Derek Sivers (CD Baby, Muck Work etc) hosts a very (very) cool and insightful blog. If you are a musician, passionate about what you do, and plan on getting deeper into the music scene, you will want to check out http://sivers.org/blog.
I could talk about his last three posts here but instead I’ll just greatly encourage you to read them so you can let the info sink in, because most of it is gold.
The post I want to introduce to you today is the interview he gave to a young talented singer/songwriter called Amber Rubarth who started touring barely five years ago and who now is living off her music.
The interview in itself answers many questions any aspiring touring musician could ask him/herself. From “building your network by helping others” and “interning with a booking agent” to booking, promoting and contacting out-of-town venues, this tale portrays the many steps and methods Amber Rubarth followed to become successful at what she loves doing – playing music.
We’ve shared gigs with some great bands who’ve become great friends, just as much as we’ve shared gigs with some horrible bands who we would never consider friends. And a wise piece of advice for bands who want to share gigs: if you’re going to share your gear with other bands, then make it clear beforehand. Bands who show up to gigs assuming they can borrow whatever gear they need, wake the fuck up! You want to perform live? Then act professional and come prepared, because if you don’t have all your own gear, then you don’t have any business sharing the stage.
We’ve done this several ways. Most of the time we go by contacts, friends or friends of friends who have bands. We talk to the club owners and especially the bartenders, sound men and bouncers, they see a lot of bands and have some good ideas on who would go well with us, and usually can get in contact with them. If we can, we’ll go out and see bands and talk to them about sharing or trading gigs. There is also MySpace.
In person. Start spending a lot of nights hanging out at places that have live music from the kind of bands you’d want to play with. Introduce yourself to the good ones. The best possible situation you can be in is to have gigs lined up where you need another band to fill an opener spot or whatever, so when you talk to the band you can say “I saw your set and really liked what you did. I’d like to see if we can swap out some gigs. I’ve got a gig on X date where I need somebody to play for X minutes, would you all be interested?”
If you’re looking to get your start by opening for bands, it can be a little tougher. That’s when it pays to be good friends with one or more band members so you can ask them for a favor. It’s hard to walk up to an established band and basically ask them for an opening spot without being able to show them anything like a demo CD or video of a past performance.
I’ve only been in one band that pulled itself up by its bootstraps and got to the point of playing the bigger venues in OKC. What I posted was exactly how we did it–a couple guys in the band were friends with some people in a couple other established bands. We rehearsed until we had a tight 30-45 minute set, then asked the other bands if we could open for them, basically as a favor. It worked out really well because 4 of the 5 guys in the band were in fraternities at the local college, so at our debut performance they had to turn people away because the little dive bar we played in exceeded their fire code. After that show we had a standing invite from the band we opened for and a standing invite to play that little dive bar anytime we wanted. Word of mouth and a few more opening gigs at different bars around town got us established enough over the next 6 months or so that we could call up the bar owners and book our own shows. When we got to that point, we basically kept our karma up by offering opening spots to other new bands. It really was all about the relationships, with a healthy dose of having good music and the ability to draw a crowd.
Jehos
Playing with other bands on triple bills, for example, you talk to the other band directly and suggest gig swapping, if they fit your genre and you think they are in your caliber. Other than that, Messaging or Craig’s List, that’s about it. As bands, we are always checking other band’s sites out and listening to their music, checking out the competition, and when we hear a band we like, in an area we want to play, you just send them a message and ask if they are willing to trade gigs. It’s time consuming though. Your site will save us the time, the widgets are there to attract more bands to sign up, meaning more bands for “US” to trade gigs with.
As far as how we find bands, it’s 99% from Myspace. How they present themselves and promote their band online says a lot about their potential ability to draw.
I think that gig swapping is a very grey area for most bands. Sometimes they work out phenomenally and other times not so well. I always recommend doing as much research as possible on any band that you may wish to swap with, i.e. do they play a similar style of music? (or at least a style close enough so that your fan bases can crossover for the benefit of both bands), do they have a history of drawing well in their home market? What clubs are they playing in their home market and on what days of the week? and most importantly are they good and reputable people?
If all these things line up and it still seems like a good opportunity then the gig swap will probably work out great. If not, you may want to think twice about it.
There are many music venue directories on the net and it’s virtually possible to find even the smallest of live music joints if you are willing to spend hours on end searching for them. When booking a tour these repertoires can come in very handy when you’re looking for places to play, but many don’t include the most essential of elements to do so: the booker’s or the venue’s contact information.
