Archived Edition of Chromatic Musings

So, now you've got the gig

What next? Mr. Valdez has some rather good advice:

To be a working Jazz musician requires one to constantly be booking and promoting gigs. It's getting less and less common to have steady gigs anymore. The player is usually responsible for doing much of the promotion that the club owner used to do. The club may have an ad in a weekly paper or a listing in the entertainment section, but many times this isn't enough to ensure a decent crowd. When I was younger I didn't take promoting my gigs very seriously. I just cared about making the music good and pinning down the next gig. If you don't draw many listeners to your gig it doesn't really matter how good the music is, you probably won't get many more gigs there in the future. Besides, how much fun is it to play to an empty house?

• ...[P]osters are not always the best way to advertise your gigs. Postering is expensive and time consuming.
• Mass media is the musician's best friend. Make sure you send out your press releases for your gigs about two weeks before they happen.
• Make sure you send a note to the music calendar editors. These are usually different folks than the journalists.
• You should try to develop personal relationships with the writers and DJs that cover Jazz [or whatever musical genre you are playing... --Casper].
• Try to get on the radio as a guest before your gig. People's memories are short so do this right before your gig.
• Get your demo CDs to the DJs to play on their shows.
• Find out when the outdoor fairs and festivals happen and start working on them six months before they happen. Many times these will be booked by a professional booking agency.
• Contact every booking agency, caterer, and party planner in the phone book. These are the real money gigs.
• Work on an email list. Bring a notebook to every gig and make sure to ask the audience to put their email info in it.
• Get on the phone and personally invite people to your gig. This is much more effective than any other promotion method.
• Talk the club owner into offering some kind of food or drink special just for your gig. Use this as a draw in your promo materials.
• Save every review, blurb and ad about your band for your promo package.
• People are always more interested in musicians and bands from out of town. Bring in a player from out of town for a few gigs to generate more buzz.