Gigs Are Not Booked In The Practice Room

What's up gigging musicians. It's Jared. And today's episode is sponsored by the BookLive software. It's a software tool that helps band leaders coordinate and organize their band at scale. So they don't have to deal with all the extra hours that go into scheduling and just running the band. Check it out at BookLive.com. Anyway, today's episode is about gigs are not booked in the rehearsal room. And so I wanted to chat about this because I am a musician and I went through the very same journey that most musicians do is that you start out just with a curiosity in music and your instrument. And then you go through some process to learn that instrument. And eventually, you build this desire to perform that instrument. And that is where the disconnect happens for most people, they get really good at their instrument. And even when they start playing with a group of people in a band or a string quartet, something like that. They get this desire to perform out but they have no idea how to get these gigs, particularly well paying gigs. You know, gigs, well paying gigs are not booked in the rehearsal room. They're not booked in the practice room. And so what most musicians do is they try all of these different ways to book gigs, many of which don't actually impact the number of gigs that they book. You know, for example, if you're rehearsing with your band, you have rehearsal every Tuesday night and you want to get really, really good, which of course, there's huge value to getting good. You know, the better the musician is, the easier it is to market and sell it. The problem is that gigs are not booked in that practice room. So definitely have a good product to offer people. But where are gigs booked if they're not booked in the practice room? Well, you know, here in the gigging musician podcast, we're really passionate about figuring out the marketing and the sales of gigs because that is where gigs are booked. gigs are booked by people gigs are not booked by your instrument gigs are not booked by your bandmates gigs are booked by people who require your music to solve some sort of problem in their life, whether that's the problem is I need entertainment for my wedding. Or I need some nice background music for our corporate function. Or even you know, I need to entertain the senior citizens in my assisted living home. So that they their minds are occupied. And you know, they just have some some entertainment going on. And so the people who have that desire for the music, those are where that is where the gigs are booked. And so I'll tell you a quick story, because this is an example of, of where gigs are booked. Just this morning, I, you know, for my group, Dream city strings, I am always hustling, I have come to the realization that gigs are not booked in the practice room. And so I spend a lot of time calling different venue owners and event planners, wedding planners, and then really trying to meet with them, because it is a relationships based business here. The relationships that you have to build are with those people who booked the music or those who can refer the people who are doing the booking to your music. So this morning, I had set up a meeting with one of the event sales managers for a big hotel here in downtown Milwaukee. It's probably the fanciest Hotel in the Milwaukee area, probably even in Wisconsin, for that matter. So those of you who are from Milwaukee, you'll know which one I'm talking about. And so I set up a meeting with her. And it was a great meeting, we caught up, I have built a relationship with her in the past, but you just have to keep building that relationship reminding people that you exist, and checking in with them, making sure that they feel that you care about them. And then talking about what's new with the band or the group and just, you know, for a dream city strings, we just actually won a really big award the Wisconsin brides 2021 best ceremony music in Wisconsin award which is big. And so I shared that with her. And she congratulated me on that. And that transition nicely to I was able to give her some of our updated marketing materials, which Yes, you should have marketing materials for your band, you know, whether that's business cards, many bands start out with business cards that you can bring to gigs and just pass out. But for my group, we have a an updated price list. And so I pass that to this event sales manager. And then at the end, so I I've been really trying to like build the social media presence to so at the end, in a way to build the presence and also it's really fun. I asked her Hey, can we do a selfie? And what was great is that one of the bellhops actually has gotten really good at taking selfies in this fancy hotel, they've got a, like a mural painting on the ceiling, kind of like Michelangelo style. It's really cool. And so we got him involved. And it was kind of a fun little photo session. So another way to build a relationship with somebody, that's not pushy, you know, I wasn't like, booked my group. Now, it was, you know, let's build a relationship, let's build a friendship. Let's catch up, we'll talk a little bit about business. And then let's just have fun. And so that none of that happened in the practice room, none of that happened in the rehearsal room with the band that is on the bandleader or the the people in the band who want to take this initiative to find the people out there that can book you or refer you to people who can book you. And it's on you to build these relationships with them, and introduce your band. But I care about them, show them that you care about them. Learn the details of their lives, learn about the vacations, they're going on their kids, their their pets, whatever you can to build these relationships. But you can't do that unless you leave the practice room. So make sure you have a good product, a good musical product that you're ready to sell. And you're comfortable with that. And that gets into the offer stack. So if you haven't listened to that podcast from a couple of weeks, a couple episodes back, make sure you listen to the offer stack to understand what makes a good musical product. But then take your show on the road. And I'm not talking about your musical show. I'm talking about your relationship building show because gigs are not booked in the practice room. And gigs are rarely booked from the stage to you know, you might get a gig from performance that you're at, somebody might come up to you after say, hey, my daughter is getting married, can I give you her information, but the majority of your gigs are not booked from the practice room or the stage. So I hope that helps. And once you do get to a point where you have a lot of gigs on your plate, and you're finding yourself spending way too much time on the administrative side of things. Check out BookLive.com, it's a software tool that will help you manage all of that it takes away all of the stressful parts of running a band. And it enables you to be a fun loving band leader that has so many amazing experiences on stage and in the practice room. And it also gives you more time to take your show on the road and meet with these people build these relationships. And that is available. There's a free two week trial BookLive.com Thanks again and see you on the next episode of The gigging musician, podcast.