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Booking and Promotion Podcast for Artists Episode #3
Hey, this is podcast number three of my new Booking and Promotion podcast series. This one focuses on the next 5 items in the Booking and Promotion Checklist.
Some of the text of the podcast is here...
Hi everybody is Charlie Cheney again on the pod cast airwaves and were talking about booking and promotion and I'm starting off with a booking and promotion checklist. These are things I think we need to start off with our booking and promotion efforts. I think pretty much everyone needs this to do any kind of booking and promotion. Now we're going to talk about focusing our booking and promotion on who we are, and where we want to be, the types of venues to be in, where we want to play, in the places we want to play the places we want to perform, later. Right now I just want to start with a basic booking and promotion checklist. The things that I think we all need to get started.
The first thing I think we need of courses of professional CD. It has to look at it has to sound good. It can have any kind of material that you want on it, it just has to be professional. So by professional, I think it has to be in a jewel case, with shrink-wrap or a digi pack, and I think it has to have professional artwork with a good sounding product on the CD. I'll leave it at that will go into that into more detail on that later.
I also think we need in action color photo. The photo has to be something active, something that makes people want to see you perform. So the standard head shot, the standard band up against a brick wall. The band in an alley is not as interesting to me as see no bands jumping off of trampolines, riding at 50 mi. an hour on top of car, and of course I'm not promoting that, but I want something active, and I want the band to be active, I want something going on. We need people jumping up and down playing their guitar showing their energy. I also want an artist profile one-sheet. I need it to be a one sheet artist profile. Now an artist profile is not your biography necessarily. I don't want to know what you did when you were 12. I want to know who you are as an artist and why it's compelling to come and see you or why people should be compelled to come and see you. That can be about your message, what message you convey, it might be about what topics you talk about, it might be about your charisma, your magnetism, you know I'm not sure what's going to be for you, but I want it to be a profile of who you are as an artist. Again why an audience should be compelled to come see you, and why a venue should want to book you.
I want you have matching business cards and letterhead. I don't care if you make these by hand. You know whatever fits your artistic profile note your green artist, a totally eco-friendly artists and he make everything by hand more power to you. As long as it fits your image as an artist. I've seen some great postcards, some great business cards. As someone business card once was cut out in the shape of a surfboard and I thought it was the coolest thing. So whatever it is you need to project your image your image in the form of a business card and letterhead that we can send out professional correspondence, and we can communicate and network effectively with people when we are out talking with them at trade shows and events and shows or songwriter nights whatever it is. You should have those with you so you can hand them out. Then people can get a hold of you, they know your phone number, they know your web site address so that they can keep in contact. We need to open up that communication line and make it professional but also make it friendly.
After that I want postcards and fliers. I think everyone should have a postcard in the flyer ready to go. Again, I think the should be hard copy and digital. So just had them ready to make at the drop of the hat. You can have postcards made in really low quantity runs now. Just like CD's you can make 1000 postcards, you can make 5000 postcards. You can make 100 postcards. The pretty easy to make at low-cost now. I known the printing business 5000 postcards as the price breakpoint now thought $200 for 5000 postcards and that's for color both sides glossy. I recommend you have those I think that's a great investment in your marketing plan. Very inexpensive really, and if you give them some white space you can jot note on them or add a sticker later for specific shows. I just think postcards are required.
I want to have a booking contract. Look online for booking contracts, of course there are booking contract built into Indie Band Manager or of course, and other software. I'm sure that other software has booking contract built in as well. Indie Band Manager, of course, has some templates and you can write your own and drop them in. Look online for the booking contracts to run the use or look in Indie Band Manager to see what a template looks like booking contracts are pretty generic these days. But you want them to fit your vision of how you look at it from a quote unquote legal perspective. Booking contracts are basically know you're getting something imprint, we have a handshake deal on this. When I show up, I'm going to get the gig and you can expect me to be there. It's a handshake for both sides.
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Booking and Promotion Checklist:
1) Professional CD (in sound and appearance)
2) Action Photo in color & B/W
3) Artist Profile One-Sheet
4) Matching Business Cards & Letterhead
5) Postcards/Flyers
6) Booking Contract
7) Performance One-Sheet
8) Press Reviews
9) Website with band name as domain name
10) At least one compelling story
11) A systematic way to do research, organize, and stay on task
12) Phone, email address, internet access
Some of the text of the podcast is here...
