that there's six or seven promoters at every bar night. Given that there's only four or five bars that play our style on a regular basis however, it gets old fast.

You probably don't have this kind of 'luck' where you are, so you might wanna try a search.

Good hunting!
 
#6
Assuming that your band is well rehearsed and playing great, take the time to get your promotional act together. Make demos, Videos, some type of internet page or site. Nobody really cares if it's on facebook, Myspace, your own domain webpage, as long as you have SOMETHING you can refer others to so they can get a good representation of what you look/sound like. See what other bands in your area and genre are doing as far as promo stuff. be professional at all times and never sell yourself short or undercut some other band to get a gig. Sure you may get the gig, but by taking less money than other bands you lower the overall pay for ALL bands/musicians in your area. Unfortunately, musicians have been cutting their own throat by doing this for years.
 
#8
We look at upcoming events that would have a band and call and see if they would want some high-quality entertainment! Call places and get them to book you. Also, look at your own band. Everyone has connections of some kind. My band is finally getting to the point that people are calling us!

Use your connections and call places. Good luck!
 
#9
I do pretty much all the business and booking for my band. We got our first gigs by pretty much finding as many promoters in the area and asking if they'd help us out. I also found some bands on myspace and asked if they could help us out. Now we have a network of bands and promoters that I make the rounds on looking for gigs. It do devote a lot of my time everyday to finding more shows. It's a lot of work.
 

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