How to book the right venue

Playing concerts is what we all love to do. Playing to empty rooms is never fun. Here are a few tips on how to get more people at your shows.

First, do a little bit of research on the venue that you want to play. Does the venue have a history of hosting musicians or music similar to the music you play? It is a good idea to go and see a show at any venue that you're considering before you book your own show at that venue. If you have a chance to talk to one of the bandmembers it's playing at the show, ask them questions like how easy it was to book the show and how much fun they had performing there. Gather as much information as you can about the venue before you even start to talk to the booking agent for the venue. Once you have a good idea of whether or not you want to book the show at a certain venue, that is when you contact the booking agent. You want to speak with them confidently about performing at their venue. Book a show far enough in advance so that you have time to do adequate advertising. You want people to come to your show so you need to give them time to plan on being at the show for the date that you are about to book. Most folks have plans for about 2 to 3 weeks in advance on weekends, which is probably the best night for you to try to book a show.

Next comes the hard part. You need to find a way to get people interested and aware that you were playing a show. Don't rely on the venue to do all the promotion for your show. You need to get out there and do some good old legwork and word-of-mouth promotion for your show. Get some posters made and find good places to put them up so they will be visible and draw people in to putting your show on their calendar. Just a little bit of good advertising and promotion will bring probably 10 to 15 folks to your show.if you get more that's awesome. However playing a show for a few people or a lot of people shouldn't matter or affect your performance. Even if one person comes to your show, put on the best show of your career.