Things You'll Need:
- Binder with sheet protectors and pockets for CDs
- Website and email address
- Business cards
- Musician friends
- Musical knowledge
- Knowledge about sound systems, piano tuners, microphones
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Step 1
Get to know your local musicians. Visit clubs that offer live entertainment, especially piano bars, cocktail lounges, jazz clubs or cabarets. Find the local chapter of the musician's union by looking in your phone book or looking it up on the Internet.
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Step 2
Design and print business cards with your name, your agency's name and logo, at least one phone number where you can be reached at any hour, a website address or an email address.
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Step 3
Develop a website if you can--even a simple one- or two-page design that will host photographs and music clips from your stable of pianists. Make sure to include a link to your email address as well as information about when and where to reach you at given hours. Sometimes club owners may need to plug a player in as an emergency replacement when their regular player gets sick or does not show up to work. Make sure they know that you can be reached at any hour. It's helpful to also list your players' availability if you know in advance when they are free.
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Step 4
Canvas the club scene in your area and get to know club owners, managers and booking staff. Go to restaurants, nightclubs, cabarets, concert venues, rehearsal halls--anywhere musicians work--and drop your business card. Be sure to be friendly and confident. Don't be a pest, but let your presence be a given. Visit these places often, and be sure not to ask for freebies while you are there. Order a non-alcoholic beverage, pay for it, tip the bartender or waiter and strike up a conversation. After you've made your introductions to the staff and management, ask to set up an appointment time during business hours (bar business hours are usually late afternoon until evening) so that you can discuss your stable of talent.
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Step 5
Draw up a simple agency contract, listing the services you will provide, the amount that you will charge for your services (usually a percentage of the pianists' daily or weekly pay), the date or term of the contractual obligation and a place for signatures. Be sure to have two copies of each contract--one for you, and one for the pianist. Don't get too complicated with the verbiage. Just keep it simple and straightforward.
Create another contract for club owners to sign when they choose a pianist. Make sure there is a blank for the rate of pay, as well as an explanation of any overtime charges that will be due and the frequency of payment. If there are specific expectations, such as what the musician should wear, whether or not he gets free drinks or a shift meal, whether or not a tip jar is allowable, rules about smoking, sheet music on the piano or audience participation, make sure they are all spelled out in the contract beforehand. Also state the length of time that an employer has to make payment to the employee and what the consequence will be for late payment. -
Step 6
Gather CDs, pictures, resumes, reviews and other pertinent materials from your pianists. Organize your materials in a large, sturdy binder that you can bring with you to meetings. Have them sign contracts or, if they are not comfortable with signing a contract up front, ask them to sign on a job by job basis. Upload samples of their music to your website and download the samples to your mp3 player for easy access when you are pitching their talents.
