Teen Jazz Music Career Advice Articles
Being Your Own Manger, Booking Agent, and Publicist Part II
Working as Your Own Booking Agent
Glossary of terms is available at the bottom.
by Shannon Kennedy
Getting into the music industry is a lot of work. You have to work ten times for the job. You have to go and find venues that are looking for artists. You have to persuade the person who books the club to hire you. You have to promote the gig once you finally get it to get people there. You have to find musicians who are available to do the gig, chase them down, and book them. As the band leader, you have to bring the PA, the music, all the cables, extra music stands in case someone forgets one, an extra microphone, extra cables, etc. In essence, you have to be your own roadie. You have to go and play the gig. On the breaks and after the show, you have to work the room and make friends with the club owners to ensure that you will return. You have to make sure that everyone gets paid like they are supposed to. Then the next time around, you have to do the whole process all over again.
It is a little overwhelming, so I am sure you are wondering what are some things that you can do to ensure that this process goes as easily and effectively as possible. To start out with, you need to have an impressive press kit. What is a press kit? What is in it? A press kit is basically all the best things about you in an envelope. It consists of your biography, a fact sheet including your name, location, age, important things that you have done, your CDs, your record label and your contact information, a testimonials sheet (really great quotes about you as a performer and about your CD), press (articles/interviews on you), press photos 8X10 – black and white as well as color, a couple of your best recordings 2-5 tracks, and a cover letter introducing yourself. It is kind of assuming to send an unsolicited press kit, so the best thing to do is find out who you send the press kit to, get a phone number and call them to tell them it is coming. Are you wondering who you send a press kit to?
1. Booking Agents – you usually send them a press kit prior to auditioning for them.
2. Newspapers/TV/Radio – if you want to be interviewed by any of the above.
3. Club Owners that have live music in their clubs.
4. Record labels.
5. Promoters – these are the people that book big concerts and festivals.
Be sure to remember that when you are sending out a press kit, you are trying to impress and win over whomever you are sending your kit too. So, make it professional. A press kit should be to the point – meaning anything that doesn’t ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO BE IN THE PRESS KIT SHOULD NOT BE IN THE PRESS KIT. Nothing should really be more than one page. A one page fact sheet, a one page resume, a half a page long or page long bio, a page of quotes about how great you are. I think you get the point.
A lot of the time, even though you have sent a recording, you will have to do an audition. Sometimes a club will audition you before booking you for a gig; they do this by hiring you for one night at their venue (sometimes this pays and sometimes it doesn’t), or they may have you come in when they are closed for a private audition, or ask you about another gig you have coming up that they can see your act at. Either way this is a necessary part of getting booked that you need to be prepared for.
If you don’t know where to look, finding the right people to contact about gigs seems almost impossible. The easiest way to start is in your own neighborhood. The strongest way to start branching out into other venues is to be established in your own area. Think of restaurants, coffee houses, or other places near where you live that offer live music. Go in to those venues when there is live music and talk to people who work there about who books the music and what they are looking for – see if you can get a phone number for that person, or if they are even there that evening to speak to then. The next step is to call the person that you received the phone number for and tell them you are interested in performing at their venue. Offer to send them a press kit and invite them to your next gig to see your band play. It is key to be persistent and ask as many clubs/venues as you can until one or more says yes. If you do this enough times, you will slowly but surely start to build up work.
For more information about negotiating contracts and ensuring that your gigs that you book go as smoothly as possible, be sure to read Part III: Working as Your Own Manager.
Working the room – taking the time to talk to everyone in the room enjoying your live music to build up a fan base, meet new people (potentially important people), and letting people know who you are.
Venues – Anywhere that offers or has the potential to offer live music; a coffee house, bar, restaurant, theater, winery, etc…
