How to Seal the Deal with a Promoter

This article is an offshoot of steps 3 and 4 from the article titled "how to book your first show (locally). there's an art form and protocol in contacting a club/promoter. just get in the mindset that this is going to be a battle and at all cost you need to book the show - your band needs you to book the show. not only does it need you to book "a" show it needs to be a show at the right club on the right night at the right time. this is never an easy mission because you're competing with umpteen other bands for one of the few good spots on a club's calendar. got the grim picture ... on your feet soldier.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

1. Send the Cold Email - fact ... it is so much easier to send an email to a stranger than to cold call them. when you send your first email get right to the point. give them 3 things - the name of your band, the date you are looking for and the link to your music. this link could be as simple as a myspace page, an epk, your own site or hopefully all three. assuming they have never heard of you and assuming that they do listen and even like it they probably wont respond. please note - if your band doesn't have it's own site then what does that say about your band? it says that any joker can set up a myspace page nowadays ... having your own site raises your game - it says "this is what we do and we take it seriously". think of myspace as a publicity tool now and nothing more. it's a necessary evil.
2. Follow Up with the Another Email - the promoter didn't get back to you yet, yeah, this shouldn't be a much of a surprise. obviously if you have any sort of juice in your town or if the booker has heard of you then the odds of getting an email back increases tremendously. again i' m assuming you're still a baby and that you have no representation, no radio play but you do have a cd out - not a demo but a packaged cd. (another sign of having your **** together). ok, it's been a week - send another email just like the first one.
3. Reach Out and Touch Them. it's been 3 weeks and 2 emails have been sent into the abyss. call them now. if you're lucky and do get the booker on the phone make it quick and simple. say something like this " hi this is so and so from the so and so band. i sent you a few emails looking for a date around this time frame". if you don't get them on the phone leave a message and try again as many times as you like until you can't take it any more.
4. Make it Short but Sweet - during that short conversation mention something the will make the agent take note (ie take you seriously). this adds a bit of validity and weight to what you are selling. for example when i call i was lucky enough to be able to mention my record company. immediately this gave me a bit more of a power position with the agent. "hey this is fran from west indian girl on astralwerks calling ... blah blah blah". by virtue of having this credible association i'm usually taken seriously. are you starting to see how difficult it is to get a leg up? if you aren't able to mention a label that you're on then try tossing in something that gives you some sort of credibility - maybe you sold out a smaller venue. bottom line is to make your few precious moments on the phone count. don't bumble.
5. The Drive By - as a last ditch effort you can physically go down to the club, find the agent and give him/her a press kit. this isn't really the best way to do things but you never know. ... it can't hurt. at least this will put your band's name out there so that when your email does show up in the promoter's inbox he might remember meeting you. this however guarantees nothing if your music is bad.
6. Reflect - don't take it personally - you're not a bad guy and people really do like you. this is a business and it's a business about popularity and ticket sales more so about credibility. you need to keep plugging. often times your first gigs aren't going to be at the best clubs in town and in reality that's probably a good thing. it will give your band time to not only hone it's craft but also develop some sort of following. you need to start somewhere. if everything goes right and you have developed yourself a bit of a fan base by the time you send an email to the bigger club in town that agent might have at least heard of you or seen the name around.

Tips & Warnings

• target the right club for your music - don't try to fit a square peg into a round hole
• make sure your myspace page is easy and not loaded up on the graphics. if it takes too long to load promoters aren't going to wait - they want music now - you aren't big enough to have them run through hoops
• there are no free lunches ... until you get bigger
• it still boils down to the music - if your music sucks (in the promoter's eyes) you aren't gonna get a call back. period