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The most
frequent concern by far that I hear from
Independent artists on a daily basis is how to get
shows or put together a tour. Independent bands are
extremely frustrated with not being able to get the
shows they need to really promote themselves live.
A lot of
independent artists and bands know all too well that
getting quality shows or putting together a significant
venue or concert tour is not as easy as it sounds.
And getting to the shows with gas prices the way they
are today is rough. There are ways available to save gasoline that you should probably
look into. Most also know, or should, that in
conjunction with publicity, music marketing, and radio
play, this can be the most valuable asset to your
career. You must get out there and promote
yourself through live performance and create a tour
history. And the performance needs to be
superior! This can only be obtained by getting the
road and stage experience.
What Does a Booking Agent
Do?
Brad
Wavra, Vice President of Touring at Live Nation,
the
worlds largest concert promotion company, discusses
the role of a booking agency in advancing an
artist’s career
There are resources available to help
you do this but your first contact with a venue. concert
promoter, must be professionally put
together. I'm sure you've heard of
Sonicbids, the online EPK, it's by far the most
popular tool used by, at last count, 160,000 indie
artists and musicians. If you're not using it, you
are probably one of the last hold-outs. Sonicbids
is the website that helps bands get gigs. Join now free for festivals, contests,
licensing and more.  It's the easiest way to connect
with and expose yourself to venues, concert promoters,
and labels. Sonic bids offers thie members
priority submission opportunities to all the major
festivals in the world.
You should also
use a professional program or some kind of spread
sheet/database that will help keep you organized
while you are attempting to put together a tour.
Keeping track of your contacts is
crucial in order to stay organized. Most venues primary
and first concern is to be assured that you will draw a
significant crowd to your show, no matter where it
is. Venues are not out to give you exposure, they
are out for themselves. A lot don't even care how
good or bad you are. It is crucial that you are
able to truthfully assure them that you will draw people
to your performance at their venue. This too, may
or may not be as easy as it may sound depending upon
your current fan base.
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The good news
is that there are many ways and strategies that you can
use to actually get shows booked, coordinate a regional
or national venue tour, and then do the all important
.... Bring people out to your shows. A
professionally designed booking proposal is the first
step, then putting together a marketing campaign in the
city of the performance is key. All this can be
obtained though a street team, and the help of a
professional music media releations firm that does the
vital tour P/R duties that you will desperately need to
make your tour a success and actually worth doing.
If at all possible, try to get some sort of booking agreement in writing to assure
the show is in place and you get your
guarantee.
Touring and Career Development
Brad Wavra, Vice President of
Touring at Live Nation
There is
a multitude of strategies you can implement. Just
booking the
shows .. which is
difficult enough in itself, and hitting the road playing
the shows without anyone knowing you or knowing you're
coming may be a futile effort on your part. Make
sure you promote and market the tour or have a
professional tour promotion company do
it. You can do your Music Promotion with
musicSUBMIT.com! They have a
special service that is strictly for promoting your
tour. Have or acquire street teams in the regions
and cities you will be performing in. If it's
within your budget, and you should make this a priority,
engage a music media relations and promotions firm to
fully support the tour. Make it worth your while,
or don't waste your time. If you are lucky enough
to acquire national distribution prior to your tour,
this will be your key to selling records and digital
downloads in retail outlets and online digital
portals. Not to mention the the CD's and
merchandise you can sell at shows.
Here are some strategies, tactics, and
tips, you should keep
in mind when doing shows
and putting a tour together.
Maximize Each Tour
Stop
A
brief video synopsis by Jerry Goolsby professor
of
the music industry program at Loyola
University
*
Compose a professional email booking inquiry (most
venues only accept submissions via email) Here's a sample
inquiry
* Acquire a database of venues in
the region you want to tour. We highly recommend
The Indie Venue
Bible. It has over 26,000
venues listed with contact information and over 2000
booking agents. This truly is your bible for
getting shows and putting a tour
together.
* Put
together a list of venues contacted, keep notes on
everything. Do this regionally. The best way
to do this is by using a database or system of
contacts. One of the best venue and contact
management systems that we have come across is by
far The Online Gigs system. Here you can
keep all your music marketing, tour, and other
information in one, easy accessible place. When
you're organized you can get things done and THINGS HAPPEN.
*
Sytematically contact each venue with your
inquiry
* Wait
for a response (which in most cases you surely won't get
right away) then follow up by email and by telephone in
about a week.
* Book
the shows in a logical manner along your tour
route. With today's gas prices and expenses
involved in hitting the route, you want to book your
route in the most cost effective manner. There are
methods you can use to save an enormous amount of money on
gas such as conversion kits. Most indie bands
who tour a lot are doing this. It doesn't make
sense to book a show in New York, then one in Florida,
followed by one in Boston. Get the
idea?
* If
you are lucky enough to engage the help of a decent booking agent, this could be a huge
asset and save you a lot of trouble. Although
getting a booking agent of any significance on your side
is not an easy task for unknown independent
bands.
Promote the shows
*
Implement a regional press campaign in each city that
you will perform. Contact local media, and
regional Internet media. Do your tour Music Promotion with
musicSUBMIT.com! They have a specialized
service for promoting your tour. A good strategy
is to get your CD reviewed on a regional Internet portal
prior to playing a city. A great resource for
getting this done is the original Indie Bible. There are thousands
on portals that accept CDs for review listed with all
their contact information.
* Do
you have a mailing list? You should. Blast
every appearance to your fans
* Form a street team in as many
cities as possible. Your street teams should bring
posters and flyers to the venues a couple weeks prior to
your show. Your street teams can perform a variety
of marketing and show promotion tactics.
*
Needless to say, post all shows on your
websites
AMEG
provides tour consulting services, tour P/R and media
support for many independent bands looking to
tour. We can advise you on all the methods and
strategies to coordinate a decent regional venue tour
from how to get the shows, coordinate, and vigorously
promote and publicize the performances.
We will also recommend resources
that will help you immensely. If you would like
our help, contact
us for more
details. |
