Monday, January 30, 2012

You Need An "Act"

Early in my freelance career, I figured out that my gig-getting potential would increase if I had an "act" to sell instead of trying to find work as only a sideman---for someone else's act.  

Your act can be just you as a soloist or an ensemble that you establish and lead (chamber group, rock band, jazz combo, folk duo, etc...).  

With an act, you can contact agents, festivals, concert series, event planners, and more...rather than waiting for the sideman call.  As the leader of the act, you should pay yourself more than the sidemen.

You need an act...or more than one.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Music Think Tank & Hypebot



It's so important to keep up with trends in the music business.   Music Think Tank (www.musicthinktank.com) and Hypebot (www.hypebot.com) are two of the blogs that I follow.   Check 'em out for innovations and ideas that can help you on your "music to money" journey.  

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Onesheet

There's a service that can pull a variety of your social media sites together into one neat package.   You can send potential clients one URL and they can view a selected video, scope out your tweets from Twitter, read your bio, click a link to your website, watch some of your You Tube videos, and more.  (It updates automatically...WOW!)

It's FREE.  (Okay, there is a upgrade available for a fee but you can get going at NO cost.)  

The service is ONESHEET. 
Check out mine at www.onesheet.com/MarkSheltonPerc

Get your own at www.onesheet.com !

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Get It In Writing

Always get the gig details in writing.  If all parties involved are real professionals, no one should object to setting the basics of the engagement in a fixed form. 
Disputes can be avoided, details clarified, and relationships maintained by making sure that presenter and performer have the same information.  

This fixed form can be be a formal contract (I use the less intimidating term, performance agreement.) or a simple email spelling out the who, what, when, where, and HOW MUCH.   In addition to those basics, you might include things such as set up time, number of breaks, and permission to sell merchandise.

Avoid too many details.  Do not overwhelm your client with minutia.  People like simple.
I have toured for over seven weeks for a well known agency with only a ONE PAGE contract.

Bring the performance agreement to the gig.



The weakest ink is better than the strongest memory. 
Chinese proverb