How To Get More And Better Gigs By Getting Club Owners, Booking Agents, And Concert Promoters To LOVE Your Band
It’s true, you will find it much easier to get more and better gigs when the ‘powers-that-be’ love your band. So how can you get these people to do that? Well, it’s pretty simple actually… You give them things they want. Let’s explore what that is by first looking at what they usually get from most unsigned bands.
Imagine that you are a club owner or small concert promoter. You take the risks. You invest your money to make the shows possible for these bands to play at. You put in the time, effort and energy to make the shows better. Most of the local bands you work with do little or nothing to truly promote their own shows and the bands that do try usually don’t know what they are doing.
Now imagine your frustration when most nights YOU put up the money, You do most of the work, You deal with all the problems, hassles, book keeping, accounting, scheduling, the press and a million other things. Then the bands show up to the gig, they bring no more than 20 people on their own, they aren’t very cooperative, polite nor professional. Then they expect to be paid for the gig even though they did very little to actually bring any revenue into the club because they didn’t bring anyone to the gig besides a small handful of friends. Yet, they still feel ‘entitled’ to get more gigs from you that pay more money. They want to play on Saturday night instead of a Wednesday etc. Then, when you tell them no and explain why, they talk bad about you!
This is how many local unsigned bands think, believe and behave. You deal with this from countless bands night after night, week after week, month after month, year after year. Would you love (or even like) ANY band like what I described above? Probably not. This is the reality for most club owners and promoters. So when your band contacts them in order to get more or better gigs, you need to be different than all the rest.
There are many things club owners/promoters want from you, but the 3 main things are these:
1. You are cooperative and appreciate all the time, effort and money that other people are investing into your show (even if it seems to you that nobody cares). (Most bands do not do this)
2. You work WITH the club owners, agent and/or promoter. (Most bands do not do this)
3. You bring more people to your own shows (and stop depending on the club, promoter or other bands you play with to do this for you!).
The first one is very easy to do, you simply choose to do that every time. The second item is also easy to do but few bands do it. The best way to get started is to simply ask them how you can help. Ask them for advice on how to promote your next show at their venue. They know how the best shows are promoted at that specific venue, the local media, where music fans hang out in your area, and where, when and how to reach them. The club owners, agents and promoters are typically very happy to help you to help them promote the shows you do together. They want you to be successful, because it makes them more money too. After you ask them how you can help, DO what they tell you to do, and do it 100%!
Doing these things will help you to achieve the last thing they want, ‘You bring more people to your own shows’. And you will impress everyone when it is clear that you are 100% into making the shows as successful as possible in every way. They will learn to love you pretty quickly when they see that from everyone in your band with every show you set up and play! All of this leads to your band getting more gigs and better gigs that pay more money and have you in front of more people each night.
The advice given to you is powerful but is only one of many things you can do to make your rock band more successful. Become the success you want and deserve to be. Get Rock Band Success Coaching.
Alex Staropoli