‘Indie On The Move’ does a remarquable job at handing it out to you. This website was devised by the band members of Zelazowa who have toured around the States and Europe playing over 500 shows in the past years.
The concept of the site is pretty simple and won’t overwhelm you with useless gimmicks. You create an account comprised of a list of venues, some notes and a dedicated email system, and you browse through their numerous venues adding those you would like to contact for your tours or gigs.
Don’t expect to encounter tens of thousands of venues yet but it is a work in progress. Based on a user generated content model, their database grows as users add information. And besisdes, most venues in their system are the ones you’ll want to play at (‘Indie On The Move’ only concentrates on US venues by the way).
Many of their venues have phone numbers, descriptions and ratings, but the common denominator is the bookers’ contact and/or the venue’s MySpace page. Every venues has an email address (well at least the dozens I checked), so you can easily start booking your gigs and know where you’re headed.
A very informative ‘Touring Tips’ section is also included on the site, so if you’re planning your first tour, it’s probably best to start there.
And one other thing, the service is entirely free.
Gigdoggy sends its warm regards to Zelazowa and encourages all touring bands to give ‘Indie On The Move’ a try.
We often talk about the benefits of trading, swapping and sharing gigs with other bands. But it sometimes just works out for the worst. Take this little story told by Tim Cole, bassist for the cover band 421 (www.myspace.com/421) as a series of ‘not dos’, or things to be aware of when you consider sharing gigs with other bands.
I know a lot of original bands in bigger areas and music scenes do this (sharing gigs), but we are fairly new to it. In theory, we would like to do 100% all original tunes, but with the way the local bars and clubs work around here, this isn’t really possible. We decided to do a bunch of popular cover tunes, but still have no desire in doing a full 4 hour night by ourselves. We have hooked up with a couple local bands to share shows with, but it seems as if we are getting the short end of the stick here.
We have had this particular band on 3 gigs of ours so far, all of which were paying gigs. Lately, they have been getting quite lazy with it. Last weekend, they only brought their guitars, and drumsticks. We have top notch gear across the boards, so I am thinking they would rather just use our stuff than bother bringing their own, this sucks in my opinion.
The played approximately 40 minutes each night last weekend, and left us with the bulk of the night to fill, we covered it, but not a huge deal. When we got there Saturday, the bar owner informed us that the other band had talked them into us doing a set, and then letting them play their set (so there are more people there), and then have us finish the night…..I feel my toes being stepped on a bit, after all, this is OUR gig, not theirs.
Then there is the money issue. The total gig paid $850 for the weekend. $300 of which goes to our sound, which leaves a balance of $550. Even though they covered only approximately 80 minutes of the 8 hour gig weekend, and they used all of our gear and sound crew, they expected us to give them $300. After some negotiating, and a little bit of arguing, they left with $150……which is about $150 more than I would of liked to give them, since they contributed next to nothing on the time filled, and brought none of their own gear…..didn’t thank us, or offer to help set up or tear down either.
The ONE gig they have set us up on with them was horrible. A nasty little dive, with no lights, and the entire sound system consisted of a stage monitors, and 2 mics….it was the bars karaoke system….a whopping 200 watts at that. This gig paid us NOTHING, we even had to pay $3 per beer there, and we used 100% of our own gear.
The biggest thing that bites my britches here is that those guys are really beginning to step on toes here. They are selling themselves to clubs using our gear, sound reinforcement, and sound guy to TAKE our best gigs. We have already been informed they snaked themselves into a local rock radio “rock night” we did last time, and are also hearing rumors of them possibly taking the opening spots for the nationals in a club we are regulars in, even though my band’s management is the booking agent on it.
We were scheduled to do a gig with them again this weekend, (another on our tab I might add) but due to a double booking, we got cancelled. We are supposed to go back to the place in 2 weeks for the club’s “grand re-opening”, which will include a live radio broadcast. If I have anything to do with it, they will have absolutely nothing to do with this deal…..they have used us long enough!
My question to you guys that regularly trade gigs is what is common practice for this kind of deal? As an opening band on someone else’s gig, what is expected for pay? How does the gear use of others work?
This whole idea is really pissing me off.
(This is our fourth quote article on gig-sharing/swapping. You can read the first three by clicking on ‘quotes’ next to ‘Gig Swapping’ in the Gigdoggy index)
A couple of days ago I was watching TV and during a commercial break saw this new iPod ad:
The tune struck me right away as I was sure to have heard somewhere. I couldn’t quite put my finger on where and when – then it hit me. That song “Bruises” was written by Chairlift, a band I saw in Montreal back in July playing a small venue called the ZooBizarre, opening for the experimental alternative pop artist Ariel Pink.
