How to Get Your Band Booked for Festivals

You always hear about bands that are getting paid top-dollar to perform at musical festivals, but when it comes time to get your band booked for one of these gigs, most bands fail. There are ways around the gloom and the glutton of the music industry. Follow these steps and get your band booked at festivals around the world.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• Band
• $50 marketing budget
• Personal time
• Ability to create a press-kit

1. Create an online press-kit. There are several great websites that allow you to create online press-kits. The leader of these sites is Sonicbids (see Resources for link). You will need MP3’s, some press photos and a bio for an effective press-kit.
2. Research the festivals you want to book. At the above-mentioned website you can preview lists of upcoming festivals all over the globe and apply to perform at them.
3. Send out the press-kit. This site (see Resource link) not only allows you to publish online press-kits, but they also allow you to send them out to all sorts of festival booking agents for a nominal submission fee. They have just about every single worthwhile festival that occurs world-wide, and submitting a press-kit is as easy as right-clicking your mouse button.
4. Conduct follow-up emails and phone calls. Most often you will just want to email the booking agents with a short and professional message that is concise and to the point. Wait for a follow-up email--otherwise move on.

Tips & Warnings

• Be patient, most festival booking agents are literally swamped with requests from bands wishing to get booked. Allow them the time to contact you back, if they are interested in booking your act they will.
• Always act professionally no matter what the other person does. You never want to create a bad reputation for your band.