How To Get A Gig For Your Band

Step 1

Being a band on campus can be tough. The scene is competitive and it is difficult to book a band. Booking a gig does not equal instant success. The bottom line for booking a band: It doesn't matter how good your music is. All that matters is if your band can draw a crowd that drinks and dances!

Step 2

You will not be invited for future gigs if you do not draw an audience. This means your friends and family need to understand how important it is to show up. They are not really coming to the gig to listen to music. They are coming to the gig to fill seats - so you can book your band again. Some friends may assume that you will be playing every week. They will assume showing up at this first night is not that important because they can always come next week. To avoid this problem, refer to your gig as an audition. People can understand auditions. Tell them if your band can get enough people to attend the gig, your band will be booked again to perform.

Step 3

Imagine a bar owner choosing between booking your band vs. booking another band? The bar owner will book the band who will get Fans to a show.

Step 4

It's not how important your promotion materials or how flashy your flyer looks. It's not how swift your pitches sound to the manager. All that matters is if you can convince the manager that you can fill his club. Since it is likely you will be given an off night, you don't need to fill every seat in the club. You just need to convince the manager that you have a lot of fans and know how to promote your band.

Step 5

And that's where Creating a Profile on Campus Men is perfect - it allows you to organize and motivate your Fanbase and encourage the most energetic among your fans to into posting your "street team flier."

Step 6

House Party is Trial Before Booking Your Band: Before you seek to book your band at a real-life club or bar, play at a house party. It is best to play at a house party during the summer when more parties are held during the day. This is because neighbors cannot call the police if you are playing at 2 PM. If you play at night at a house party, you should fully expect the police to arrive. This is why you need to keep your set fairly short. Don't play every song you know. Nothing is worse than your guitarist being forced to stop playing because an officer wants to talk to him or write a ticket.

Step 7

If you must play at night, it is highly advisable for you to make the extra effort of talking to neighbors at least two days before the gig. You don't need their permission. You are simply looking to show them some respect. They were still may call the police, but least you've made an attempt to delay or avoid the police being called as much as possible.

Step 8

Your Street Team: You need to promote your house party as much as possible. Although a house is not a commercial establishment, you need to treat your promotion efforts just like you would a real paying gig. This gives you the chance to test your street team. Which friends will take your flyers and throw them in the trash? Which friends will never distribute flyers? These failures in support are inevitable. Don't get mad at friends who fail you. Simply, do not count on them to remote your band again. You will know which friends distributed your flyers or e-mail their friends or told everyone on face book versus friends who only made promises. This is where using the tools that are given to you as a Campus Man, such as street team fliers and Fan Challenges can help your band.

Step 9

Do not leave anything to chance. Just because you e-mailed people a week prior to your band's night, does not mean they will remember when it counts. Be sure to do a text message blast and to phone your key people on the afternoon of your event.

Step 10

Your key people are friends who have reputation of being able to bring others, to motivate others, people who would drive others to your event. Some people are loners, and some people are leaders. Be sure to call the leaders and give them special attention the day of your event. If you need to give them special incentives to get them to promote your band, think of ways to give them special perks. If you need to pay for their drinks the night of the event or give them special seating or special parking, do what you can afford. Your fans who promote the most are worthy of special attention.

Step 11

Ready to Book Your Band at a Club: After you have played at an amazing house party and you have gathered more than 1000 Fans on Campusmen.com, you are ready to approach your first club to book your band.

Step 12

There are many different ways of approaching a club. Bars that offer live music don't search for new acts to book, they simply rely on their current acts and find new bands by recommendations. Some bars are so focused on selling booze and most have never even thought of offering live music.

Step 13

First, one person must speak for the entire band. There should not be three or four people attempting to negotiate. It is better for one single band member to go in to speak with the management and for that person to consistently be the band member who contacts the bar in the future. Do not be arrogant! Be short and concise in simple with your approach. You need to clearly explain that you can get people into the door. Remember these people talk to a lot of people everyday. They do not have time to analyze your unique message or give feedback on your music. Just convince them that you can get people into the door.

Step 14

Mentioning how many people came to your amazing house party, and how many fans your band members have on CampusMen.com is your key selling point. This is called your "Fanbase." You can print out your CampusMen.com page that shows how many "Fans" you have. Leave this with the club manager. If you have any other promotional materials, show them to the club manager.

Step 15

It is key that they see your band as being more interested in building an audience that shows up at gigs rather than the art of music, or being the best sounding band in the world. Within 30 seconds of opening your mouth to the manager, you need to convince him or her of how many people you can bring into the club.

Step 16

What time to visit the club? A club generally opens later than a bar or restaurant. Regardless of what time they open, visit the bar no less than one hour before their rush time. Never bother the manager during rush. Approach the General Manager or Club Owner. Try to cut out all the middleman, but if the middleman is your way to "get in," then ...use whatever is available to you.

Step 17

Choose a Bar: Pick the hottest clubs and ask to play on their off night to prove yourself. Picking off-nights are better to start out because clubs are more willing to work with new. The more successful you make an off night the more money you make.

Step 18

Is there a club/bar/restaurant nearby that is not doing well? If yes, ask to play at a weekend night. It is a lot easier get people to the bar on the weekend. However, your friends may not wish to go to the bar that is consistently empty. So, you need to remind your friends that you are asking them to support you - not just come to a bar.

Step 19

Negotiating the Booking: When negotiating, the number of people you can is your selling point. Let's say you have 1000 people on your Fan base. You can expect for 10 percent to show up to your club. That is 100 people. No business will say no to you if you have that draw.

Step 20

When it comes to booking a band for live gigs, the most important band member is the one who can bring in a crowd the night at the gig. Again, this is why it is important to build up the number of people who become your Fans on CampusMen.com before approaching a bar. The bigger your Fan base is, the better crowd you can expect.

Step 21

After You Book Your Band: If you succeed in booking your band at a new club, it is important that you spend more time assuring the people show up at the gig than it is to assure your music is perfect. For every rehearsal you schedule for the gig, you should spend two hours of promotion time.

Step 22

The more Fans you have on Campusmen.com, the better chances you have of packing a club. Don't make the mistake of assuming a large percentage of friends will show up. People get busy girls take too long getting ready, friends get stoned, people don't want to drive. Things pop up and only a percentage of the people who say they will show up, will. If you can expect a small percent of your total Fans to show up, you will be assured to not be playing for an empty audience.

Step 23

One way of using a Fan Challenge on CampusMen.com is to challenge your fans to take the best "Fan photo" during your gig. This gives girls something to do. They remember to bring a camera and a shoot photos, and post them. They do all the work for you. You may be lucky enough to receive a good quality photo that you can use on your next street team flyer.

Step 24

If ready to start on the road to booking your band, Create a Profile on Campus Men. In order to Create a Profile on Campus Men, you are required to gather at least 24 Fans. You can also upload a video to encourage people to Register as your Fan. In your video, give some insight on the band - instead of just playing music in front of the camera. You can talk about your style of music and what to expect during a gig, or what your practices are like.