How do you get gigs? This is the big question that I get asked by so many singers and the short answer is…
I get my gigs through a variety of sources.
Ok, I can hear you sighing so to make it simple, here are a few ways that I use to get my gigs with some real life examples of things I’ve done to score paid work.
1. Make friends with other singers
Tip #1 – Get a support act
It is common practice to have two to three bands in a line up for a show and the best way to get in front of potential fans is to do a support act for another local band with an established following. Get involved in your local music community and get to know people because friends book friends for support gigs. Simple as that.
Tip #1 – Join forces with them to create a show
I’m a jazz singer and in the jazz world it is rare to find more than one band on a bill, but I still managed to pull together a gig with not one but two other jazz singers. (It is different for pretty much every other genre where you will often find three bands per night doing one set each to make up a three hour show.)
We decided to create a gig and called it ‘Jazzdezvous’. A singer I was friends with called Juliana Areias sings Brazilian jazz, I sing my sultry originals and another friend, Jen de Ness, sings cabaret jazz so doing a show together just made sense.
We didn’t want to rehearse (jazz musicians are lazy) so we each booked two instrumentalists each to accompany us which made for a grand total of nine musos up on stage.
We each invited fans on our email lists to the show and people were really interested because they would get to hear three jazz singers in one night plus the novelty of nine musos up on stage each improvising with eachother’s songs attracted a bit of media attention.
Here’s the promo poster we used for the show just to give you an example: (I think my eyes look really sly in this pic. Haha!)
So how did the show go? It was fun! I thoroughly enjoyed the gig and made friends with Juliana’s instrumentalists (one of them ended up recording percussion on my album for me.) So new friends = awesome 🙂
We got quite a good crowd but financially we had to split the takings nine ways so it didn’t end up being a big earner. What I would do next time is just to book one band to play for all the singers and it would work a treat.
2. Network
Your local music industry association is a great info source for gigs. It’s their job to promote local music so they will have a bunch of opportunities throughout the year PLUS they will know all the people who mean anything in music to your local area so get in there and make friends.
You can expand your networking to café owners, marketing and events staff and venue booking managers who can book you for a gig. I made friends with the owner of a lovely café called the Wild Fig and they booked me for a gig every week for three years. They still book me to sing there to this day (although not every week now because I’m busy with other stuff.)
3. Get a booking agent
Booking agents have to promote their business to survive and they get the lions share of the corporate work. Corporate work is awesome because it pays really well, usually comes with a sound guy and PA (so you don’t have to set anything up) and you get a decent meal out of it. Plus they are fun and you meet a heap of new people.
Now I bet you’re thinking ‘Sounds great! Where can I get me one of those?!”
Weeeelllll, booking agents have their favourites so you have to get to know them a bit before they will trust you enough to throw you some work. Once you do get that work, just make sure you do a good job because the agent will seek feedback on your performance from the client. A glowing review = more gigs.
4. Get on the phone
This is one methods that I use allllll the time… and I hate doing it but it’s the most effective. I get on the phone and call up venues in my area that I know have live music. If I’m touring, I just look for live music venues that might be suitable and the best way to find those venues is by looking at popular singers that are similar to you who are already gigging in that area. Singers put their gigs on their website so just Google something like ‘Jazz singer Melbourne’ and a few will come up.
Then it’s a matter of calling the venue and pitching your stuff (I have a pitch worked out that I just reuse for each venue) and building a relationship with the voice-at-the-other-end-of-the-phone from there.
5. Get social
I’ve managed to score quite a few gigs through social media by contacting venue owners directly or musicians I want to perform with. Twitter is awesome for this. For some reason, it just seems to make everyone accessible and you can approach bands you want to gig with really easily.
You get 140 characters to make your pitch so use something along the lines of:
‘Hey @(add band), I’m in your area on (date) and I’d love to gig with you. Any chance?”
It seriously works really well. Just give it a try (and don’t forget to ‘like’ or ‘follow’ that band in the process. It shows you care and are open to being buddies 🙂
Happy gigging!
Thank you so much for this. Im a jazz/soul singer and looking to up my gigs this year 2014. This was so helpful.
I need help. I dont know any other acts. I need more and I am willing to give my all into music. Whatever you need: written songs, duets, another act etc….
Hi Julius,
I recommend joining local music organisations and start going along to their social nights to meet other musicians. Its a great place to start.
I hope that helps!
Nicola x
Im a singer and im looking for somebody to work with heres my number if you want to talk 07919177327
Sounds like a whole lot of advice that would work anywhere but Los Angeles . lots of luck getting a booking manager with no experience here. three times the luck trying to call up a cafe or club and just get a gig like that. but none of this advice will work in the real world
Hi Chris, Thanks for your comment, but I have to ask; have you actually tried using the strategies I’ve spoken about? I am a working musician and have performed all over the world – the USA included and I only post advice on things that I’ve tried myself and know work. If you’re not having any luck maybe rethink how you are approaching people. Its all about relationships at the end of the day. Nicola
Hi Chris,
Thank you very much for sharing these tips. I’m a jazz singer and where I’m based (London) there’s lots of singers and little jazz circles and it’s hard to break through from one to another, especially if you’re unknown. I stopped trying to get gigs – it was so depressing – just worked on improving my voice and expanding my repertoire. I think your ideas about building relationships are really helpful and am definitely going to try some of these tips and see if they make a difference.
I would love to pick your brain. I’m a full-time jazz vocalist, between one thing and another. It started out doing odd senior homes with a friend in those circles booking me here and there, then I got desperate between the crappy flexible jobs I was doing while auditioning (as an actress, mostly, was always told I was too heavy to be a singer. By jerks I listened to). So I started taking it to the streets, busking in a nice, safe area (Laguna Beach) and that led to more gigs. I work with tracks and my own system and I book enough to pay the bills, between two weekly restaurants, four senior homes a month, and private parties. But I’m starting to get a little “is that all there is?” about the whole thing. It’s been eight years now and I feel like I’m standing still. Don’t get me wrong. I am grateful to be working so much, especially as I’m not what you’d consider commercially attractive. I fear I am getting complacent and even a little bored. Getting gigs isn’t hard, but reaching a wider audience feels impossible. I feel like there’s a next step I should be taking to up my game, my asking price, bigger and better venues, even getting a real band behind me would feel great. But with this being very DIY and solo on my part, I don’t have connections or know where to start. It’s not an industry I’d ever thought I’d be in, realistically. I often meet musicians who say they want to jam or people who claim they “know people” and take my CD. But everyone flakes out in the end. I mean, it’s not like I’m depending on them. I just keep busking and gigging and hope for the best. But I just feel like I should be more proactive.
April, this is a FANTASTIC question. Its exactly how I felt about 2 years ago. I’ll do a video answering this for you soon. xx