More importantly, the lead singer and keyboard guru of Chairlift is Caroline Polacheck (!) a friend I met back a couple of years ago when I was living in Brussels. A very talented artist she is, well versed in many creative domains. I made her acquaintance as she came to record some vocals during a session with some of my good Belgium friends. Anyways, needless to say I was set aback hearing that song play for an iPod commercial airing at least 5 times per hour on the biggest national french television channel.
I wrote to her asking a couple of questions concerning the experience:
GD: How did all of this happen? C: Apple found us! someone at apple bought our Evident Utensil 7″ single, and contacted Kanine requesting more from us. They sent them our yet-unreleased album, and then later Apple made an offer.
GD: Are you happy with the licensing terms? C: Yes, but the promotion is the biggest payoff.
GD: How did Apple approach you? C: Through Kanine Records.
GD: Are you rich??? (hehehe) C: No, but very busy. Getting the exposure allows us to take on more ambitious tours with confidence, and gives us the opportunity to work with artists, filmmakers, designers, photographers, stylists, sound engineers, booking, press and publishing agents, etc. to really build a creative team. That’s really my favorite aspect of what the ipod ad changed for us: having a team of great people whose work we love and who we love working with. Many of these people are friends of ours, and we’re excited to use these new opportunities for collaborations.
GD: Was this unexpected actually? did you guys flip when you heard the good news?
C: YES, and YES.
GD: Are you now working on chairlift full-time?
C: No, still working a few jobs on the side
GD: Has this new opportunity made that possible in the short/middle term future?
C: Only temporarily. We could live off the money we’re making, but it’ll run out once the album cycle is over, so it’s better to save it and keep working so that we can spend it on the next album and our living expenses during that time. When we’re on the road we live entirely off Chairlift. It’s important to save for the breaks between tours.
Apple sure is taking an interesting approach to advertise their products, and I must say it’s a very welcome one. It’s not the first time they license songs from underground indie artists catapulting them on TV screens with big-budget commercials.
And yet some more news on Oasis! While Noel was recuperating from his fall last week at the Toronto show, the band kept active promoting their new album. They hired buskers to perform some songs in various locations of New York last Friday since they had to cancel a show due to Noel’s injuries. The event was a collaborative effort with New York’s city officials and Warner Music, the band’s label.
Much like the idea of leaking music sheets, Oasis didn’t come up with busking as a means of promoting an album or an event either, but have put it to good use.
Sony BMG hired buskers to sing Johnny Cash songs In the London metro stations to promote the release of the artist’s greatest hits album ‘Ring of Fire: the Legend of Johnny Cash’ in 2005, and re-enacted the marketing scheme a year later with the movie ‘Walk The Line’. They also used buskers for a Eurythmics’s greatest hits release in 2006.
Another example is Working Title Films, that employed 25 buskers to wear ‘Love Actually t-shirts’ and sing ‘All We Need Is Love’ for the release of the movie ‘Love Actually’ (I hadn’t heard of the movie either, but you get the idea :)
From a business point of view, buskers are usually highly skilled artists that entertain people day in and day out, so to use them as a promotional vector is a clever move. Their ability to attract attention is key to having an audience focus on something real, something that they will remember. A month ago we posted a youtube video of a street musicians named Terry Prince who sold 15,000 CDs in a little over a year playing only part-time. He probably wouldn’t have sold as much records going down the traditional route of playing clubs, and that has something to do with the intimacy he creates with his audience. The more intimate the interaction between the artist and his public, the more feedback he is gonna get. Musicians playing house concerts feel the same way and most agree that the public’s response in terms of validation and generosity is increased in an intimate ambiance.
The Scottish band Travis drew a crowd of hundreds of amazed shoppers when they busked in 2004 to raise awareness of Shelter Scotland and raise money for The Big Issue, both charity funds for the homeless. They were also just about to release a greatest-hits collection at the time but I don’t like to think is was purely promotional, it’s a good idea to correlate both events.
Whether it be to promote your next show or just to get out in the sun and play, busking probably won’t be a waste of your time. I stumbled across a list of famous musicians who have been known for playing the streets. Pretty cool anecdotes.
