BandCamp: BOOKING PARTY, Take Two, This Afternoon

Alright, so it’s not really “Take Two,” but the last attempt at doing a BandCamp booking thing ended up being somewhat scuttled by the asshole-ish theft of Caroline Collective/BandCamp honcho Matthew Wettergren‘s laptop & all its contents.

That said, the aim this time out is a little different — the next installment of BandCamp, BandCamp: BOOKING PARTY, is based around the fact that most bands/musicians get nervous as hell when it comes time to actually book shows, esp. outside Houston. And as somebody who’s attempted it, I have to agree; calling booking people in Houston proper was nerve-wracking enough, to me — calling folks in Austin or San Antonio was downright terrifying. And I’m guessing I’m not the only one out there, going by the response to the last session on this topic.

Here’s the more detailed info, straight from the CC Website:

At a previous Bandcamp we heard from Gretchen Schmaltz of Western Civilization and Sara Winter of Warehouse Live talk about how to book and promote a show outside of your local market. Still, few bands have taken that knowledge and applied it to booking shows. In speaking with bands we’ve received the same answer: they’re uncomfortable with the process of contacting venues and securing a show. Taken at face value this makes sense. It’s much easier to contact a friend venue owner or a known local booker to get put onto a show. Contacting a stranger and asking something from them can be a difficult proposition and is not something that artists are comfortable with. Another challenge is having a process partitioning the time to contact venues and get ahold of a decision maker.

The fact remains: Overplaying your local audience is not the way to improve your performance skills or increase your income. It IS however a good way to exhaust your audience and decrease your popularity. Bands who are looking to improve their performance skills and expand their audience reach should be playing regularly outside of their local community. Playing in different markets in your surrounding geographical area will expose new audiences to their music and can create an additional revenue stream.

While most bands acknowledge the importance of playing outside their town there seems to be a lack of the practical knowledge on exactly how to secure shows in a region where they have no contacts. Until those contacts are secured and cultured, one tried and true manner of securing a show is contacting venues or other bands. This month we’ll tackle the first method in a way that will not just teach bands how to do it but show them.

Go here for the full rundown. Now for the bad part — this is happening today, as in Sunday, July 12th, from 2-4PM. Which, seeing as its already noon as I type this, is pretty short notice. Sorry about that, but I only found out about this late last night. If you’re wanting to get your band booked & touring, though, this is well worth jumping in the car & trying to make it…