How to Book Your First Show (Locally)

Booking a show for your band is never a walk in the park--especially when you're just starting out. as a general rule, the more popular you are within your city/area the easier it gets to book your band. that being said let's assume you have absolutely no popularity and thus no power--you're just a wee little baby band that hasn't played any clubs. brace yourself.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• good organizational skills aka a brain that functions
• press kit or epk
• contact list of clubs and/or network of musician friends
• cell phone and email access
• lots of luck and timing

1. Find the Appropriate Club/Venue - this is all about pairing and matching. for every type of band and every type of music there will be a venue(s) more suitable then others for which to play at. if you're an indie band there's gonna be a cool club or night at a club that you should be trying to get into. if you're a metal band there's always a metal club in the underbelly of your city. note - i'm making the big assumption here that you are extremely familiar with your city and scene.
2. Make a Hit List - once you have your ideal place targeted (your new holy grail) write down the names of all the other "realistic" possibilities of places to play. there's always a few places in town that feature original live music .... hopefully. i suggest making your list in excel. you don't know this now but this is actually the start of your touring database/bible. you will revise this a few hundred more times.
3. Get Promoter Info - there are a few methods to doing this but probably the easiest and most up to date is the web. ideally on the club's website there will be a section called "booking". sometimes it's as simple as linking to an email address but sometimes there are more detailed instructions ie call between such and such hours or send a demo to a certain address. save all of this info in your excel list and bookmark the club's site in a your browser for future reference.
4. Contact Promoter - there are 4 ways to do this. the first and easiest is email. the second is calling, the third is face to face, and the fourth is sending them a package via snail mail. these steps will be detailed further in another wehow article because there is an art form to dealing with promoters/clubs.
5. Follow Up - if you haven't gotten your email responded to or your call returned don't fret because this is normal. just keep trying until you do....or until you get so frustrated you stop....or until you lose all self respect. sometimes persistence does pay off though so keep trying and maybe they will respond just to get you off their back.
6. Take What You Can Get - if you do get an offer to play at the club, especially the top club on your hit list then now's the time to celebrate cos you grabbed the golden monkey. now is also the time to remember the old saying that beggars cant be choosers and you should take whatever crappy gig the promoter offers you. there wont be much cash but you have to take it because this is now the proverbial "foot in the door". remember that - you are officially on that club's or promoter's radar (it might be just a tiny blip but you are there nonetheless). good work - keep your chin up kid.

Tips & Warnings

• stay focused and determined - this isn't easy
• be realistic and don't overestimate your worth
• remember - this is a marathon, not a sprint
• learn how to use excel or go download it
• have a strong ego or as joe strummer said "you need a 6 inch skin to be in the music business"
• if you don't know who joe strummer is - ask yourself why and then do search for him online. musical education should never stop.