Gig's- How do you get them?

[KillerQuebec]

You've never done charity gigs?

Well, actually, yes I have, but I still got paid.

Decades ago I did a free gig for "exposure." It was an outdoor gig and it rained and no one showed up.

Charities make money and therefore can pay for talent. It's not like I'm some big star in a big band that can generate a lot of money by donating my services.

Never, ever, ever play for free, PERIOD. Especially someplace where money is being generated.

 

[Rudreax]

As I'm not too established anywhere most of what I get is through CL and email. However, I figure this would work:

Know your skills and know how to use them. Know what you can get with what you have and know and work it like crazy. Obviously, the more skills you have the more opportunities you can market yourself to so learn as much as you can during your free time.

I purposely didn't reference anything music-related as I figure this could apply to basically any field.

 

[Lecomber]

When I started gigging we used to get gigs just by making friends with the sound engineers on nights out. Go around venues talking to the people who work there and hand out demos/ myspace address. It helps if you take people's numbers (you are much more likely to follow it up than they are). Don't be disheartened if they don't reply. These are busy people and there are alot of flakes out there. Once you've got your foot off the ground you should find that gigs tend to come to you. If you're worth watching in the first place then you'll be surprised how many opportunities can stem from one small gig.

 

[pedro]

Most club owners don't give a rats backside about a CD, they don't even care how talented you are. They only care about one thing and that is the cash register at the end of the night. A few photos of your band playing where they can see a good sized crowd speaks a lot more to them than a CD.

Sadly I believe that you are correct. Called a local club and asked if I could drop off our PR package. I got a firm 'No'. "Call us when you are playing somewhere and if I can I'll stop by and see what you can draw." was the reply I got.

 

[unbridled]

This is the most important sentence in our promo material and it is repeated several different ways throughout our kit:
...keep audiences entertained, and, most importantly, spending money.

 

[pedro]

This is the most important sentence in our promo material and it is repeated several different ways throughout our kit:
...keep audiences entertained, and, most importantly, spending money.

We do too but it appears that they also want you to provide the audience.

 

[KillerQuebec]

You should run away as fast as you can from any place that requires you to provide the audience.

Tell them if they want to fill the place up, put a sign outside that says "free beer and chicken, 9 to midnight."

 

[TrevorOfDoom]

i just walk outside and the gigs rain down upon me like manna from Heaven.

 

[unbridled]

We do too but it appears that they also want you to provide the audience.

I keep the card of a local Karaoke provider and tell the venue that might be more workable for them because real bands offer a service. Doing the venue's advertising is not one of them, although I'll help them with it as much as possible.

 

[pedro]

I keep the card of a local Karaoke provider and tell the venue that might be more workable for them because real bands offer a service. Doing the venue's advertising is not one of them, although I'll help them with it as much as possible.

LOL!! Good idea.

 

[Richland123]

I have never heard of a venue asking a DJ if they have a following when they book them.

When somebody asks me if my band has a following, I always tell them yes we do since we are one of the biggest and well known acts in the region. However, I can't guarantee that people will come see us anywhere or every time we play or drive over an hour each way to a venue. I always ask them if their club has a following and don't people like to go there regardless if my band, any other band, or no band plays there. Don't they have regular customers who just like their place? What I find is that most club owners and managers do little to promote their places or have a great place known for good food, drinks, service, and entertainment and build up clientele. That is why most of them don't last more than a few years in business.

 

[NickInMesa]

The following question could be translated as: "do you suck or not?"

The music a DJ will play will sound as good as it can sound, since it's professional studio material.

A band is something. Asking this question is simply to make sure you have people staying and dancing.

I have never heard of a venue asking a DJ if they have a following when they book them.

When somebody asks me if my band has a following, I always tell them yes we do since we are one of the biggest and well known acts in the region. However, I can't guarantee that people will come see us anywhere or every time we play or drive over an hour each way to a venue. I always ask them if their club has a following and don't people like to go there regardless if my band, any other band, or no band plays there. Don't they have regular customers who just like their place? What I find is that most club owners and managers do little to promote their places or have a great place known for good food, drinks, service, and entertainment and build up clientele. That is why most of them don't last more than a few years in business.

 

[NickInMesa]

Well, actually, yes I have, but I still got paid.

Decades ago I did a free gig for "exposure." It was an outdoor gig and it rained and no one showed up.

Charities make money and therefore can pay for talent. It's not like I'm some big star in a big band that can generate a lot of money by donating my services.

Never, ever, ever play for free, PERIOD. Especially someplace where money is being generated.

What about churches? Churches are big business. Tax exempt.

Those who play there are rarely paid.

 

[Richland123]

The following question could be translated as: "do you suck or not?"

The music a DJ will play will sound as good as it can sound, since it's professional studio material.

A band is something. Asking this question is simply to make sure you have people staying and dancing.

That is actually not the reason in my area. Clubs expect the well established, good bands to guarantee them a packed house and no band can guarantee a crowd.

I know lots of DJs who work several nights a week and get paid to play music for a handful of people.

Besides, any club with a jukebox or stereo can play the same pre-recorded songs a DJ plays.

 

[KillerQuebec]

What about churches? Churches are big business. Tax exempt.

Those who play there are rarely paid.

