The Ultimate Gig Booking Guide | Phosphene Productions

Booking regular shows is an essential part of being a musician when expecting to be heard by the public, and a question we here at Phosphene Productions get asked a lot about. Though everyone has their own technique when it comes to finding the perfect show, many artists new to the scene should devise a “template” to work by and to keep yourself organized when contacting so many different people.

Our goal in this article is to give you a sort of template to use when beginning to develop your own booking strategy, and by the end you should have all the necessary information to kick off your gig.

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Get the Show on the Road: 3 Ways to Finance a Tour

Dizzyjam, an online merchandising firm that caters to musicians, asked 207 bands (mostly from the U.S. and U.K.), about their financial situations. Seventy-two percent of them said they earned some money, but not near enough to live on; 23 percent lost money making music, and only 4.3 percent earned enough to live solely off their music. You already knew that making a career out of music would be difficult, but it's doable, especially for persistent bands with a decent following. Even if you don't make it big, touring the country is a priceless experience. Here are three ways to raise the necessary funds to get your tour started:

Crowdfunding

The crowdfunding industry raised $2.7 billion in 2012 and $1.5 billion in 2011, and the financial consulting firm Deloitte estimated that 2013's crowdfunding efforts would raise $3 billion total (we have yet to see exact numbers for last year). The money is there, if you put forth the effort—5,067 music-related projects were successfully funded on Kickstarter in 2012, the most across all industries. In 2012, Amanda Palmer (of the alternative rock duo Dresden Dolls) raised more than $1 million via Kickstarter for her tour and record. It can be done.

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Top 10 Do's and Don'ts for Touring Bands

Congratulations!

 You have an album or two under your belt, a group of fans that come to all of your shows,  your creative thought processes have combined, and the stars are all in alignment.  KILLER.

Don’t forget- there’s still a long road ahead of you.  You are just one band out of a million other bands.  If you want your band and music to stand out from the crowd and make a lasting impression in peoples’ minds, there are a few dos and don’ts of the music industry to understand and follow. These industry practices and tidbits of advice come directly from some of the masters/experts in the field.  They had to learn these lessons the hard way, but at least they learned! With that being said, here is our top-ten list for taking it to the next level if your band decides to tour:

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The Coffee House Sessions

Coffee House Sessions is a new music initiative, exposing the hottest in upcoming UK music talent to the student market via daytime performances in University coffee shops around the country: http://youtu.be/CZRp_MoTqhM. 

With a carefully designed touring circuit taking place in 40 universities, Coffee House Sessions holds acoustic performances at two different campuses a day over a ten day period and provides promotion for the showcased artists through student media outlets such as student newspapers, student radio and student TV at each university.

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"Muzeek" Booking Platform Revolutionizes Outdated Booking Process

Music Booking Platform Revolutionizes Outdated Processes

Muzeek and its “book button” take on paper trails, wasted time and green M&M’s

Bondi, February 26, 2013 -­­ Artists, venues and everyone in­between can safely write­off hours of unnecessary paperwork, days of back and forth emails and countless curse­ridden tirades aimed at a venue that didn’t pay or an artist that didn’t play, as Muzeek, the world’s most progressive, digital booking platform launches its website and the first and only embeddable “book” button to the music industry.

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Pitching Your Band

If you were presented with the opportunity to pitch your band directly to the Chief A&R representative for Capital Records, what would you say? If there was a venture capitalist looking to invest into the dreams of one band, how would you convince them to choose you? If your favorite band was in town and looking for an opener, what would you tell the promoter about your act?

Being able to pitch your band is one of the most important steps in being able to book shows, secure sponsorships, get a booking agent/manager, receive press, and even to getting on a label. It’s also one of the areas that I see independent musicians struggling with the most. Even though I have a disclaimer on LastStopBooking.com that we are not accepting submissions, I still receive about 50-100 EPK submissions and query letters per week. 90% of these sound the same: the band describes themselves as having “great music,” and they almost always say they are different than other artists because they are “hardworking.”

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Go the Distance! Tips When You’re on the Road

I’ve created a whole series of articles filed under Tips for Touring, which you can pull up here.

I recently returned from doing a national tour myself. We crammed nearly 10,000 miles worth of driving in about 15 days. Most tours involve intense amounts of driving and they’re often done on older, less reliable vehicles. So before you undertake an ambitious series of out of town gigs of your own, it’s best to know a few things that can save you from disaster.

Here are some basic long distance driving tips when it comes to the road:

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