Primal Entertainment - Do's & Dont's

Dee does not look like this :)

Primal Entertainment is committed to the highest of professional standards -

delivering exceptional customer service and satisfaction.

When in need of a professional quality entertainment booking agent, consider

Primal Entertainment

PO Box 64

BEROWRA NSW 2081

AUSTRALIA

p: +61 2 9456 7440 f: +61 2 9456 5122 e: Primal Entertainment

booking agent, Music - the other Primal instinct, professional, What's On Central Coast

Suggested Do's & Don'ts to Help Your Career

Tired of getting the ‘brush off’ by venues and agents? Can’t work out why no one will take your call when you’re trying to book a gig? Some of the following tips might help you determine what you need to change about your approach, or your methods.

Remember that the person you’re trying to get in contact with is likely to wear many hats, which involves a large workload. You talking to them about a gig booking is important in your eyes, but having to meet a Board of Director’s deadline or advertising / marketing deadline may just be more important to them - Don't take it personally.

Be nice to everyone you speak to – every person is dealing with their own challenges and issues that you may not be aware of

Deliver what you promise! If you tell an agent or venue that you will send the posters / email the information, then do it! Better still, get it to them before you had promised (under promise and over deliver)

If you have sent out a promo pack, without making contact with the person first, don’t expect a call back anytime soon. It takes 2 minutes to ring someone, introduce yourself, find out if your act is even suitable, and to create a ‘background of relatedness’ with someone. They are more likely to be receptive of your calls or emails, and will pay more attention to your promo pack when it does arrive (see point 3 for earning ‘brownie points’)

Don’t constantly ring the person to find out if they have any gigs for you. They may not have had a chance to digest the information you sent them, and the last thing they need is “why haven’t you listened to it yet? You told me last week you were going to!”. If you treat people with respect, you will in turn be treated in the same manner (the reverse unfortunately also applies!)

Make it easy for people to book you! See point 3. If a venue or agent has asked you to email information to them, don't tell them to check out your myspace page; quite often they simply don't have the time, and in the case of an agent, it doesn't help them when they've told a venue that they will forward information on or when they're chasing 10 acts for the same venue.

Keep up to date with your paperwork. This might seem a strange thing to list here, but it helps add to your perceived professionalism. If you’re paid by an agent, issue them with a receipt for the payment. If you have to invoice the venue on the night of your performance – make sure you have an invoice ready for them. If its printed, with your logo and details - all the better. Remember, unfortunately people do ‘judge a book by its cover’.

If you have booked the gig direct with a venue – provide them with a booking confirmation, which outlines all the details of the gig that you have both agreed to. This not only makes you look professional, it also protects YOU should something go wrong with the gig (a last minute cancellation / dispute over fees or gig conditions etc). If you don’t have a booking confirmation template – design one yourself.

Provide all your necessary payment and taxation details for venues and agents – Give them your ABN, let them know if you are registered for GST, provide them with your bank account details, and do so before your gig.

Think about (and if you can afford it) Public Liability insurance. The push is on with many venues only hiring acts that have this level of Insurance. If you do have it – let the venue / agent know of the details so they can forward the information on.

Act like a professional whilst in the venue. It is not an opportunity to drink during your show, take as long as you want between sets, or expect the venue to accommodate your every whim. For the night you are performing, you are the employee of the VENUE. Do right by them and they will in turn give you a glowing report which leads to repeat bookings.

Take a suitable CD/s along with you to play during your breaks, even if the venue hasn’t asked for it. Make a point of meeting the venue manager on arrival and check with them if there are any special needs for the night, and ASK them if they’d like you to play a CD during breaks. Remember, this is your career you’re talking about, and bad word of mouth travels faster (generally) than good.

Have a professionally written bio. Saying “I’m married with 3 kids and they all really like my music” isn’t going to instil confidence in anyone. Of course it might be true, but does a venue or agent really need to know that?

Have good quality promotional photos. Having bare feet might be your favourite thing to do at home, but think about what image it presents, particularly if you have ugly manky looking feet! :)

Keep your calendar organised – if you get a call for a gig, you want to be able to accept it on the spot – time is money to everyone concerned.

If an agent has booked you into the gig, give them feedback as soon as possible. They need to hear about anything that has happened on the night, and helps them appease any difficult situations.

Help the venue help you! Promote your gigs in online publications, gig guides (www.whatsoncentralcoast.com.au), street press mags, friends, family and anyone that will listen. Are you a part of an organisation (SES / RFS etc)? – tell your mates.

Think of innovative ways to help promote or set up a gig. Do you have a favourite charity that you’d like to donate to? Negotiate a deal with a venue to give some of the door price to a charity – you get extra promo, the venue gets promo, the charity gets much needed $$$ and it’s written off as a tax deduction (check with a qualified tax professional first!)

Create a snappy ‘fan club’ sheet / book to take to all your gigs so that people can add their email addresses in and be notified of any upcoming gigs. The more punters you can draw to each and every show, the better you will look, and the better the position you’ll be in to negotiate your fees.

Below is a list of useful sites that are loaded with information, some with examples of forms to use including contracts, and a couple of places to list your gigs.

Arts Law Centre of Australia www.artslaw.com.au

A.P.R.A - Australasian Performing Rights Association www.apra.com.au

Association Of Independent Record Labels (A.I.R) www.air.org.au

Australian Music Online www.amo.org.au

IMMEDIA! www.immedia.com.au

Music Australia www.musicaustralia.org

Music Council of Australia www.mca.org.au

Music Legal Forms www.musiclegalforms.com

Music Managers Forum Australia www.immf.net.au

Music NSW www.musicnsw.com

MusicOz www.musicoz.org

The Music Network www.themusicnetwork.com.au