Hi everybody is Charlie Cheney again on the pod cast airwaves and were talking about booking and promotion and I'm starting off with a booking and promotion checklist. These are things I think we need to start off with our booking and promotion efforts. I think pretty much everyone needs this to do any kind of booking and promotion. Now we're going to talk about focusing our booking and promotion on who we are, and where we want to be, the types of venues to be in, where we want to play, in the places we want to play the places we want to perform, later. Right now I just want to start with a basic booking and promotion checklist. The things that I think we all need to get started.
The first thing I think we need of courses of professional CD. It has to look at it has to sound good. It can have any kind of material that you want on it, it just has to be professional. So by professional, I think it has to be in a jewel case, with shrink-wrap or a digi pack, and I think it has to have professional artwork with a good sounding product on the CD. I'll leave it at that will go into that into more detail on that later.
I also think we need in action color photo. The photo has to be something active, something that makes people want to see you perform. So the standard head shot, the standard band up against a brick wall. The band in an alley is not as interesting to me as see no bands jumping off of trampolines, riding at 50 mi. an hour on top of car, and of course I'm not promoting that, but I want something active, and I want the band to be active, I want something going on. We need people jumping up and down playing their guitar showing their energy. I also want an artist profile one-sheet. I need it to be a one sheet artist profile. Now an artist profile is not your biography necessarily. I don't want to know what you did when you were 12. I want to know who you are as an artist and why it's compelling to come and see you or why people should be compelled to come and see you. That can be about your message, what message you convey, it might be about what topics you talk about, it might be about your charisma, your magnetism, you know I'm not sure what's going to be for you, but I want it to be a profile of who you are as an artist. Again why an audience should be compelled to come see you, and why a venue should want to book you.
I want you have matching business cards and letterhead. I don't care if you make these by hand. You know whatever fits your artistic profile note your green artist, a totally eco-friendly artists and he make everything by hand more power to you. As long as it fits your image as an artist. I've seen some great postcards, some great business cards. As someone business card once was cut out in the shape of a surfboard and I thought it was the coolest thing. So whatever it is you need to project your image your image in the form of a business card and letterhead that we can send out professional correspondence, and we can communicate and network effectively with people when we are out talking with them at trade shows and events and shows or songwriter nights whatever it is. You should have those with you so you can hand them out. Then people can get a hold of you, they know your phone number, they know your web site address so that they can keep in contact. We need to open up that communication line and make it professional but also make it friendly.
After that I want postcards and fliers. I think everyone should have a postcard in the flyer ready to go. Again, I think the should be hard copy and digital. So just had them ready to make at the drop of the hat. You can have postcards made in really low quantity runs now. Just like CD's you can make 1000 postcards, you can make 5000 postcards. You can make 100 postcards. The pretty easy to make at low-cost now. I known the printing business 5000 postcards as the price breakpoint now thought $200 for 5000 postcards and that's for color both sides glossy. I recommend you have those I think that's a great investment in your marketing plan. Very inexpensive really, and if you give them some white space you can jot note on them or add a sticker later for specific shows. I just think postcards are required.
I want to have a booking contract. Look online for booking contracts, of course there are booking contract built into Indie Band Manager or of course, and other software. I'm sure that other software has booking contract built in as well. Indie Band Manager, of course, has some templates and you can write your own and drop them in. Look online for the booking contracts to run the use or look in Indie Band Manager to see what a template looks like booking contracts are pretty generic these days. But you want them to fit your vision of how you look at it from a quote unquote legal perspective. Booking contracts are basically know you're getting something imprint, we have a handshake deal on this. When I show up, I'm going to get the gig and you can expect me to be there. It's a handshake for both sides.
----------
Booking and Promotion Checklist:
1) Professional CD (in sound and appearance)
2) Action Photo in color & B/W
3) Artist Profile One-Sheet
4) Matching Business Cards & Letterhead
5) Postcards/Flyers
6) Booking Contract
7) Performance One-Sheet
8) Press Reviews
9) Website with band name as domain name
10) At least one compelling story
11) A systematic way to do research, organize, and stay on task
12) Phone, email address, internet access
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