Making Your Band For Hire
Making your band for hire is an excellent way to earn to begin with some useful pocket money or even a full time living depending on how popular you become with your clients. It is also great for bands that become bored or stale from just rehearsing all the time.
So how do you go about getting those gigs? Like any business or organisation you need to promote yourself. The internet is quite good at helping you achieve this. Start by using the search engines and type something into the search box like, ‘band for hire’ and see what this yields.
It’s also a good idea to consider what sort of places are looking for a band for hire. Weddings are popular, and so are clubs, but think about birthday parties, school dances and even corporate events.
Many bands for hire have webpages or accounts on myspace and facebook where they can build up fans and show off their music. You should consider doing the same. After all, it’s free advertising, and you never know who is out there.
However, many people looking for a band for hire might not have the time to search through dozens of webpages, and even if they do, they might not find your page. So make some fliers, or put your music on CD or DVD to hand out to people and let them get a taste of your music and what you can do.
Don’t forget to consider getting your band an agent. While they take a portion of the money you earn, it is their job to get your band gigs, and they won’t make money until they do.
Now that you are a band for hire have you considered whether you’re doing local gigs or ones further a field? Being willing to travel will give you more gigs and you may get more money?
The kind of gigs you do will also have an affect on what your band can expect to be paid. Local gigs in pubs will attract the smallest form of revenue but the upside is they provide a good opportunity for any band to test out new songs and are better in some respects than rehearsing as musicians like to play as much as possible.
If you make the choice to travel further afield, you’ve made a good decision. Any band for hire that is serious about their craft is willing to travel, at least if the money is good. It’s always better to play to a bigger venue than a small pub, not only for the better money, but also to get your music heard by as many people as possible.
