How to Book Gigs for Your Band

In this article you'll learn about who to contact a venue/promoter, how to agree on terms, getting paid, and how not to get screwed when booking a gig. This article is for independent musicians, bands and ensembles looking to play shows at a wide range of venues.

I’ve learned quite a bit about gigs with bands in the past few year. I draw my experience from managing multiple bands, the most successful of which (Behind Bad Luck!) has played high profile gigs, such as the Knitting Factory in NYC and with revered groups like The Pietasters, Reegal Beagal, and King Django. Here is what I have learned:

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• E-mail
• Telephone
• Press Kit (Demo, Bio, Photo, News/Achievement Sheet, Contact)[Not necessary but helpful]
• A little fortitude to push for you to get what you want.

1. Find a promoter whom books shows in your genre, or a venue that hosts shows in your genre of music. Ways to do this is: contact other artists/bands local the area and ask them who they book their shows through and where they play. Also, there may be resources on the internet such as local music scene forums or blogs. It is possible, albeit a little more difficult to penetrate the scene, for your band to contact venues directly and book yourself.

2. For the gig agreement, the most ideal situation is to have a paper contract, outlining the aspects of the gig. This option is more time consuming, so most people don’t do it. The next best thing is to have an e-mail on which you have both agreed and noted that “This e-mail represents a contract between Slim’s 80’s Music and El Bar De Fredtown.”
   
   On this e-mail/paper contract you want to have answers to the following questions (think about the gig, there may be some that don’t apply):
   
   a) How the band gets paid? (SEE STEP 3) Does the venue pay the band? Does the venue sell the band tickets to sell people? Does the venue take a cut of the door? Does the venue give the band a single payment and take all door charges?
   b) Does the venue provide a contract?
   c) Is the venue all ages, 18+ or 21+?
   d) Are there other bands on the bill? Can we, after approving it through the venue/promoter, add other bands to our bill?
   e) Does the venue do any promotion?
   f) Are there any booking agents/promoters that the venue usually works through?
   g) What is the capacity (body count) of the venue?
   h) What genre of music does the venue tend to host regularly?
   i) What equipment does the venue provide? PA? House instruments/amps?
   j) Does the venue provide free drinks/meals to the band?
   k) How many people can we comp in?
   l) When do you expect the band to be in house?
   m) Is there a sound check?
   n) When is downbeat?
   o) Is there anything else we should know about playing that venue?
   p) Who can we use as a contact at the venue, and what is that person’s contact information?

3. There are many ways that I have encountered in getting paid for a gig:
   
   - Guaranty - this language indicates that the venue/promoter is obligated to pay you a set amount determined before the date, no matter what the crowd. Promoters/Venues may require you to pay a small fee/deposit before the date. Typical promoter/venue fees/deposits will run from aprox $25 - $50 (I’d be weary of any deposit requirements beyond $50).
   - Door charge (your own guy or their guy takes it) - and the promoter/venue gets a percentage (or takes $1 you take $3 on every head), you get the rest.
   - Door charge (on multiple band bills) - promoter/venue takes count of who came to see who and splits pay amongst band according to draw. You have serious potential to get screwed by the promoter/venue’s eyeball. However, the last time my band played such a gig we scored $200.
   - Space rental - you pay to play in a space, which may include staff. You determine cover and take 100%. Any venue that takes a % after you’ve payed rent is trying to screw you.
   - Free - you can play for free for great exposure opportunities like large festivals or fund raisers. However, bands like a 70’s and 80’s cover band probably doesn’t really care very much about exposure. Still make sure that the logistics of the gig are described specifically.
   - Tips - there are venues that do not pay and expect you to play for tips only. Although very rare, some venues/promoters will tip bands for an excellent job playing or drawing a crowd.
   - Contracted amount - obviously, things get more complicated when you start to talk about major gigs with major contracts, that run thing legit while paying mind to government regulations and such.

4. Amenities you should expect from a venue, especially those that are bar/restaurant gigs:
   - 1 meal per member
   - Free fountain drinks
   - Bottled Water

5. By phone or e-mail, confirm the gig with the promoter/venue 48 hours before the gig.

6. Play a killer show! No matter how many people are at your gig, or what the environment is like, you must play the best show you can possibly play. Your reputation rides on how good every live show is. When you book more shows, your reputation will precede you.

7. Thank the promoter/venue for the show - even if you got seriously screwed over. People in the industry are drawn to those who are courteous in their business dealings (= more gigs).

8. Evaluate the entire experience. Identify what went well and what did not work. Mark the participation of the venue/promoter in your show: Were they helpful and supportive? Was it a nightmare working with them?

Tips & Warnings

• Always be thorough in the process. Cover everything you think you need to.
• Have WRITTEN documentation of your agreement. There is no recourse for deviation from a verbal agreement.
• Do not be afraid to ask the promoter/venue questions about gig.
• Contact the other bands you're sharing the bill with to say hi and tell them you look forward to playing with them. Making the connection before the date will better help you build relationships when your there. (Relationships = More Gigs)
• ALWAYS play the best show you possibly can. All it takes is that one important and respected person in the local/national/international industry to tell everybody they know that you were a great live show. If you make a lack effort, that same person can tell everybody you suck, and you won't even be able to play your local VFW or community center.
• Keep your eye on http://jbrickman.wordpress.com for more industry insight.
• If you're having hard time getting started, offer to open for other local bands.
• If you're really having a hard time getting started, you might have to consider playing for free. In the industry, there are times when you really have to pay your dues.
• Be careful about telephone-only agreements as you have no recourse if the venue decides to pay you $5 instead of $500 after the gig.
• Protect yourself from getting screwed on a gig. How promoters/venues may screw you over (more often promoters):
• 1) …take an inappropriate cut. If your promoter is pushing past 30%, it’s not so great. If your promoter goes beyond 50%, seriously think about if the gig is worth it or not.
• 2) …not promote your event. Check out the reputation of your venue/promoter. Some are infamous for simply taking your money, and not even showing up to your show, let alone do anything to promote it. This is terrible, especially if you’re relying on the door charge. I’ve had this happen multiple times.
• 3) …pay you something other than the agreed amount. Especially if all you have is a verbal agreement, things have the potential to change.
• 4) …they don’t charge at the door when they said they would. I’ve had a venue pay my band $13 and then tell us “You didn’t have anybody working the door. We did you a favor and worked the door the last 15 minutes.” This was where they almost always have staff working the door, and never mentioned that we’d need our own door person.
• 5) …add bands to the bill that either suck or clash with your genre/crowd (with an exception to cross-genre festivals/showcases). How do you explain your 80’s cover band sharing the bandstand with an indie emo band? It’ll make all the musicians involved look foolish and it will make your following think your artistic judgment is really whack. !If you do not trust the venue/promoter to make good choices, you should try to secure creative control over who you share the bill with! For example, the student entertainment group here at Potsdam almost booked a show with a Slowcore-Indie-Emo band and a Modern-Rock-Country band. It would be a sonic train wreck.
• As far as alcoholic drinks go, I wouldn’t ask for them - you want to save seeming presumptuous to your venue/promoter. I have played bar gigs where they did not provide free alcohol and one where they did.

Resources

• Jbrickman Blog (Music Business and Such)