Whose Responsibility Is The Booking?

Hey gigging musicians. Today I wanted to chat about a pretty controversial post I saw in the cover band central Facebook group. So for those of you who aren't on Facebook or are not a part of this group cover band central is kind of the largest Facebook group for cover band musicians. I pop in and out of there. It's really fun to see the discussion. Lots of memes, lots of questions, people asking about gear, and then a lot of war stories of gigging musicians and just things that go on in the world of gigging specifically for cover bands. One of the posts that I saw got a lot of reactions and a lot of comments was about the thank lis job of the booking. So people, the person who posted was, it was kind of a complaint, but also kind of a rallying cry about how thankless the job of booking is, and how they're just so frustrated that for every band that they've been in, they've practically always just been the only person in the band that cares about the booking, and not just the only one that cares about it, but the only one that actually does any of it. And then a bunch of people responded saying like, yeah, it's the same for me too, and it really sucks. I just wished my bandmates you know, they are, this person was actually pretty pissed about what their bandmates were were doing and saying, The bandmates were like, Oh, I carry all the drums or, you know, I load in all the equipment, and I just show up in play. And that's the most important part. And you wouldn't be here if, if you didn't have me to play? And who's right and who's wrong? I mean, that's a tough question, because without the band, the band leader or the Booker would would have no band to book. But without the Booker, the band would have no reason to rehearse and play. Unless, of course, they're, they're not a cover band. But of course, we're in the cover band Central Community here and for us gigging musicians, even non non cover bands still tend to play non original music or, you know, works of art that somebody else has created. We're just, you know, putting our own touches on. So, yeah, I mean, both can't live without the other. And how do you mitigate this? That's a really tough thing, because obviously, people are pissed at each other on both sides. And is there is their anger justified? I mean, you might feel like it is. And perhaps for some of them, it is I mean, the work could be unequal if the Booker's doing a terrible job and you're playing at crappy bars every week, or you're not playing at all, well, yeah, the Booker's in the wrong for not holding up their into the bargain. But if the if the musicians who play for the band, but don't do any of the booking, if maybe there was some expectation of them to do some of this booking or do some extra responsibility, and they're not fulfilling on it? Well, then sure, you know, the Booker has a right to, to be angry at them. But here's the thing. In both of those situations, there were unspoken expectations put on the other party. And you know, what they say about assuming, you know, if you assume something, you make an HSS out of you and me. So if you're assuming that the other person knows your expectations, then you are honestly in the wrong because if you haven't actually told them what you expect, and given them a chance to fulfill on that promise, and you know, if they're not doing a good job, remind them and give them an opportunity to correct well, then quite frankly, you're the one who's who's wrong for not actually, you know, telling them how they can make you happy. So, in the band world, you know, that's why, for me, when I'm running my string quartet, I do over 150 gigs every single year. I am the Booker I share responsibility of the booking with one other person, her name is Jackie, she's great. I love her, Hey, Jackie, if you're listening to this, but it's very clear that we have a very strict separation of duties and labor. So Jackie, and I'm, we are the ones responsible for the booking. All of the other musicians I have very clearly decided and communicated that your only job is to respond to me when I need to know if you're available for a gig. And then learn your music and show up and do the best possible job you can to please all of the clients who hire us. So I do not ask any of my musicians to do any of the booking work. They don't have to reach out to the venues. They don't have to talk to clients. They don't have to deal with contracts. They don't even have to deal with money. All they have to do is collect their paycheck at the end which I'd use direct deposit for through book live Pro. And then, for me and Jackie, the musicians know that we are the ones that do the bookings. And in many situations I've had some of the musicians who play for me say, hey, Jared, my cousin is getting married. They're looking for a string quartet, can I connect you with them so you can take care of the booking? To me, that is a perfect symbiotic relationship, because both me and the musicians know what is expected of us. And they're not mad at me for not booking more gigs. I'm not mad at them for not doing a job that I haven't asked them to do. And quite frankly, most musicians aren't that good at booking. So, you know, how can I expect them to do the job that like, it's difficult, it's a skill, that, you know, that's part of what this podcast teaches, is how to do your bookings correctly in a way that earns you the most amount of money. So you can make a living performing. So it's unfair of me to expect musicians who many of them went to music school, and got two degrees in performance, a undergrad and a Master's. None of their education was about booking, it was all about how do I play my instrument? What's the history of the music behind it? What's the theory behind it? It's too bad that music business is not offered in most music schools. It's starting to be. And in fact, just the other day, I gave a lecture to University of Wisconsin Milwaukee's music business class, which only had about seven or eight students in it, which to me, the entire school needs to go into this class. That's like one of the most important skills to have in this business is the business. So anyway, I'm getting a little off topic, just because I'm so passionate about this music business is so important. It is an equal skill to the art itself. That might be controversial. But you know, let's debate about it. Let's chat about it. Regardless, the number one way for musicians and band leaders to have peace in a symbiotic relationship, is by discussing expectations beforehand. Before you get into deep, what is the division of labor? Are the bandmates expected to do any of the booking? Tell them that, yes, you're expected to do this, I would like to see you book one gig a month for us, then they have the opportunity to say yes, I will do my best. Or, quite frankly, I'm not that good at booking, you should probably not ask me. And I'll just be your I don't know kazoo player, no offense to kazoo players, of course. So speak to each other beforehand, establish expectations. If you really want to go to the next level, write it out in a contract or an agreement doesn't have to be, you know, super fancy, you don't have to get lawyers involved. But that way you have it in writing here is what we agreed to when we started working together of what our expectations are. This is pretty much how we operate. I mean, this is exactly how my group operates. But we not only operate this way between the band leaders and the musicians, we also operate this way between the band leaders and the clients with whom we book you know, we use a contract with our clients so that they know exactly what they're getting when they hire us. They are no surprises we we know that they don't expect us to stay an extra hour and help serve food because hey, wasn't in our contract. We never talked about it beforehand. So legitimize what you're doing. Live music is so important to society, and the pandemic has made it more and more difficult for us to do our jobs. That's why we have to take what we do so seriously, and do as best as we can to establish clear expectations. That way everybody's happy. Live music can continue to be a very important part of of our society here. And it is my belief that the better job we do, the more we'll be able to play. So that's my two cents. I know I got a little heated there just because I'm so passionate about this idea. But if you like what I talked about, and you want to apply this to your mand I'm running a masterclass on how you can treat your gigging career as an online business. And if you're interested in that you can sign up it's totally free. The title of it is how to be one of the top gigging groups in your city without building a following. You can find this masterclass at book live pro.com slash masterclass, totally free. I'll discuss three secrets of how you can become one of the top gigging groups in your city. And just a little preview about that. The first one is how you can fill your gigging calendar by focusing on what most musicians miss that is with the online gigging business blueprint. The second one is that you don't have to be a tech genius to get the right kind of people to your website and to book you. That's through a training I call the booking optimized page and traffic. And then the third one is how to have your gigging business practically run itself. And that's through automation through a tool that is called book live Pro. So, register for that free www dot book live pro.com slash masterclass. Please make sure to like this podcast in iTunes and Spotify. Share it with your friends, if they're valuable. Share it with your bandmates if you're going through this process right now and you want them to have a little bit of perspective from somebody who does 150 gigs a year and we will see you on the next gigging musician podcast.