Gigdoggy

Hey everyone. We are a young group trying to understand the whole booking process to play shows. We've come up with a list of things to do. This is our first list and frankly its quite naive and jsut covers the basics. Any comments and suggestions are very welcome.

1. Press Kit
Yep. that good old press kit everyone is telling us about. Band bio, demo, and a list of songs. Video and audio samples are always the best.

2. Gig swaping
Some consider it to be a very important part of building up your fan base. Find bands through social networks in a city where you wanna extend that fan base. Agree on a venue and book a show. Next time you agree on booking a show with the band in your town. I suppose e could also call this fan-swaping.

3. Promoting the gig
Well for that one, we really dont have a clue besides the usual posters, flyers and social networking. I guess it all comes down to doing just that, but in a good way...

4. Finding Venues
Finding venues can be a hastle, mostly if your looking for small places where your band can start off. We suppose that if you dont have relations, Internet is probable the best solution. Their are tons of venues directories out there but most of them just indicate the popular ones.

5. Networking and e-profiles
Is it really that important to be active on most social network sites like Mindviz, Myspace, Purevolume, last.fm, Bebo and Reverbnation in order to post shows and get some attention? Probably not but i just decided
to post this for funzies.

6. Contacting venues
We are quite clueless for this one aswell. There must be countless techniques when talking and negotiationg with the venue booker. I think the best advice is to not be shy.

7. Organizing a tour schedule effectively
And yet another another crucial point that we know nothing about (how lucky of you all to have stumbled upon this great and amazing topic of mine...). All we know is that it aint easy ad that it costs tons of money. Its a good idea to sell merchandise to make ends meet. And one other thing: its better to tour where you have freinds and fans rather than going just about anywhere.

8. Selling merchandise
T-shirts, pins, caps, CDs you name it. Anythings that you can sell with your name on it brings in money and promotes you.

9. Getting an agent
Well, If you get a good agent I suppose he will take care of most of the above. Of course you pay a cut but if he's worth youll get gigs and thats what its all about. Probably the most important aspect is to know if he's reputable.

10. Open mic nights
A very effecient way to start out and make contacts. The people that come to these shows are curious and will talk to you if they liked your set. So dont hesitate to get out there and play your best songs

There is most certainly an eleven, a twelve, a thirteen etc...

But thats about all we got. Hope this helps, and if it doesnt well plz help us then

Good luck to you all

Gigdoggy

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