Just when you think you’ve found the perfect place for a holiday, you discover that one review which warns about dirty bed-sheets and the mouse which lives in the breakfast room… The search for the ‘right’ accommodation is not dissimilar to the topic club and promoter festivals are dealing with all year round: How to …
If, like most jazz musicians, ‘gigging and touring more’ is near the top of your wishlist, this article looks at one specific angle of improving your pitching success, through a summer-time analogy… When it comes to gig pitching, are you selling umbrellas in the summer? In Barcelona (as with many other holiday destinations) the tourist …
Alongside all the great music, Miles Davis also gave us a fair few quotes, including this one – which is surprisingly useful when it comes to booking gigs… “First you imitate, then you innovate“ It seems obvious, but why start your gig booking by trying to pitch to EVERY SINGLE CLUB & FESTIVAL out there, …
Assuming you’re reaching out to a promoter who you are not yet connected to, the goal with a pitching email is to help them understand the music and the project as quickly as possible. In fact, too much information is likely to have the opposite effect, and get skimmed or deleted. With that in mind, …
As I’ve already mentioned when I wrote about things I wish I’d known before about booking gigs, one of the big realisations is that “no reply” from a promoter does not mean “not interested” or “we hate you”… But whilst that’s maybe nice to know, it’s still not helping start conversations which lead to cold, …
From classic literature and historical speeches to podcasts and YouTubers, one maxim remains true: if you want to keep your audience attention, you need to hook them early. That window of opportunity continues to narrow too; a 20th Century author might have had a couple of pages, whereas today’s online audience, according to Facebook, gives …
We asked 60 New York jazz musicians for their take on which musicians seem to be getting a ton of gigs and attention right now… Here are the results, in alphabetial order. [Are you included in this list? If you want a different video or track embedded, leave me a message in the comments…] Adam …
Whilst there are vibrant cities all over the world, there has long been a fascination with the New York jazz scene and its position as one of the most iconic places to live and work in as a musician. We asked Jazzfuel newsletter subscribers in the area to answer a few questions about the state …
Who’d have thought that talking to a festival director about boats, football, or early Wayne Shorter records would lead to booking more shows than a rave album review, a list of past tour dates, and a neatly worded description of the musical style? But that’s exactly what I’ve found and – as I’ll explain in …
True story: I once sent ONE booking email and ended with a SEVEN-gig tour in Canada. Certainly beats the usual “send a 100 festival emails and get one [negative] reply” situation! I’m not saying it’s easy, or a regular occurrence, but there is a good lesson in there. I’ll tell you the full story in …