Booking Tours 101
A DIY guide to setting up gigs and getting there to play them
by Sam Shaber
September 21, 2000
Sam Shaber |
Deciding to go on tour does not mean it's time to quit your day job. It doesn't mean you will be opening for Dave Matthews any time soon. And it doesn't mean your fan base will grow instantly nationwide.
So why tour?
You will learn enormous amounts about the music scene on a national level. You will meet and play and become friends with other musicians. You will learn which clubs are important and worth striving for across the country. You will sell CDs! And slowly, your fan base will grow.
Best of all, you will become a better player, better singer, better performer. You will learn to handle the craziest situations with grace. You will break guitar strings mid-song. You will play rooms with no PA because you forgot to check on that. You will play to 100 people and you will play to two people. You will play Borders Books and Music again and again and again. You will sleep in lots of strange places, and have lots of people staying at your house in exchange. And after a while, you will be able to knock people's socks off on stage.
“It's okay to play a Starbucks -- we don't start out at the Fillmore.”
Finding Venues
The best way to start is to figure out where you want to go. Open your road atlas and draw out a potential route. Start in a place where you know someone to stay with and who can hopefully bring a couple of friends to your show. Be realistic. It's okay to play a Starbucks in San Francisco -- we don't start out at the Fillmore. Make sure you refer to the atlas often. Don't book Buffalo one night and East Hampton the next -- just because they're in the same state doesn't mean they're close.
I began by using some published directories, such as The Musicians Guide to Touring and Self Promotion, The Musician's Atlas, and Pollstar. These periodicals list venues, and give contact info, size, technical requirements, music genre, and sometimes a little blurb about the history or vibe of the particular club. All of this is quite helpful, though not always accurate -- which might explain how I came to play a punk club in Missoula, Montana, as a folk musician!
Go online to sites such as www.Musi-Cal.com and www.tourdates.com, where you will be able to gather information by venue, artist, or city. If you're going through North Carolina, look it up on Musi-Cal and see what venues come up. Then see who's playing in them -- when you see an artist in your genre, you've found a place to hit. Or if you want to play at the Tin Angel in Philadelphia, look up their schedule on the Internet and find someone you think you could open for before calling them. Many talent buyers give you an answer faster if you ask about specific dates.
The best form of research is word of mouth. Keep all the gig postcards you get from other musicians. Talk to people you meet at gigs. Go to conferences. Be creative. I have played coffee shops, artist studios, bookstores, schools, house concerts, benefits, and of course, lots of clubs and bars. In time you will find out where the right places are and what's worth working towards. Most tours start out with a few key dates in good clubs (usually low or non-paying) and then a string of "filler" gigs to make the trip financially viable. I will often have a couple Borders Bookstores and anonymous bar gigs in a schedule that also includes the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville (a completely non-paying gig) or the Mint in L.A. (a great A&R showcase venue with no guarantee).
“The more up front you are, the better your relationship will be with the talent buyers.”
Approaching Venues
When working with club owners and talent buyers, the key word is respect. Never forget that these people are busy and have their own priorities. Always be friendly, organized, and brief. Make sure you are calling at the appropriate time. (Many clubs have booking hours, and it's perfectly okay to ask what they are if you don't know.) If their ice machine has just gone on the fritz and flooded the beer cooler and you are trying to keep them on the phone about booking a Tuesday in February, you will not get a warm response. Be mindful of the bigger picture. Also, be very wary of the fact that clubs usually keep track of numbers, and you might not be able to play there again, even years later, if you don't bring the amount of people you promised.
Acoustic Roundup
Adam Scharff, Sam Shaber, BMI's Brooke Primont, Micheal Scharff, and Amy Fairchild |
Call first to say hello and put your name and desired date in their ear, and then send your package. Putting a package together can be very involved and is an article in itself, but the basic parts are the one-page bio, photo, and piece of music. Full-length CDs are absolutely not required when booking gigs. You don't need extensive reviews or feature articles from the local papers. If you're just starting out, it's best to be honest about that -- the more up front you are, the better your relationship will be with the talent buyers. They can smell bullshit a mile away!
Talent buyers get hundreds of packages from artists -- you want to stand out yet be yourself. My press kits are put together in clear plastic folders with the press picture showing through the front. When talent buyers pull it out of the envelope, the photo is the first thing they see before even opening the folder -- it works well to get people's attention.
Make sure your contact info is all over everything. If any part of your package gets separated, you want to be sure that it still tells people how they can reach you.
Write a very brief and friendly cover letter, repeating the dates you're looking for, and pop the whole thing in the mail. Then mark two weeks ahead on your calendar for your follow-up call. This is generally the right amount of time, but if you call then and they haven't gotten to it yet, just ask nicely when you should try back. Often they will ask for two more weeks, in which case you write it down again in your book.
Usually, you won't get through to anyone. Just because certain hours are listed for booking calls doesn't mean the talent buyer will actually be there. They may have a sick child. They may have to get that ice machine fixed. Just leave a message, stating your name, number, and the date you hope to book, and call again in a day or so. A fine line runs between being persistent and being a pest -- unfortunately there is no golden rule for where it is; you just have to feel it out.
Once you finally get the gig, make sure you "advance" the show -- that is, find out all the details. If possible, send a contract stating date, time, money (if any), equipment available, accommodations (if possible), and very clearly your name and the talent buyer's name. Many venues don't do contracts and there's nothing you can do about it. But this doesn't make them bad venues. (After four years in the business, only about 40 percent of my gigs involve contracts!) Some venues (especially schools) have their own contracts to send to you. You might feel funny mentioning the contract but be brave -- more often than not it will put you in a better light!
Next Page: Money, Publicity, Safety, What I've Learned....
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