A Simple Guide to Booking Your Summer Tour
Summer Touring is just around the corner. If you haven’t begun the booking process yet, what are you waiting for?! As you (or your band) jump in head first, here are some tips for doing it the right way START 3-4 MONTHS OUT By right, you should be working on July and August right now. [...]
3 Ways To Send a Bad Pitch Letter
If you’re like me, you’re probably sending out email after email to venues, radio stations, and blogs, in the hopes of booking a show or getting your music reviewed. It can quickly become very old! But as someone who also wears the editor hat (while writing and maintaining this blog), I get alot of [...]
How Do I Get A House Show?
ARTIST: Jonathan Wood Vincent (New York, NY) QUESTION: Is there a house concert listing online. Like a reference of places offering these? ANSWER: Hey Jon. The short answer is “Yes”! There are a number of resources out there. Here are a few familiar and not-so-familiar websites that we suggest. Concerts In Your Home These guys don’t mess around. [...]
Starting From Scratch: Tips for the Brand Spankin’ New Musician
This is a post I’ve been meaning to write for quite a long time. Having talked to many of our readers online, I realize you all are coming from different places in your careers. Some folks have been playing for years, some have been touring for years, and some of you are closet musicians. Well, [...]
5 Things To Keep In Mind For Summer Touring
1. YOUR FANS MIGHT NOT COME As someone who plays alot of colleges in the Fall and Spring, I sometimes forget that I can’t go to certain cities/towns in the summer b/c the audience turnout will be slim. Keep in mind that alot of people are back home, or on vacation during the summer. It’s [...]
The Best Way to Book a Tour
Booking is hard. Here are some valuable tips on how to hopefully make things a bit less stressful. If you have other tips, post them in the comments section. 1. Start with the Weekend Where do you want to spend your weekend? Book your Friday and Saturday gigs first? Its likely that these will be [...]
Grassrootsy’s Top 10 Posts of 2010
Hmmm…it was really hard to pick just 10. Perhaps these are personal favorites. But we felt like these posts were worth taking a second look. If there’s another gR post that has stuck with you this year, stick it in the comments section. Oh…and we cheated. The last one on the list is actually 5. [...]
5 Tips for a Booking a Successful Show
I’m knee deep in booking shows, and here are some more things I’m learning along the way about booking. If you’ve recently learned a thing or two, put it in the comments section. 1. Call Ahead If you are unsure about the venue you’re about to book, call the venue (as if you are a [...]
New Year, New Ideas
The new year is upon us! In the Spirit of change/resolutions/starting over, I propose that all the musicians reading this come up with a visible change in the way they spread their music. Here are a few ideas… (trying to keep posts shorter so its not too much to read in one sitting) Book Yourself. Then Book [...]
DAY 2: What Exactly Does a Full-Time Artist Do All Day? An Interview with Justin Trawick.
Today’s post is the second installment of a 5-day series where 5 different full-time artist share what it looks like to pursue music for a living. Today’s contributor is Washington, DC-based artist, Justin Trawick. His words are insightful and they’ll probably be a kick in the pants for all of us who’ve been sitting on [...]
The Process of Publicity
Given last week’s post on booking, publicity, and being managed, I thought I’d put down some additional thoughts on publicity…since i think it happens to be the biggest piece of the puzzle. Like I’ve always said, you can be the best musician in the world, but if nobody knows, it won’t do you any good. [...]
4 Tips For Knocking on the Door of a House Concert
‘Tis the season for house concerts! Today’s post comes from Lancaster-based artist and house show host, Jason Mundok. Based on his experience, he shares some especially useful information on what it takes to successfully book a house concert. ______________________________________________________________________________ For the past few years, my wife and I have been hosting a house concert in [...]
Booking a Gig – Why Not Do it Yourself?
Today’s post comes from UK-based artist, Andy Mort. He goes by the moniker, Atlum Schema and has written a few articles for Grassrootsy in the past, including reader favorite, “Pay What You Want? Does That Really Work?“. Today he spells (really spells out) a step by step plan on how to book a show from start to [...]
Making the Most of Your Club Gig
On Monday’s post, we talked about the pros/cons of booking nightclubs: Coffeeshop or Club? Pros and Cons of “Nightlife” Booking. Here are a few tips on how to make the most of your show. Who’s on the Bill? Don’t just play with any artist, play with artists who will willingly help you promote the gig. You can get [...]
Stalk Your Fellow Local Musician
I’ve found that visiting other musicians’ concert calendars is still the best way to find the best venues in any respective city. See where they’re playing Contact that venue Book the show! Going to DC? Visit the sites of local DC artist and see where they’re playing. If you have a good relationship with the [...]
How Do I Break Into A New City?
THE ARTIST: Danami (Minneapolis, MN) THE QUESTION: When booking gigs in a city you’ve never played before what is the best approach you’ve found? The whole nine yards – from payment deals to getting artists from that area (who performs when). THE ANSWER: Danami, your music sounds awesome! First and foremost, expect to go into [...]
Tour Maintenance: Things You Should Do Before Hitting the Road
1. Is your website’s show calendar completely updated? Do you have links to all facebook invites? Do you have links to where people can buy tickets? Proper show times? Correct addresses? Don’t just stick the name of the venue and time of event on your calendar. Give people good, solid information so that they can [...]
If At First You Don’t Succeed…
Today’s post is a simple letter one of our readers, Josh Sanders, sent in after reading last Wednesday’s Post, “Booking: Writing the Perfect Email Pitch“. Its a brief story about patience, persistence, and the frustration that comes when venue’s don’t respond. Hey I saw and read this…it particularly hit home because of an experience [...]
Booking: Writing the Perfect Email Pitch
It’s frustrating. You send out emails to this venue and that venue but nobody gets back to you…and then you start to wonder if you ever sent those emails in the first place. It happens all the time. At least it happens to me! So when I began book this year’s summer tour, I [...]
Should I Ask A Venue For a Guarantee?
Today’s question is from a booking agent and its a great one! Don’t forget to send in your questions. I’ll be answering alot of them in the coming weeks. QUESTION: I have an artist who’s asked me to book her venues/coffeehouses. She wants a minimum of $150 per booked coffeehouse gig. Should i lead with [...]
