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GIG AND BEYOND - Contacting club owners
By Cyrus Rhodes - 02/22/2010 - 02:31 PM EST
To get paying gigs in a club, the person you need to talk to is the club owner. The club owner will decide whether to book your band based on your demo CD. I've seen these people throw away CD's without even listening to them based solely on the package appearance. Your demo CD will have anywhere from 3 to 10 songs on it. The first song should be your best - to get the club owners attention. The CD needs to be professional-grade from top to bottom. The CD label should have your band name on it and, all reliable, pertinent contact information. Put someone's name and phone number on the CD label so that if the booker or club owner loses everything except the CD, he can still reach you. I've seen this happen time and time again. Here's some of the thing that shoud be in the package
- Demo CD
- Cover letter
- Professional Band Pics
- Press Pack
- "1" Sheet tailored specifically around live data
- Reliable contact information
- A list of any other venues you have played
- The expected size of your draw
- Stickers
- Links to your URL, or YOU TUBE live clips
Don't forget the demo CD is your first impression opportunity after the cold calling is over. Be creative about other things as well, put some thought into it. I've heard of one band in particular that provide a link to a YOU TUBE live clip just so the club owner could see their draw first hand. The absolute minimums - a professional 8x10 photo of the band, a one-page bio of the band and a one-page summary of any press clippings, if you have them. If you've networked with other popular bands list them as references. If you play 4-5 really good shows at different places around town - word of mouth between club owner can be a very powerful thing - so why not throw a few club owner references in there as well.
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