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| Finding New Booking & Promotional Contacts | |||||||||||
Alternative news weeklies like the Village Voice or the Boston Phoenix, can be a great source of local venue listings. Every major market in the country has an independent weekly publication and most of them can be found online, check out http://www.awn.org. Sometimes these ads alone are enough to determine whether or not your act is appropriate for the venue. You will still need to get in touch with the venue however to find out their booking policies and get the right contact name for the talent buyer. Printed music industry directories are an incredible resource. These directories tend to list everything from venues to record companies to managers and back again, so it is easy to get overwhelmed. Make sure you pick the one that is right for you and going to help you accomplish your goals. Take a look at the Galaris Music Directory or The Indie Contact Bible to get a sense of what is offered. Your peers and heroes are really the best place to find live music venues appropriate for your band. Ask your friends that are in bands or go out to meet bands that share similarities with your own. When asked, most will gladly share with you when the best time to reach the buyer is or how exactly to pitch your act in order to get gig. But they are always interested in telling people all of the venues they have played; don’t be afraid to whip out a pen and piece of paper. The more names and numbers you can get your hands on the more possible gigs you can lock down. |
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| Feature Highlight: Onlinegigs is a Nationwide Music Industry Directory | |||||||||||
First and foremost Onlinegigs is an extremely powerful, automated booking and promotional tool. But Onlinegigs also comes pre-loaded with a huge directory of its own contacts. There is nationwide listings of Venues, Colleges, Festivals and Media contacts. Each contact has, at a minimum, a full address and phone number. But the music Venues also have capacity, music style and PA information. Colleges include Student Activity Coordinator information as well as the schools average tuition and enrollment data to help you determine potential entertainment budgets. Music festivals include music style and submission deadline info. And Media contacts have print frequency and radio station format information. The music industry directory is fully searchable and maintained by the Onlinegigs member community. Onlinegigs is the only service that pays you for your contacts and your updates. We offer money back off of your subscription fee for adding and editing contacts. Many members use Onlinegigs for free because they are constantly working and constantly updating and adding contacts. Member’s additions and edits are immediately available to the other subscribers and has a direct benefit for those new to a particular area. Onlinegigs can import any electronic list of contacts from almost any file. Outlook, ACT, Excel etc. Please contact support@onlinegigs.com to find out about importing your address book. In next month’s issue of Onlinegigs Booking Advice Newsletter we will discuss the crucial Contact Resource Management (CRM) tools that you need to keep your efforts organized and professional. | |||||||||||
| Unsigned Band Resource: International Songwriting Competition | |||||||||||
 ISC
is the perfect opportunity for bands, artists and songwriters looking
to gain exposure in the music industry. In today's highly competitive
music scene, ISC bridges the gap between artists and industry by bringing
together some of the most influential and high-profile members of
today's music industry to our judging panel. In addition to the $100,000
in cash and prizes, winners will benefit from a multilateral promo
campaign designed to give them maximum exposure for their music. Are
you ready to take your music to the next level? Enter the ISC online
or download an entry form to mail in your entry. Don't forget...enter
ISC by August 31, 2004 and save on multiple-song entries. http://www.songwritingcompetition.com
2004 judges includes:
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To
be able to book a band or bands successfully all you really need
is persistence and organization. Whether you are booking locally,
regionally or nationally you will essentially need the same skills
and tools to be effective. The first place to start is by collecting
contact information for locations that hire music performers. You
need as many of these locations as possible to increase your success
potential and you also need as much information (phone number, styles
of music, capacity, contact name etc.) about the location that you
can get your hands on. Below is a list of some good places to start:
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