Best Method of booking gigs?

[charic]

We're just starting to branch out booking gigs now, any advice on the best method? Email, Telephone, Promo Pack?

We don't currently have a promo pack together (it's on the to do list)

Cheers

[Thurbs]

I would conciser everything other than a phone call / face to face chat as a instrument to get to or help with the phone call / face to face chat.

I would also consider everything other than "[i]A plaque o' both your houses![/i]" as a yes (but not yet, just needs some more persuading / phone calls / face to face).

[stingrayPete1977]

Befriend as many other bands as possible along the way, we get lots of gigs from other bands that have either had to cancel themselves or been asked by the venue if they know of another band as someone else has dropped out

[JTUK]

I think all are valid but face to face or phone call are best.

If you get talking to the booker...you can duck and dive any way to get the gig... assuming you can deliver on your patter
whereas mail, txts. etc are easily dismissed or forgotten.
Same with websites and CD's.. altho you might need them as backup at some point for your audio or videos links.
FB is ok... as it can be active chat.

If you have a website, don't bother with myspace, please... it looks so chummy and half-cocked.

If someone sent me a link to a Myspace bandpage, as their core website, I'd write them off as jokers/delusional :lol;

[pietruszka]

Find out who you need to speak to first before going in and asking/ringing. "Can I speak to Dave/Susan/Kev please" sounds better than "Who is it that books the bands here?". That way you shouldn't be fobbed off with "they're busy/on the phone/we're fully booked" before you have even spoken to them.


Dan

[stingrayPete1977]

[quote name='pietruszka' timestamp='1354616996' post='1888012']
Find out who you need to speak to first before going in and asking/ringing. "Can I speak to Dave/Susan/Kev please" sounds better than "Who is it that books the bands here?". That way you shouldn't be fobbed off with "they're busy/on the phone/we're fully booked" before you have even spoken to them.


Dan
[/quote]
Good point which sort of links to my earlier post, ask other bands who you need to talk to at certain venues

[TimR]

Depends what type of gigs you are looking for. Pub gigs? Get a demo and a basic video done, nothing fancy, just video a rehearsal from a tripod. Just needs to demonstrate that you can play. Then go knocking with it on a CD.

[charic]

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1354619642' post='1888081']
Depends what type of gigs you are looking for. Pub gigs? Get a demo and a basic video done, nothing fancy, just video a rehearsal from a tripod. Just needs to demonstrate that you can play. Then go knocking with it on a CD.
[/quote]

Not many pubs will entertain the idea of death metal unfortunately. Most of the places that will have us are more "clubs" of some description or music dedicated pubs.

[charic]

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1354615372' post='1887980']
I think all are valid but face to face or phone call are best.

If you get talking to the booker...you can duck and dive any way to get the gig... assuming you can deliver on your patter
whereas mail, txts. etc are easily dismissed or forgotten.
Same with websites and CD's.. altho you might need them as backup at some point for your audio or videos links.
FB is ok... as it can be active chat.

If you have a website, don't bother with myspace, please... it looks so chummy and half-cocked.

If someone sent me a link to a Myspace bandpage, as their core website, I'd write them off as jokers/delusional :lol;
[/quote]

I tend to link to our facebook page but a link to play our demo track direct through reverbnation

[charic]

I've been mailing promotion companies / venues with rough variations on this below :


[quote]
[font=arial, sans-serif][size=3]Good Afternoon,[/size][/font]

[font=arial, sans-serif][size=3]My band are interested in the gigging outside of our usual area and I was wondering about what the process is with booking through your promotion company?

[color=#500050]Our band is Cerberus Cell, as a 3 piece melodic death metal band we like to think we deliver something a little bit different as an experience. As we use programmed drums and synths live there is complete control over the sound behind the desk which means excellent sound wherever we go (as well as a quick change over). Our last gig was a pre-launch for our first album "Lessons In Divinity" ([url="http://www.reverbnation.com/cerberuscell/song/15014058-autumn-leaves-prerelease-release?utm_campaign=opengraph&utm_content=song&utm_medium=link&utm_source=facebook"]Demo Here[/url]) and was our best gig to date with excellent crowd participation. [/color]

[color=#500050]As yet we haven't played much outside of Cambridgeshire but are getting very good results in this area and are looking at branching out starting next year. If you could contact me regarding booking a gig (or a few) that would be great so we can start sorting through all the details.


We look forward to hearing back from you

Kind Regards
[color=#888888]Ricky Greenwood[/color][/color][/size][/font]



[/quote]

[charic]

Would the above seem good to most people?

[Highfox]

I'd say the pictures are very low quality and don't think they would do you any justice.
The letter seems fine to me.
Good luck.

