Biz Booster Hot Tip!

The Booking Dead Zone is approaching. As we head into the holiday season, we come to a time period that often feels like a last chance to do some bookings to close out the year. November and December may find you with some time on your hands after some feverish fall touring, but artist beware, you may only find frustration if you attempt end of the year bookings as you enter the Booking Dead Zone. Let me explain. I’ve talked about booking conferences in the past and those mostly occur in late August and September, with some following in October and then again in mid-winter. That schedule drives the booking…

Are you missing some potential opportunities for gigs in your own market because you are focused on touring two or three states or countries away from your home base? Some of the best gigs might just be surrounding your own home town. If you’ve been paying attention to the various types of events going on in your community, you might have noticed many of them feature music of some sort. Somebody is getting those gigs, why not you? Here’s a list of some possible gigs in your own market that happen on a regular basis—some during the warmer weather, others can happen any time of the year. Perhaps your town,…

Which comes first Creativity or Productivity? As a musician and performing artist, I would venture a guess that the creator in you was the driving force that led you to become a performing artist. OK, let’s back up a bit. First let me break open Webster’s Dictionary and define these two terms so we can be on the same page. Creativity: noun, 1. The use of the imagination or original ideas, esp. in the production of an artistic work. Productivity: noun, 1. A measure relating a quantity or quality of output to the inputs required to produce it. Now with these definitions in mind, I’d like to make a few…

Are you in danger of playing too often in your chosen markets? We all want to gig more often, but have you really taken a look at how gigging too often in any given market might impact your ability to grow in that market? How can this be? Your audience dwindles Your pay never increases You can’t get prestigious gigs You are covered in the media less often Your CD or merchandise sales slump How can you avoid this unappetizing scenario? Keep track of your numbers- by tracking your sales, your audience counts and the size of the venues you are playing, you can see how much you are growing.…

Re-frame your communications to boost your bookings and career. Lately, I’ve been paying attention to how people express themselves in both written and verbal communications. I’ve been finding similarities among friends, family, and clients. What I am finding is that most emails, promo materials, negotiations and even conversations with family members are all self-focused or inward focused right from the start of each communication. I call it the, “Let me tell you about me first” syndrome. This kind of communication may be an offshoot of an attention to so many daily details that keep one inwardly focused and absorbed. A great example is when speaking on the phone with someone,…

Yes, it is conference season for performing arts centers—August, September, October, November, and of course January. This means booking conferences like Arts Northwest, + and Arts Midwest which just passed, and in January, the big conference in the US, Arts Presenters. In Europe there is Womex and in Canada, many province-wide conferences occur along with Capacoa and Cinars, a biennale conference. Along with the major conferences, many state and provincial arts councils also host conferences. So, if you are not yet ready for the bigger conferences, check out those closer to home by reviewing your state presenter's network or arts council website. If you have never attended a booking conference, then…

I've mentioned College Market Booking Conferences in the past. Those specific to student activities booking are NACA and APCA. NACA is a much larger and more costly conference with membership necessary. It has a main national conference with a number of smaller regional conferences. APCA is a more accessible conference and also has a number of regional conferences and a membership. It is a perfect place to get your feet wet and learn about college market booking conferences. If you've never attended a conference before, let alone a college booking conference, here's how I would approach this experience for the first time around. Check the websites of these organizations to…

College Market Performing Arts Centers may be the next largest event producer along with the student activities office. These events, however, are mostly booked by the performing arts program or artistic director rather than a student committee. The director may also be connected to the theater department. Performances booked into this facility tend to include theater, classical concerts, and other genres of music that the student activities office generally doesn’t book. Productions booked into the performing arts center may also include shows for children where schools bus their students in and season series that cater to a campus and community audience. Shows booked into the performing arts center are generally…

When working in the college market student activities is the most visible event producer on a college campus. There is always a Campus Activities Director who ultimately signs the contracts and essentially designs the events calendar. This person is also the student advisor for the various student committees that help plan the events. Some of the student committees that you may have come in contact with are the Concert Committee, that produces large concert events,a coffeehouse committee,  that produces smaller events, a lecture committee that helps produce a variety of lecture programs with famous speakers, authors, newsy or noteworthy people, to name just a few. These three committees are the…