So, You Want to Be a Working Musician: How to Make a Living in the Music Business. Part 3

Welcome to the third article in the series. So far we have established that we are market driven manufacturers of unique aural and visual performance products. We have also outlined tangible and intangible features and characteristics of basic package design for our products. We have made the "widget" and a box to put it in, but what do we do with it now? For the purposes of this series, the answer is four fold: 1.) We sell it. 2.) We merchandise it. 3.) We promote it. 4.) We publicize it. We might end up doing a couple of other things to it as well, but this will get us started.

The Selling

I don't know what kind of a musician you are, but if you are trying to make your living as a mainstream performing act, you and your cohorts (co-defendants if you like) probably share a few of the universal traits that have come to characterize others in your genre. You probably have a few of the hitches in your giddy-up that cross the boundaries of specific genres and are simply inherent to performing and/or recording artists. I'm not going to try to define these things. I will say that they are often the reasons that many good girls (not gender specific remember) become naughty little groupies, bar flies, and the throwaways of those never will be garage band superstars. They are also the qualities that business owners, and legitimate industry professionals find most detestable, reprehensible, and unacceptable.

I am writing this slowly now, for those of you who got up this morning at or after 2:00pm, took a bong hit or five and spent the next 15-45 minutes watching Speed Racer while trying to find that same groove you had going on your guitar with that old dude from Spuernagen, San Polycade or whatever that old dude's countryland was called right before you bit the cat for no reason, snorted another line of your Berber rug, and decided that Blethygwuq was the most awesome band name that had ever been conceived and passed out.

You know this because your drummer Pierce, whose real name is legally "Squischy", tattooed it in a multiple gradation pattern that goes from your earlobe to your armpit - you know who you are. Kiss you're half assed, half masted, "be what you is, man," approach to doing something not too big with your pathetique little life theory of business and associated ethics GOODBYE. You're a working musician now. It's about time you stared behaving like one. And you will. Oh, yes. You will.

I'm sorry, but I have to break some of you down before I build you into the bright shiny sparkling star like professionals you deserve to be. For the rest of you, let this be a lesson. Remember that there, but for the grace of G-d, go you. Now, let's get on with it.

You have a product, your performance, as represented by the promotional materials in your promo pack. What do you do with it? Well, you get up early in the morning. You get up early in the morning because that is when the people who make decisions about who they want to hire as entertainment for their nightclub, bar, corporate party, ectsara@superfredbear.info. get up as well. At this point you are going to have to commit to one hour per day to accomplish what you want to accomplish which is selling your product, i.e. booking your band or group.

I need to assume that you are living in or near a major metropolitan area. If you are living in some little Binkwood North Dakota like town you can probably get yourself fully booked at every available place to play within 30 minutes. You just call uncle Clem and tell him your Ma said to let you play. However in the big bad world of grit city rock and roll the matter is a little different You are going to want to begin this phase of the program by making what we will refer to as a "go see" list. This will be a record of every possible venue in your area that you can get your hands on. This record will include the following: 1.) Name of venue 2.) Manager/Booker of venue 3.) Official title 4.) Address of venue 5.) Phone number of venue.

Leave some open space on your reference cards for things like dates, other numbers, other contacts etc. Even if you live in one of the bigger little towns in America you may have trouble putting together a respectable "go see" list that contains conventional venues. In that case start putting together unconventional venues like parks, universities, the banks of certain rivers, and anywhere else you think you are going to be able to present your music as it is intended to be presented. Anyway, once you have your "go See" list you are going to start calling.

This is probably one of the most crucial areas of everything we have done thus far. I say this because you are about to make personal contact with the people who determine if and when you play, and then, for how much. Don't treat these calls lightly. Don't talk like you are talking to other musicians because you are not.

I'm not going to provide you with a script. Essentially, however, you are going to introduce yourself in a clear and audible tone, then you are going to mention the name of your group and the fact that you have a promo kit for the person who does the bookings to consider. You'll finish by asking if you can send the person the kit or drop it by the venue and follow up in a week after they have had a chance to listen to it and review the enclosed materials. Obviously if you get a positive response you will do what you have promised and follow up with a phone call in one week. It will be at that time that you will ask for a booking date.

When you have this basic "go see" list down to a science it will be a good time to start looking for events and celebrations to add to your list. Things like fairs, festivals, holiday gatherings, grand openings etc. There are probably four or five different types of categories that you can come up with that will each contain specific venues or venue opportunities where you can get booked. Simply setting a schedule of one hour per day, one consistent hour per day, will put you ahead of every other musical wannabe who can't drag his lazy rump from the bunk.

Now wait just one second. Don't think that you are going to go out and get big time bookings with just one performance set under your belt. With just one set under your belt you are going to have a tough time carrying an entire gig. The promoter or club owner is going to want at least 3 hours worth of music and as much as five hours. What do you do?

Well, one thing that you could do is get yourselves booked as an opening act for a more experienced group. You could possibly get a more experienced group to open with a couple of hours before you come on and do your smashingly incredible single set, but it had better be smashingly incredible and then some. And it would actually be possible to get one hour bookings if you played lunch hours somewhere. Universities are great places to look for these kinds of gigs.

You're going to have to pull some late night practices and get a couple of more sets down. So, you'll be getting up early and staying up late to get those extra hours in. That's good. Now you are doing something constructive and you'll be glad you did too. Unfortunately it still isn't enough. Remember, the whole Idea behind these articles is to get you to the point where you are earning a living playing music. What we have done so far would earn us some burgers and beer, but it surely isn't enough to pay the rent. In our next article we'll get into some of the other retail channels for your talent and skills. And how to get them working for you.