The story usually goes like this: you sent the CD in January; to finally book a gig in April for this upcoming August. It’s just a Tuesday night for 100% of the door, a place to stay and some food, but it’s a must needed stop over between Colorado and Nevada. You call a week before the gig from somewhere in Texas and the club has never heard of you. What’s worse, there is another band booked on that night and the other band has a confirmed written agreement.

For gigs that are low to no-dough deals, you should still send a written agreement. Email is the easiest method because you can easily send the same message over and over until you get confirmation. Faxing is also relatively easy but having to send a snail mail agreement over and over can be a hassle. Your goal here is to constantly remind the talent buyer of your agreement and put all of the details in one place. The higher the dollar value on the agreement the more diligent you should be on insisting on a signed copy.

Check out http://www.faxwave.com, they will give you a free Fax-to-Email phone number. This gives you the ability to have a buyer physically sign your agreement and fax it back to you, but instead of receiving a traditional paper fax, you will get an electronic copy of the signature in any email inbox that you choose. This eliminates the likelihood of agreements or faxes slipping through the cracks. Most venues book a ton of talent and have their own problems keeping the information straight.

Now that you have a gig coming up in a brand new market you had better make sure every possible media outlet in town knows you are coming. In next month’s issue of Onlinegigs Booking Tips & Advice Newsletter: Properly Promoting Your Shows.

View a Flash animated clip

It could not be easier to issue a performance contract using your Onlinegigs account. You’ll first need to search for the contact that you want to send the contract to. If the location is not already in the Onlinegigs directory you can easily add it yourself and earn some money off of your subscription price for doing so. From the Contact Details page click on Schedule Performance. You can now fill in the details of the agreement. To see what the final contract looks like check out Screenshot #4.

When you finish entering the gig details you can create your Carbon Copy recipient group for this band. This will send a copy of every contract you create to anyone else you want updated with the details. Now all the band members, your publicist or manager can be on the same page immediately. The agreement can be edited at any time and resent to everyone in the case of any unforeseen changes.

If you have ever tried to do your own publicity then you know how daunting it can be - sending all of those packages out into the abyss and then leaving voicemails for despondent writers who can't seem to find your package on their desks. You think of hiring a publicist but it's too darn expensive.

But labels and clubs keep asking you about how you are building up your name (not to mention your press kit?) And …where's your media section on your website? What to do? Here's a solution...

For less than the price of a new CD Review You will get your CD reviewed - 100% Guaranteed - by a real music writer who has experience as a music journalist. And Review You will send the review straight to you.

Check out: Review You