7 Things Bands Do To Make Promoters Frustrated

Having played the role of booking agent, promoter, and musician for a decade I've found that many bands will do things that promoters absolutely hate and have no clue why the promoter is angry. Promoters have to worry about a lot of factors for each show and having a band who doesn't respect or understand their role in everything makes the process that much harder. And this isn't just limited to local bands…this includes touring bands as well. A lot of this stuff will frustrate anyone who works with the band and can often lead to people in the music industry ignoring you and your band because they see no potential.

1. Bands Who Don't Understand This is a Business - Yes, this is a business. While every show promotor usually starts for the love of music they need to actually make a profit at their shows in order to continue doing their job. Every good promotor is not only investing a lot of time spreading the word of their shows but they are also investing a lot of money. The biggest thing bands do which show they don't understand this concept is expect the promotor and venue to do ALL the promoting. This leads me to my next point...

2. Bands Who Don't Promote Their Shows - Not promoting a show you've been booked on is a slap in the face to everyone involved in the show, especially the promotor who put you on the line-up. It isn't hard to promote. What makes me especially crazy is when I call a band out for not promoting and they insist they have been "telling all their friends." That's great but that's about the lamest way to promote and a sure fire way to never build a fan-base beyond your close friends. Post on your facebook, twitter, instragam, or whatever. When you get new fans who don't know you they will often connect to your social media pages or check your website. If you don't announce your shows then how will they ever know about them? And don't wait until the week of the show to announce it, give your fans time to schedule it in so you don't have one of those nights full of people telling you they were busy and couldn't make it out. No promotor or venue can reach your fans as easily as you can and there is no reason to not post about your shows online. But DON'T LIMIT YOURSELF TO JUST ONLINE PROMOTIONS!

3. Bands Who Don't Use Street Promotion - While online promotions and social media is wonderful it doesn't come even close to the power of street promotions. Unfortunately many bands think street promotions is simply printing flyers to put up at local coffee shops and music shops. While that is part of it you can also print off handbills of the show flyer and hand them out around town. My favorite thing is to bring an mp3 player so you can play your tracks for people you meet who are interested in coming out. Even if the people don't come out they now have heard of your band which is the first step in creating a local buzz. Once that buzz is going you've got to keep it up by promoting your band!

4. Bands Who Don't Promote Themselves - I will never understand why bands love to skip this step. I've seen some great bands who start to build a local fan-base from playing shows and then just plateau because they don't actually market themselves. If you want your band to be taken seriously and actually go places you need to understand the band is a business and all businesses need marketing to find customers. Hand out free CDs at shows, malls, college campuses, or anywhere that it is allowed. Make a press kit to send to radio stations, magazines, reviewers, writers, and other music related platforms to get some press. If you don't have recordings then go get some done in a studio so you have a professional sounding product. I once heard a saying that I think is a great segue into my next point, "Bands should be spending money on 3 things; equipment, recordings, and promotion."

5. Bands Who Don't Invest In Themselves -  When I say invest I mean literally putting money into the band fund. When I say this many musicians will instantly think of all the money they have spent buying equipment or recording. That's great but you are basically spending money on making a product that you aren't properly marketing. Every band should have a budget set aside to put towards marketing and have an actual business plan thought out (writing it out is even better). Each member should be putting money into this or you need to work out a deal between each other so you aren't at each others throats a month later. Start out small with social media marketing on Facebook, Twitter, etc. Music based websites like Reverbnation and Purevolume also offer different opportunities to help promote your band. Order merchandise to hand out for free, especially CDs so they don't have to look for you online to hear your music. See how much ad space costs in local radio, newspapers, magazines, and blogs. Don't limit yourself, think outside the box and look for opportunities which present themselves. If you aren't willing to invest in your band why would anyone else?

6. Bands Who Overbook Their Hometown - This is one of those things that frustrates everyone; the promotor, the venue, the bands, and even the fans. Most local bands, especially today, don't have very large draws and by overbooking your hometown you are thinning out your crowd which ends up hurting both shows. Some promotors and venues will kick a band off of a show if the band books another local show too close. I've had two separate bands I had booked on a show book another show in the same city on the same weekend, one of them was even playing a third show in the same city the next weekend as well. That is a surefire way for a venue or promotor to lose interest in working with them again. The rule of thumb for this is called 30 and 30, as in 30 days and 30 miles. This means you shouldn't book a show within 30 miles and 30 days (15 days before the date and 15 days after) of a date your band already has booked.

7. Bands Who Don't Understand The Music Industry - The music industry is a very complex beast with all kinds of twists and turns that each musician who wants to do this professionally should understand but many have little interest in doing this. The six previous points all tie into this but on top of all that a promotor will have little interest in working with a band who doesn't know what they're doing. If you want to really get serious look into forming your band as an LLC, talk to local managers and agents, research local entertainment lawyers, read up about licensing and publishing, and just learn as much as you can about the industry. I suggest reading "What They'll Never Tell You About The Music Business" by Peter M. Thall to get a really good overview of the whole industry.

Check out the follow-up article "7 Things Promotors Do To Make Bands Frustrated"