Should I Take This Gig?

Sooner or later every musician is going to be asked to do a gig for free.  For nada. Zip. Zilch. Zero.  Each artist will have to decide for themselves if they want to do this, how often, for whom and so forth.  If you asked 100 artists you probably would get maybe as many different opinions as responders.

My take is this: there are good reasons to do freebies -- charity benefits and fundraisers, etc.  Or if I want to make inroads with a new venue that I REALLY want to get in with (maybe a prestigious museum?), I might do it for free or lowered fee.  If it really will give me great (not just good) "exposure" (but remember, folks can die from exposure!) in front of a constituency that might get me work later, then also "yes," like in front of other bookers, producers, industry people, etc., kind of like an extended showcase.  For example, I just performed one song in front of 200-300 child care providers and teachers before the keynote speaker at a big conference for free (plus they played my "Power of One" video after she spoke), but I was able to negotiate a free exhibit table, lunch and the opportunity to sell products.  WELL!  It was a huge success; I may get bookings from it and I sold more product that probably I ever did at one place and time.

So if you choose to donate your services try to get a promise for something in return.  I don't think musicians should ever simply give away our art, as it devalues it (except for charity or a good cause).  How much do you value your relationship with someone who asks you to perform for free, and/or the venue you'd be performing in?  Could you sell CDs? Could they try to block book you with another paying venue?  I am giving a free mini-concert to an organization but I asked them to find me two more full-fee bookings on the same day, in the same town.

Remember to firmly state that they are to keep your donation confidential!  And remember to still draw up a contract with your regular fee with "discounted to ____" in the appropriate spot so they know how much you normally charge, and the tremendous bargain they are getting.  It's an odd fact that if they pay you nothing, they often treat you terribly.  When they pay you a lot, you are therefore worth "more" and are treated with more respect.  So let them know what a favor you are doing and what you normally are worth.  You'll be treated so much better!

Lastly, to put a final point on this topic, once we played at a local festival for free in the worst possible conditions, in front of maybe 12 people outdoors in a field. One of those 12 people ended up being the anchor for the local TV news program who recommended me to audition for a new kids' show under production, and I ended up getting the host position which put me on TV four times daily for a year!  So, you just never know where opportunity will come from, or what other benefit you might get.  Not everything is measured in dollars. 

Not that I'm trying to talk you into playing for free, but sometimes there are good reasons and situations for it and that can come from it.

Then again, sometimes it's just a wasted day.

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Ms. Shih plays 6 and 12 string guitars, piano, Marxophone, Chinese flower drum, and soprano recorder. She has six albums to her credit and is the author of two books about music: Gigging: A Practical Guide for Musicians (Allworth Press, NYC) and Truly Rotten Gigs from Hell: The Funny, The Sad, The Unbelievably Bad True Tales from the Music Trenches (Uncommon Publishing, Xlibris). For more information visit http://www.patriciashih.com/

Old School Marketing

Old School Marketing

Scott Bierko

Not to long ago, my marketing efforts changed. Radically. Instead of relying on mailings, web sites, showcases and repeat customers to get work, I started doing something very 20^th century: calling people. Mind you, I did not want to do this. In fact, it’s fair to say that I approached my first set of calls with the same enthusiasm I had for brussel sprouts. Yuck!

Why, you may ask? Well, for most of our career, I perceived sales as “convincing people to buy what you have at the highest possible profit”. If possible, I wanted them to buy our most expensive assembly or concert programs at full retail price, so I much preferred to stay behind the curtain and interact with my clients via the U.S. Mail and my web site.

To me, asking for sales felt like begging for bread. Looking back, I don’t think that I saw much worth in what we had to offer, so I approached sales like I did girls in seventh grade. “Please like me,” I seemed to be saying. In middle school, girls did not respond to that kind of neediness and neither do clients.  As we all know, girls (and clients) tend to be attracted to strong, confident people who understand their needs and deliver on their promises.

I won’t bore you with all of the reasons that caused a shift in me. Let’s agree to call it maturing. Eventually, though, it did occur to me that our programs were getting better, that we had something special to offer and that kids and teachers were benefiting from our music. We wrote and produced many shows, chucking out ones that didn’t sell, constantly pruning the ones we kept and created new ones based upon a mixture of what turned us on and what we thought the schools might buy. And it worked. I was convinced that we had become very good at what we do.

Working with a business coach, we quickly zeroed in on our marketing problem: no one in our company was willing to put down the guitar, turn off the computer or tv, stop cleaning the house or playing with the dog in order to reach out to our customers. Why should we bother people at home? So that we can get rejected? My kids are already rejecting me, so I don’t really want more of that.

Eventually, the coach helped us understand and believe a few key points, one of which we had heard many times before and another one that was totally new. The first lesson was this old chestnut: sales is a numbers game. Every business has to determine how many calls they need to make in order to reach their sales goals and, yes, you have to make the calls whether you perceive of them as yucky vegetables or not. There is nothing fancy about that. It’s simple in its brilliance and there’s no way to take a shortcut until (and this is important) your business is so successful that people are calling you all the time.

The second point was: realize that not everyone is an ideal match for your talents and services, so it’s good and natural for them to say, “no, thank you.” I really do not want to work with clients who aren’t excited to work with me because it usually ends up being a drag. Most of us can tell within thirty seconds if the person we are speaking to wants to hang with us, so I suggest getting off the phone really fast and moving on. If only I had known that in seventh grade!

And I think I will leave you on that humorous note – don’t give up! This can really be fun, just like a game. In the past six months, I have learned to have fun with my clients. I am not afraid to show my personality, alternating between being earnest and really quite playful. One of my fellow children’s musicians regularly sings to people on the phone.

Everyone can make a brochure or a web site, but few people have what it takes to really communicate with their clients and create a relationship with them. As they said in the 20^th century, “try it; you’ll like it”.

Scott Bierko is a co-founder of Beth & Scott and Friends, a husband and wife team of Teaching Artists, from Yorktown Heights, NY.

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