It's a pretty simple issue for me. Musicians who play for free take money away from the families of musicians who play for a living.

I don't know what kind of work you do. But I don't think you would like it very much if I started doing your job for free in my spare time.

Does the power company donate the power for the amps and the lights and the climate controls?

And I actually did remember a charity gig I did for free. We were supposed to get a video. It was a big pro venue event with TV cameras. We never got ever got a video. I did get a parking ticket.

Even a church can afford a $10 or $20 stipend for a player who brings gear and talent. I know it's not a 4 hour bar gig. Just something to show some appreciation is nice.

 

[mboogiemanusa]

I have never heard of a venue asking a DJ if they have a following when they book them.

When somebody asks me if my band has a following, I always tell them yes we do since we are one of the biggest and well known acts in the region. However, I can't guarantee that people will come see us anywhere or every time we play or drive over an hour each way to a venue. I always ask them if their club has a following and don't people like to go there regardless if my band, any other band, or no band plays there. Don't they have regular customers who just like their place? What I find is that most club owners and managers do little to promote their places or have a great place known for good food, drinks, service, and entertainment and build up clientele. That is why most of them don't last more than a few years in business.

Promotion IMHO is a two way street. You would be surprised on how many bars and club owners won't spent a dime to promote their own business. Most won't even join MySpace or Facebook for free and update the entertainment schedule each month. At the minimum these days, bars and clubs should at least have a website and buy an ad in the local weekly entertainment rag. We try to promote shows with e-mail lists and Craigslist/myspace/facebook and then find that the bars/clubs have not done a thing to promote the gigs.

 

[mboogiemanusa]

You should run away as fast as you can from any place that requires you to provide the audience.

Tell them if they want to fill the place up, put a sign outside that says "free beer and chicken, 9 to midnight."

This is great advice however not that easy to do in practice. We try to find places that have a following and then bring in our own crowd of fans. It's a good mixture and everyone has a good time. The best places for these kind of gigs are bars/restaurants that serve food. Plus places that serve food have more revenue sources and can better pay for bands. Sometimes our normal fans don't show up for various reason so good to be booked into a place that has a regular following no matter who the band is. Nothing worse than rehearsing for weeks, loading gear, setting up and playing to an empty room. Buzzkill

 

[Richland123]

Since I have my own marketing business, I use as many of my resources to promote my band and shows. However, here are a few of the dumbest things I ever heard recently from club owners or managers.

We were booked at a very large 500 - 600 seat venue that is out in the middle of nowhere. So, the best thing for the owner to do was to advertise in the two closest cities, each one was about a 20 - 30 minute drive away and people would not just drive there to see if there was a band, DJ, etc. We got to the place and I asked the owner why he did not at least get the cheapest ads in the local newspaper entertainment sections and his answer was that he did not want to spend $20 to $35 for an ad and the only thing he did was he put our name on the sign along the road in front of the bar. My anwser was that is only good is somebody is already out that way driving in front of his bar. It never sank in with him and he went out of business within six months afterward.

Another one happened twice in my hometown in which we are very well known but people don't magically appear at a club if they don't see an ad. Both places did not advertise on their own at all (we did). When I asked both guys why they did not advertise, they said that putting our name on a flyer INSIDE THE BAR was enough advertisement. My reply was that is only good if somebody is ALREADY IN THE CLUB to see it in the first place. They did not get it.

 

[pedro]

Since I have my own marketing business, I use as many of my resources to promote my band and shows. However, here are a few of the dumbest things I ever heard recently from club owners or managers.

We were booked at a very large 500 - 600 seat venue that is out in the middle of nowhere. So, the best thing for the owner to do was to advertise in the two closest cities, each one was about a 20 - 30 minute drive away and people would not just drive there to see if there was a band, DJ, etc. We got to the place and I asked the owner why he did not at least get the cheapest ads in the local newspaper entertainment sections and his answer was that he did not want to spend $20 to $35 for an ad and the only thing he did was he put our name on the sign along the road in front of the bar. My anwser was that is only good is somebody is already out that way driving in front of his bar. It never sank in with him and he went out of business within six months afterward.

Another one happened twice in my hometown in which we are very well known but people don't magically appear at a club if they don't see an ad. Both places did not advertise on their own at all (we did). When I asked both guys why they did not advertise, they said that putting our name on a flyer INSIDE THE BAR was enough advertisement. My reply was that is only good if somebody is ALREADY IN THE CLUB to see it in the first place. They did not get it.

Is there a Darwin award for business saavy? Cause if there is these two are surely in the running.

 

[HolmeBass]

We use to drop off our package complete with a 3 song CD to local bars and clubs and almost never got a call back, people just don't or won't bother to even give it a look.

One thing we started to do before we got our current agent was film a video of our performance and edit down to a 5-6 min video of about 20-30 seconds of our best songs and actually bring a laptop to the venue and ask to see the person that books the bands for 5 mins of their time and show them the video.
We got quite a few gigs this way.

Good luck and don't give up!

I think this is great advice- video is the new email, or text, or whatever. It's one of Cisco's new slogans. Very very few people will listen to your CD, and they won't ever listen to it twice, nor will they really pay attention when they are listening. So unless you have a super accessible pop sound it's really hit or miss there. Also proving somehow that you have a draw is really going to get you gigs.