How much time do you spend chasing gigs?

My drummer is the guy what does the booking, and he's kind of lazy. I think he starts booking around November or December, and by the end of January he's done for the year. (There are a few additions here and there, but he doesn't actually contact anyone, they usually send an E-mail to the website and if we have the time and inclination we accept or decline accordingly.)

1) I bet he pursues gigs maybe a total of 40 or 50 hours. (A lot of that I would just call "Hanging out at the bar.")

2) 2 or 3 times a month is optimal, but sometimes we do marathons. (I think last years record was 9 in a row.)

3) Covers.

Doing it all at once is nice from a scheduling perspective: You know where you gotta be a year in advance.

The downside is that new venues call, and you have to tell them you're already booked through next year.

 

less time than I spend on the net. Success happens out there doing it. Not in here talking about it.

Just going to a gig presents opportuities too.

 

Mambo-
Zero time chasing gigs. I work for three bands and they email or call me when they have a new gig on the schedule. I've never had any luck in booking jobs, it's just not my strong point. Plus I just don't enjoy doing it.
I gig 5 or 6 times a month.
Two of the bands play covers and one band does originals & covers (and has recorded two CD's).
To make up for not booking the gigs, I'm the driving wheel when it comes to set-up, tear-down, etc. I help everyone carry their equipment and won't leave until everyone is packed up.

 

I do the lion's share of the booking for my band. I do it all thru email & our myspace. I'm not inclined to want to talk in person or on the phone. I did that quite a few times with zero results. I have let the bandleader know if he wants 'those' gigs he should go after them, which he generally doesnt.

We have 6 gigs in July and 1 in Aug (but the band members are on vacation in Aug.) so it seems to be working.

 

I am so glad to be over the chasing stage
the bands I am in now all have booking agents
but it took work to get them to the place that a serious agent would promote the band

 

Interesting questions... Some research I do suggests many primary gig-chasers waste a lot of time "hanging round bars" hoping to talk with the owner/booker. Others mail demos on spec to either the wrong person (ie someone without the authority to give the booking) or when the demo isn't expected/hasn't been requested.

To answer your specific questions:

1. No more than 1 hour a week at most.

This is enough for any half decent act to fill it's gig-diary. Regular "chasing" is important rather than once every so often. Once you've built up a track record and if you're updating potential venues with a newsletter etc the venues themselves will do the contacting.

2. Every week but this could be most nights of the week if we weren't all married and didn't have family/other business commitments

3.Covers with a couple of originals thrown in for good measure