How do I start getting gigs as a performer within the area?
Local gigs
Make sure your practice gives you a chance to perform locally. Go to local gigs regularly and check out the competition. Know what standard you need to be before you start this process. If you are to get gigs, your standard must be within the ballpark of those who are playing regularly and being paid for it. If you live in Southampton, be prepared to travel to Portsmouth, Winchester, Bournemouth and the surrounding area. There are not enough venues in Southampton to make a living so you will need to know the venues outside of the city.
Get known by local musicians, show your face at local gigs (probably not Uni gigs as they rarely attract other local musicians). Go to Jam sessions, Open Mic Nights and make sure you have either a CD or a business card with your Soundcloud/ Website details. Other musicians will want to hear your music.
Whenever possible, take your instrument with you to everything! And… be prepared to play at a drop of a hat. Sometimes this may lead to massive opportunities and, importantly, paid work.
Be affable and polite, buy drinks…. charm…. Always say yes to anything unless it will have a negative impact on your reputation.
Within Southampton there are several jam sessions and open mic nights, often frequented by working musicians and promoters. Go and perform. After any gig, go and chat to the band and find out how they got the gig so you can do it too.
Important: Do not undercut other musicians within the area. The going rate for an evening local gig in the South is between £40 – £100. If you take gigs for less, you will quickly develop a reputation and eventually you’ll soon be sitting at home wondering why nobody wants to work with you. Many local musicians need to pay mortgages and feed families, driving the cost down of their trade is not a healthy thing to do. Besides, if you want to make this your line of work, you’ll need to charge a serious amount.
Function Bands
The good function bands (i.e. ones that work most weekends) pay well and are normally made up of a pool of local musicians from a region. Again, the best way to get these gigs is to get ‘on the scene’, as many of the chaps playing £40 gigs in the week will be in the cash-cow bands at the weekend. A good idea is to meet, hang-out and jam with members of function bands who play the same instrument as you so they can give you ‘dep’ gigs to start you off. Sometimes these groups do public gigs too, find out where they are and take your instrument and hang-out with the band.
Recording Studio Session Playing
It is common to hear musicians say ‘I’ve been working in the studio’ – what they normally mean is ‘I’ve been working for free in the studio on a track that’s unlikely to be heard by many more people than close family and friends of the artist’. Unfortunately there is very little work nowadays in studios, however what is available is well paid and with good projects. There are two ways to get into this line of work..
Find the top local studios in the area – you can tell who they are as they normally employ more than one engineer or producer (rather than the owner doing it all). Send them a polite email with links to your playing (perhaps your songs too) and say you’d like to be considered for studio work but would be happy just to come in and look around. If possible, give an endorsement from a top musician either nationally or locally who can be contacted to back up your credibility. The other way to get into studio work is to attend gigs and open mic nights – speak to artists, find out if they are about to record and if they would like you to help out. If possible tell them about other projects you have worked on. Punctuality, easy temperament and flexibility is vital for work in studios.
Form a ‘band’
One of the common misconceptions that musicians have is they can’t form a band by themselves. Yes you can! You can ring up venues and say you are a [insert style here] group and send them links of a few tunes, they may even be recordings of your recitals. “But I haven’t got any musicians in my group!”, I hear you say. You will find that most musicians are more than happy to play anything, especially if they are being paid and often they enjoy getting involved in new projects – so have a band on a gig by gig basis. Part of the problem with ‘established’ bands locally is that they start with a fixed line-up and then can’t pay each member properly. If you ask for £40 each for a four-piece (£160 total) then you’ll all get paid properly. If you spread the £160 across 6-8 musicians, you are already in trouble and the venue will only ever pay you for a large band.
Have a number of projects/ bands on the go and target venues across the area with specific proposals. EG a jazz vocal trio to all hotels; a live hip-hop group to all nightclubs; and a funk band for festivals and outdoor events. If you get another person/ partner to help you (preferably with more experience), this will also help.
Top tips
- Go to as many gigs and jam sessions as possible (and offer to play!).
- Respect and support local musicians – learn their names and styles.
- Always ask anyone anything, even if it’s “can I have a gig?” Don’t ask, don’t get.
- Keep an up to date website – not just Facebook – (EG WordPress). Social media (Twitter, Facebook, Soundcloud etc.) should be used alongside this.