I am not a full time musician. I’ve never led or booked a band. And for many years I’ve only played original music for low pay. Now my drummer and I want to start a cover band (funk and some rock). We are both good musicians, but we are not connected in that way. and I don’t want to do the calling and networking stuff.
So, it seems logical to connect with a booking agent. How do we do that, and who is good to work with when we are inexperienced with this stuff? Or do you need a manager to get a booker? I’m hoping for someone who works off commission and can get us to open for touring acts or do private parties, etc.
Any advice is appreciated!
So now you're going to play covers for low pay!
Great advice already about how to promote your new band, and you may already have somewhat of an in with the places you've played before. I've recently been through this with our band, all experienced musicians. We're progressing nicely, now getting winery gigs, which was the goal all along. Here's how it is working for us:
1. Build the rest of your band. If you're looking to try to make this a long-term thing, take your time and make sure the hang and the music are right; cover bands rarely make bank! This was our longest step; it no doubt would have been quicker were it not for the plague. We went through a lot of auditions, had some folks back a few times trying to make it work before we moved on, in the end, we have a tight-knit group of players who enjoy each other's company and enjoy cranking out some decent rock and roll. We all want to gig once or twice a month and we've been doing that for almost a year now, since last July.
2. Get decently tight on enough music to play a gig when you get one. No use asking for a gig you can't do. Once you get your gang together for a few practices, you'll have an idea how quickly you can expand your setlists. You might be surprised about how quickly you do get a gig (it's all about timing and connections, in the end), and you want to be ready, or be able to be ready, in the time frame you have. If you can learn 8 new songs a month, that's going to be a lot quicker to be ready for a full night than if you can only add 1-2 songs per month. I'm guessing that your bandmates will have day jobs too, and of course skilsl and the difficulty of the songs will factor in this.
3. Lotsa people on here malign the "play for free for the exposure" thing, but if you want to get out there and get some gig videos, that may be the best way. We played our first gig for tips, with the understanding that we'd get paid additionally by the venue if they had a good night, and book us for future gigs if they liked us. It worked out on both counts and we have been back several times since. Importantly, even if it hadn't worked out, we got some video that we have been using to get other, bigger gigs. We aren't going to do any more freebies, other than maybe some charity one-offs we've discussed, because we got what we needed from the one.
4. Spend band time on marketing. Some of our most productive sessions have been without instruments. Discussing venues we want, looking at how they book, assigning band members to different venues to contact/follow-up, massaging setlists, what's working, what's not, etc. Build a Facebook page or do some promotion via social media. Some bands have one person to do this; whatever works for the group you end up with. I don't love it, but it's a team effort. We're all equal members, an autonomous collective if you will, and agree to share this responsibility because it's an important part of being in a band. We enjoy practice, but it's the gigs we really love, and you've got to go get them, because they aren't going to come get you! I get that that's why it's easier to just be in a band with a defined BL who does all this, but that doesn't look like what you're going for.
Good luck, here's hoping you find compatible musicians to bring the funk! Enjoy the journey!
