Do you dream about performing in front of an audience? Maybe you want a side-hustle that makes extra cash, or maybe you just want to cut your teeth at performing. Check out my five-steps on how to get started gigging.
1 Make Social Media Accounts For Your Music
Upload a couple of clips of you playing a song or piece that you feel that you do really well and take a few well-shot photographs of you with your instrument. Keep it updated and relevant. It will become more and more professional as you go along.
2 Find Places To Work On Your Material
Start playing at open mic-nights and jam sessions to connect with other musicians. Go weekly to practice and fine-tune your material. You might even find a band to join that is already gigging. If you are too nervous to play, just show up to listen and meet other musicians at first. Eventually, push yourself to play a song or two and after a few weeks of doing that you will gain more confidence. If there are no open-mic nights in your town, ask a few friends to hear you play a couple of times a month.
3 Make Sure You Have Enough Material
Venues can ask for 1-3 hours of music. Don’t book a gig when you don’t have enough material for it, unless you are really good at bullshitting songs, or you have plenty of time to learn new material. Make a playlist of all the songs you want to do, learn them, practice them, and time how long it takes you to play through your set.
Protip: You can split longer sets with other musicians until you have enough material learned.
4 Start Reaching Out
Now’s the time to start contacting venues. Find the emails, phone numbers, or social media accounts of restaurants and venues you want to play at. Send them your social media package, which should include a little bio of yourself, a video of you playing, and links to whatever social media platforms you use. Know what rates you want to charge. Common rates around my town are $100 per hour for seasoned musicians. Keep in mind that I usually split this cost with another person that I play with. Find a fair price that works for what you do and that might be not charging anything for a time being. Another option is to ask to open for friends that are already gigging regularly.
When you book a gig, have a friend take pictures and videos of you for your social media accounts. Be professional and kind to the venue staff. You want them to ask you to come back. Unless, of course, they don’t treat you well, but still be professional. If you can get a monthly or weekly gig at a certain venue, that will help listeners have a spot to find you regularly so you can start to develop dedicated listeners.
You also want to make sure you are a good fit for the venues you perform at. Some venues want covers that everyone can sing along to, while others will appreciate your originals.
5 Have Fun
This is the most important step to gigging. You won’t book a gig at every venue you talk to. Not every musician will want to play with you. Not every show you play will be perfect. Don’t let this discourage you. It might not take off as fast as you’d like it to, but don’t ever forget why you wanted to do this in the first place. Remember to have fun along the way. Playing music is always an emotional roller coaster, but you will learn to have thicker skin, practice and play better, and you will start to have more fun.
I hope this has been helpful. Let me know what you did to start gigging!
Amanda Suzanne
McCaslin Blue 