Bob Baker's The Buzz Factor

Want to book more live shows? Want to get results fast? It's quite possible. In fact, if you wanted one, you might be able to land a new gig tonight. Seriously.

Traditional advice tells you to plan months ahead and follow all the right protocols. You should allow enough time to win over the talent buyer and secure a date.

Good advice, but ...

I had an online chat session with my Berklee Music Marketing 101 class students last night. And one of them referred to mistakes made when she started booking her own shows. "What mistakes?" I asked.

"Not having a band ready to play at the last minute," she replied. "We missed out on a few gigs that way."

That immediately reminded me of a time several years ago when I wanted to book some solo shows. I took the first step one Friday afternoon.

My goal was simply to call local venues and get the name of the person who booked the music. Once I had a list, I planned to follow up later with post cards, promo kits and phone calls.

To my shock, the second call I made had me on the phone with a bar owner. He wanted to know if I wanted to come in and play THAT NIGHT -- sight unseen.

I had to scramble and gather the gear I needed. But I played the show and got four more paid bookings as a result.

Rae Solomon -- an indie country singer near Seattle, WA -- told me there's a band in her area called the Last Minute Men. All they do is fill-in gigs for 10 different clubs when they get cancellations. I bet they stay pretty busy.

The lesson here ...

Go looking for gigs when you're ready to play one right away. Sure, many places will blow you off or try to book you months down the road. But, to your great surprise, you just might end up on stage somewhere ... TONIGHT!

But you'll never know until you try.

-Bob

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