Many bands have decided not to tour this summer because of high gas prices and a general plummeting economy. Some bands on the other hand manage to tour by cutting driving expenses from their budgets. What’s the big secret? A mechanical two wheeler called the bicycle (wouhou!). Yep that’s right, some bands go on a 5000 mile road trip on their bikes fully packed of all their instrumental needs. Actually only one band did it without the help from a motorized vehicle: the Ginger Ninjas. This band has an environmental conscience to start with so why stop at just biking half-way through the country to perform your shows? Why not power your gear with your bicycles too! Watch the video and you’ll see I’m not kidding.
As someone who loves biking I think it’s a brilliant idea. You need time, a good pair of legs, an intensive 8h-a-day physical training 4 months prior to your trip, lots of steroids and your set.
Check out this other video on bicycle touring. Really puts thing in perspective.
This is part 1 of a Q&A we had with a band called The Los Dos Bros. Very cool guys who play very cool music. They’ve been around the block quite a few times and have paved a unique path to their current musical careers. Check it out and check them out (links at bottom of the post):
GD: Whats the best way to secure a gig with venues that don’t know your band?
LDB: If you are chasing the bigger venues in town the best way to get them to notice you is by being proactive on a smaller scale and building a buzz. Find the local brewery or off-the-beaten-path-venue that has a built in crowd. These types of venues will usually pay a modest performance fee and allow you to play 2-3 hours instead of a 45 minutes slot with 4-5 other bands! Pick 5-6 markets that are within 8 hours of your hometown and research the venues that not every band on the circuit is playing. Again, breweries, restaurants, cafe’s, smaller venues, etc. Hit these markets every 5-6 weeks consistently for 1-2 years. These types of venues typically have a built-in crowd that yes, don’t know who you are, but are easily won over if you are good (and play a few covers). You can sell Cds and merch, make a couple hundred in guarantee, and usually get food and even possible lodging
GD: What’s the best way to find bands to share the gig with?
LDB: Well again I suggest following above advice when building in a new market. Who wants to try to develop new markets when you are playing with 3-4 other acts that are not in the same genre. The above scenario will allow you to meet local musicians (because they hang out in these types of places when they are not playing out themselves), build relationships, and better meet folks that know folks that book the bigger venues in town. It is all about building a relationship through the back door in… if you are good you will be invited back again and again and soon will find yourself playing with the best local bands in the best local venues (because you cut your teeth the real way… learn about how Willie Nelson built his career).
GD: Gig swapping and sharing gigs is common practice to open up your ‘zone of influence’ when you want to access a new town and new fans. You don’t go down that route?
LDB: I have to agree with your “zone of influence”… this has worked for a lot of friends of ours… joining together to bring fan bases and promotion efforts spread amongst a few bands. I think this works for bands that have a more established genre… we just felt that we were too “out of the box” and really wanted to develop on our own, we just had to figure out exactly what it is that we were doing… thus playing 3-4 hours a night for 2 years helped figure it out! We tried it a couple of times with mixed results… end of the day we just didn’t like playing clubs with that “local band night” feel… we have violin and tuba in the band and most sound guys just don’t know how to mix it right, and with the limited amount of time (cause more than one band playing) you have to sound-check it would usually sound like garbage… obviously now that we have a lot more experience with how our sound works we can do these types of gigs opening for nationals on bigger stages and know how to work with sound guy to get it right.
Just a little post to let our readers know that GigDoggy is back from his two week road trip through the mid-west (which explains the lack of activity these past 2 weeks). He rode crazy mustangs through Monument Valley, almost fell off a cliff hunting rattle-snakes in the Grand Canyon, lost all his money to black jack in Las Vegas and now hes back in Montreal as broke as a doggy can be.
We’re guessing many of you were out on tour anyways battling against wild cougars, road scorpions and high gas prices. We would love to here how the summer of 2008 treated you. Please feel free to let us know.
It suggests that bands (especially the smaller and unestablished ones) stop caring about the web 2.0 revolution, take a step back, and concentrate on the grass-roots approach to music, which is to play gigs, distribute fliers, attend other concerts, network and hand out CD’s to acquire “real” fans.
This sounds about right: the number of plays or downloads of your song on Myspace doesn’t equate to tickets and merchandise sold. Gigging is the only way to grow your local fan-base, and promoters adopt a 35/100 rule when it comes to your fans: if you say you can draw 100, you can draw 35max.
I think that Myspace and other social music platforms become useful when bands use them to support the activities that make up a musician’s work in “real-life”: organizing street teams, promoting shows, collaborating with other musicians and booking gigs. It’s not how many fans you have, it’s the quality of the fans, as well as the ability to get them involved in your activities as a band, that will provide the value to these social networking sites.
