A: Email the venue booker/talent buyer directly. Most venues have contact info posted on their websites. If not, ask around to any fellow musician friends who have played there in the past. Cut out the middle man. Some outside promoters are awesome and can really help carry a show but especially if this guy has a history of flakiness, cut him out and take the lesson not to work with him again.
- Submitted by The Lover Jacks
A: Tricky situation there. Assuming there are no mileage clauses and these shows are booked more like on a handshake, my advice would be to talk to the person you booked the show with at Venue X and explain the situation. There's the chance they oppose you taking the show at Venue Y but you made the agreement and should uphold your end.
Ultimately more shows will come along and if you burn a booker/promoter, they might not be so inclined to put you on the bill next time around. And don't forget, you must have built up some good buzz around the band since you're being offered multiple shows!
- Submitted by The Can't Tells
A: Band Name: Seems obvious but you'd be surprised how often it's left out.
Music Links: Make it simple, include at least one DIRECT link to stream your music. YouTube, BandCamp and SoundCloud links are all great. (No attachments! No downloading!)
Target Date(s): Give a general idea of when you want to play and be mindful not to book shows too close together.
Draw History: Be HONEST. No one wants to do business with liars. If you lie about your draw, we aren't going to want to work with you again. Believe it or not, getting in front of a crowd of people isn't the only way to be heard and gain more fans. If you have little to no draw, offer to hop onto bills last minute or presell tickets to your fans as a measure of good faith.
A Personal Touch: Sign your name, write a sentence or two about yourself so we're not just getting a generic email. We are all human after all.
- Submitted by Not Blood Paint
A: A door deal is when the band is paid a certain % or $ amount for each person who comes to specifically see them. This is typically the most straightforward and safest deal from the venue perspective because it's equated based on the band's draw and they don't have to put any money upfront. If you've booked a show on a door deal, make sure you're being paid for any online sales (by survey), presales (box office and/or hard tickets given to you to sell directly to fans) and your walk up sales (by door tally).
Example: The door deal is $5/head to the artist on a $10 ticket and the band sells 10 tickets online, 15 physical, presale tickets and has 15 people walkup, they should be paid $200 because 10 + 15 + 15 = 40 x $5 = $200.
Some variations on door deal are if the venue has draw minimums for payout. For instance, $5/head after the first 10 paid with the same draw as above would mean the band would be paid $150 because (10 + 15 + 15) - 10 = 30 x $5 = $150.
- Submitted by The Denzels
A: A house nut is a fixed amount determined by the venue to cover some of the costs incurred by putting on a show i.e. staff, utilities, rent, etc. Typically the house nut comes out of the gross profits before the money is split.
- Submitted by Mechanical River
A: Frequency of shows ultimately depends on how often your fans are willing to come out, pay x amount and see you. It's a common misconception that more shows = more fans but often oversaturation happens (less people come to your shows) which lowers your leveraging power.
- Submitted by Lonna Marie
A: In my general opinion, which has been influenced by NYC market specifically, I think a month is the least amount of lead time you should have before a show. Ultimately, how well connected are you to your fans? How much time to you need to get the word out to them? Some bands do residencies where they play multiple nights, usually consecutive, at a venue and this works best for bands that already have a strong draw in that particular market or have fans that will come out and pay to see them multiple nights.
- Submitted by Fifth Nation