[charic]

We're waiting on better pics to arrive atm but they're much smaller in the email. One comment I have had back is that the letter is a bit long

[Tuono]

Our band has a website (www.vortigern.org) it is not expensive and less 'cloned' than FB. You have more control over the whole layout and maybe it gives a better feel for the band. I always speak to the appropriate person and then refer them to the website so they can see what we are about; maybe not such a good plan come to think of it!Good luck.

[dand666]

We had (in the process of a new one) a neat promo pack in a PDF. This included Pictures, contact details, prices, rates, testimonials e.t.c The whole shabang really.

We have a promo video now so might make a digital promo pack, if not just have links from within the PDF.

I really think quality photos and a quality video is essential.

Edited December 4, 2012 by dand666

[RockfordStone]

i signed up to the unsigned guide for a year, they sent me a book with loads of contacts, which i started emailing with links to songs and live vids etc.

started getting some feedback then the rest of the band stopped showing up for practice...

[rOB]

Personally I have most success with local venues and promoters where I know the booker personally or at least a name and a face. Get down to as many gigs as possible and get chatting to the booker/organiser. Then they know your face and that you're "part of the scene". Works for me.

Seems like you're aiming for non-local venues though. No advice on this I'm afraid so I'll be watching this thread with interest.

[JTUK]

Depends on the type of gigs but I can't see the point of studio tracks on the CD so we use live recordings and video on our website.
The venue wants to hear you live not a track you have had to clean up.
But 50 dead cert people turning up trumps just about everything

[Doddy]

When I was booking gigs for my old band,me and the singer/guitarist basically spent a week phoning
people up. We knew a lot of places between us,and we found more by asking people that we knew
where they play. We filled the diary for most of the year in that short time.
It was nearly all done on the phone...it's hard to go talk to someone face to face when you are booking gigs
the other end of the country. The couple of local gigs we did,we called them first then popped in.
The band was only a couple of weeks old so we had no website,no CD,nothing,but out reputation from past
bands on the same circuit helped.

[charic]

Might just try the phoning method too

[skankdelvar]

On the whole, your letter's fine, but thinking about the closing bit, it's possibly a bit of a stretch hoping that [i]they'll[/i] call[i] you[/i]...

[quote]As yet we haven't played much outside of Cambridgeshire but are getting very good results in this area and are looking at branching out starting next year. If y[b]ou [/b]could contact [b]me[/b] regarding booking a gig (or a few) that would be great so we can start sorting through all the details.

We look forward to hearing back [b]from you[/b][/quote]

Myself, I'd flip that to something a bit more positive like:

[quote]
We've been getting very good audiences in the Cambridgeshire area and will be building on this by branching out into other regions next year. Because of the type of audience we currently attract, I think your venue and our band would be a good match.

If it's OK, I'll call you soon to discuss this in more detail.

Kind Regards, etc[/quote]

The booker may look more kindly on your letter if you add in some stuff about audience numbers from recent gigs (always ascending ) and explain how you could help to promote the gig and build an audience even though you're outside their area.

As someone else said, a letter should be designed to tee someone up for the verbal sell, whether by phone or in person. And when you finally nail them, don't necessarily make the conversation about the band's music or history. Think about what's going to push their buttons, which, frankly, is audience numbers and a cheap fee.

In a horrible way, it's a bit like Telesales. There's a science to it and there are things you can do to maximise your chances.

Edited December 5, 2012 by skankdelvar

[charic]

Nice one skank, ill definitely be changing that around

[dudewheresmybass]

Because of the style of what we do, we are a little limited in terms of venues ( classic rock /metal),
When looking for new venues, I tend to spend some time online looking at gig listings of bands that play similar music as well as tapping up friends in other bands, and our drummist calls them and gives them the chat
We have a pretty good success rate

[charic]

Yep already scouring other bands of a similar styles previous gig listings

[Paul S]

[quote name='dudewheresmybass' timestamp='1354695087' post='1889127']
Because of the style of what we do, we are a little limited in terms of venues ( classic rock /metal),
When looking for new venues, I tend to spend some time online looking at gig listings of bands that play similar music as well as tapping up friends in other bands, and our drummist calls them and gives them the chat
We have a pretty good success rate
[/quote]

I'm in the same situation with my band - a fairly new classic heavy rock covers band - and am going through this exact process currently using [url="http://www.livebandphotos.co.uk/pubs.php"]http://www.livebandphotos.co.uk/pubs.php[/url]. as a sort of guide. Round this neck of the woods it is a vicious circle - pubs want known bands that draw a crowd so book the same old same old every two or three months - almost impossible for new bands like mine to break through. The busiest venues are booked solid through to 2014.