Getting gigs as a beginning band

[Cris]

There seems to be a bit of a bit of a stigma about playing for free these days, but how does a neophyte band go from playing open mics and jams to negotiating rates for paid gigs? I'm in a little garageband that is almost ready (imho) to move beyond playing open mics, but have no idea what the next steps are, where to find venues to play, how to get paid, what to ask for, etc. Anyone have any ideas or suggestions?

[wormdrive66]

For me it has always come after hard work and lots of practice. Building up your Rep around town as a band who can pack em in and ENTERTAIN a crowd. You find out pretty quick the clubs that are shady. The hardest part is keeping the band together sometimes i feel more like a babysitter than a guitarist.

[Richard]

Sac news and Review is a good place to look for venues.

After that, you just have to go to the bar/club and find out who the booking person is at that location. Its always better to talk to them face to face, and find out what they need to see to consider hiring you. Some accept mySpace stuff, and others want a demo disc. If you do a demo disc, dont do whole songs, do a bunch of snippets of songs. The best demo discs I have made had 10 minutes that had dozens of snippets, and then after that I had some complete songs. Most people dont have time to listen to a long demo.

Hope that helps ! I need to get off my ass and do this myself !

[nickyn99]

Whether you will need it or not, put a good promo pack together.
1 - black and white and color band photo with booking info.
2 - band bio.
3 - demo tape/cd, 30 seconds of 3-5 of your best songs.
4 - buisness cards with booking info, website, myspace etc. info.
(put this info on the cd and bio as well).
5 - good audio and video footage if possible with a good crowd.
6 - song list if doing cover gigs.

As far as pay, don't expect to get paid alot if any when doing an original gig with multiple band bill.
Hope this helps a bit!!

[Cris]

Jan 21, 2010 23:53:02 GMT -8 @wormdrive66 said:

The hardest part is keeping the band together sometimes i feel more like a babysitter than a guitarist.

Worm, we've changed bass players 3 times since you wrote this and I'm blaming you for jinxing us

Actually, I am curious about something else on this topic...I was reading a rant on Craigslist about bands undercutting each other or playing for too little...how does one determine what to ask for in a negotiation with a venue? I don't want to screw myself and my band out of gigs by over estimating our worth, but by the same token, I am not interested in lowballing other bands that are also trying to get gigs.

[jlev]

Cris, ask for $1000 per man per night, and let them talk you down a little bit.

All seriousness aside, I cut my teeth in an era when there was way more than handful of full time musicians in Sacramento. It was quite possible to play every night of the week, even if you weren't that good. I knew guys raising families and buying houses on gig money. I guess there wasn't much else to do but go down to the night club back then. if I was working less than 5 nights a week(usually all at the same place) I felt like an amateur.

When the bottom fell out of the club business in the 80s, most guys got jobs but kept playing. I mean we all play out of a love for the art form, the business side is just a necessary evil, but at that point it seemed like a lot of undercutting happened. People not trying to pay the rent pushed a lot of the full timers out.

It did shake out a lot of marginal players, now even weekend bands that work are quite good, but it's impossible to survive in just one band with out constant traveling.

I guess we are all fighting the economics of this century, but I think buyers should be aware that you get what you pay for. This probably no help, Cris. I would rather continue this face to face anyway.

[beamer]

I don't know Joe are your sure a $1,000 per man is enough I am curious, what are clubs paying now days?

Chris, if you can get in the door, I would think for a new band trying to build up a following that $60 - $75 per man would be good. What does anyone else think?

[tug]

i know im gonna get some flak for saying this but, do a few open mics and even a free show or 2, build a following and of course like stated above have a nice promo pack rdy for prospective venues, last but not least, have a pretty woman deliver your promo packs, politicly incorrect i guess but................

[mothermayhemband]

I agree with beamer that $65 to $75 per person for a band that is just breaking out is a good start.

We did that for several years then we chose a musical direction where we drastically increased our fan base (while as much as a cover band can have a fan base) and increased the # of people that came to see us on a regular basis (we stopped bugging our friends and family and got real fans LOL--USE FACEBOOK TO IT'S FULL POWER) once we did that we were able to show the clubs that we justified paying us more than what ever they were paying us before.

To them it's really about $$$$. There going to try to get the best entertainment for the least amount they can. We've gone back to local clubs and said we'll only play for $600 (120 per person) some said yes some said take a leap. We agreed to do some at the old price because it made marketing sense (like the Hacienda in Folsom and the Purple place which have built in crowds) other we said thanks but no thanks (like Regan’s and Cheers in Vacaville). We as a band just all agreed this is what we want for our service and we agreed to not take gigs for less (it’s hard to do!!!)

To your "undercutting" question....I use to have a problem with that too. I thought I'd rather play for less then not get the gig, but you reach a point you start to find that you are undervaluing your product and then people won't see the value in it either. Of course I'm speaking from the point of view of having gigs booked into 2011. I'm sure if I didn't have gigs I'd be rethinking my position on how much I want to make ;-)

[jlev]

Good advice.

Years ago a manager told me: "You either play your music at their price or their music at your price."


You gotta be realistic, bar owners have huge overhead. I have heard many cats do the math: cost of a bottle of booze divided by number of drinks, and granted the margin is good. If the only expenses were the booze and the band we could all get rich.

If you want to make $600+ a gig bars are probably not your best shot. The bands that have been really paying me play fairs, festivals, wineries, arts council fund raiser and the like.

[bassman]

As Woody Allen once said, 90% of life is just showing up. The only way to get gigs is to put yourself out there and actually ask for the gig.

The fellow who posted earlier about putting together a media kit is spot on. Then you have to contact bar owners, festival organizers, community service district managers, etc. You will get turned down a lot but if you keep asking you will eventually find yourself in the right place at the right time. And EVERYBODY is going to want the media kit. Especially music samples.

Speaking of which, I don't think you really need a CD, let alone a professional version of one. My band does well sending links to YouTube videos of our performances. If you haven't had any performances, just video a rehearsal in your garage. The idea is to get across the kind of music you play and the kind of stage presence you will have. I think the visual that a YouTube video provides trumps the better sound quality of a CD.