DJ Booking

DJ booking on Gigmor is fast, easy and free. It’s also one of the most efficient ways to market a business or to create a memorable party. If you run your own venue, you already know the ins and outs of this specific type of talent booking. However, if this is your first go at DJ booking it can be a confusing and time consuming process. Here are a few tips to make the experience a little easier, more fun and more creative on your part.

Create a post

If you Google “DJ booking” you’ll get thousands of results for individual DJ websites. Clicking through each one of these links, one by one, is probably the worst ways to get started. When you create a post on Gigmor you can specify exactly what genres of music you want played, how long the set should be and what your budget is. Reviewing applications is easy and you can book the right DJ with a single click. For more info on how to create a post or signup for a talent seeker account, check out our last blog post.

Listen to full mixes

Let’s say you’ve created your post and are now receiving applications from DJs in your area. How do you decide who to book? Most DJs will have at least one “DJ mix” in their music library. The mix will give you an idea of not only what kind of music they play but also how good they are at mixing songs together.

Beatmatching, or transitioning from one song to the next without any interruption to the drum beat, can be automated, so don’t be fooled by a technically competent mix. Instead, pay attention to the ‘energy’ of the whole mix. Is there a dynamic quality to the mix that would make the crowd excited at some points and more relaxed at others. Think about what kind of mood you want to set in your space and judge accordingly. 

Requests

You may or may not want your DJ to be able to take requests. Make sure you ask beforehand. If a DJ is applying to play at a private party or event, chances are they are absolutely fine with taking requests from the crowd and are most likely expecting it. Don’t take it for granted though. Some DJ’s are not prepared for requests and have taken great care in deciding what music to play. Just put in your post that you want to be able to make requests during their set, and you’ll be good to go!

Thanks for reading and let us know if you have any DJ booking tips of your own at info@gigmor.com!

How To Book Bands: Vol.1

Welcome to the first of a series of posts dedicated to helping you get the most out of your Gigmor account. We’re going to start by looking at how to book bands with your talent seeker account. Booking talent on Gigmor is easy and you have a couple of options when it comes to discovering and booking talent. You can either browse the members page and message artists that you’re interested in or you can create a gig post and receive applications from interested artists. This post will guide you through creating your first gig post.

Create a Talent Seeker account

First, you need to login to your talent seeker account. If you haven’t created a profile yet just head to the signup page and be sure to click the button that says “I’m Seeking Talent.”

Create a post

Once you are logged into your Talent Seeker account, click “Add a Post” in the upper right corner of the page or on the lower right corner of your profile card (shown below):

Next you’ll want to select what type of post you want to make. If you’re trying to book an artist for your venue or party, select “Gig.”

On the next page, you’ll enter all of the details of your gig – date, time, venue, pay etc. It’s a good idea to put the venue name, date and time in the title because it will make it easier for artists to find your gig.

Make sure you complete all of the required fields.

Once you’ve completed all the required fields, click on the “Preview post” button at the bottom of the page.

On the preview page, review all of your gig details to make sure the info you entered is correct. Finally, click on “Publish Post” and your gig post will go live!

You did it! You just created your first post on Gigmor and you are well on your way to booking a band. Next, we’ll talk about receiving artist applications and how to evaluate whether an artist is right for your gig or not.

From the archive: Host a Gig in Your Own Space

Free EPK Template for Independent Artists

To get started on your free epk template, click here to sign up on Gigmor.com. To learn more about an EPK and best practices, please keep reading!

What is an EPK?

An EPK (electronic press kit) is a resume for your music or your band.  It will help you book shows, get media coverage and build your career.

Why use an EPK?

Writing emails to venues and promoters is one of the most tedious tasks that we have to do to get booked. Every venue has their own format that they want booking requests to adhere to. Writing even 5-10 of these can suck a couple of hours out of your day.  Using the Gigmor EPK is one of the most efficient ways to get booked. When you’re writing to your local venue for a booking request, instead of collecting all of your social media links and writing a whole new message, just share a link to your Gigmor EPK in the body of the email. It will save you time and aggravation and, best of all, it’s free!

free epk

The Gigmor EPK

You have many options when it comes to making an EPK so why choose Gigmor? First of all, thousands of venues and promoters have joined Gigmor and they actively use Gigmor to scout for artists. The Gigmor team is in constant contact with venues & talent bookers to promote Gigmor artists and to create exclusive opportunities for our members. The free EPK template on Gigmor.com also includes everything a talent seeker needs to evaluate an artist for a gig.

Our tips for optimizing your free Gigmor EPK

1.  Photo

First, you want to have an amazing photo. If you can afford it, find a professional photographer. The photographer will compose a great shot, make sure it’s properly lit etc. The camera on your phone is perfectly capable of taking a great picture but you’ll need to work a little harder to get the best results.

2.  Featured Music

Make sure that your featured track is your best work and a good representation of what you can do live. Talent seekers are pressed for time and will most likely only listen to one or two of your tracks. Different kinds of talent seekers will respond to different kinds of tracks. Some are just looking for artists who can play competently and others are looking for super avant-garde, experimental stuff. Be aware of what kinds of gigs you’re applying for and keep in mind that the talent bookers will appreciate different aspects of your music and adjust your featured music accordingly.

3.  Gigging History

Gigging history is either something you have or you don’t. If you’ve played a few well-known venues in your city, great! It’s proof that you’re serious, bookable and know the ropes.

If not, it’s OK!

Everybody starts somewhere. Try to organize a small show with friends, a house party or something like that. It’s best to have some kind of performance under your belt before hitting the venue circuit. Even for seasoned performers, stepping into a venue, going through setup and soundcheck and performing can be intimidating and it’s very easy to lose your focus. Purely for your own benefit, go through that routine a couple times before doing it with an impatient front of house engineer.

4.  Bio

Skip it.

Just kidding! Definitely do not skip the bio. Believe it or not, this is the one part of the EPK that talent seekers ALWAYS complain to us about. They actually read it and it actually influences the booking decision. Placeholder bios and typing “hjkfdahfkd fdjska fd hjkf ashkfs” to hit the character limit are killing your chances of getting booked.

The bio is your one opportunity to show the talent seeker your real personality. It doesn’t even matter so much what you write for your bio, just that it is well written and you come across like the reasonable, intelligent and serious person that you are.

5.  Social Media

Talent seekers look at your social media to judge how well you will be able to promote the show. Promotion is part of the deal when a talent seeker books you for the gig. Yes, it sucks to be quantified by the number of ‘followers’ you have but professional talent bookers will be able to look past the raw numbers and see the way that you interact with your fans.

Interaction is so much more important. If you’re posting consistently, responding to likes/comments and even engaging with people on other pages, you’re doing great!

We developed GigScore for exactly this purpose. GigScore will look at other data points in your social media besides how many followers you have. It works best when you have Soundcloud, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube connected.

Thank you!

Thanks for reading and we hope these tips will help you get started on your free epk template on Gigmor. We’re here to help you get gigs so please reach out to info@gigmor.com if you have any questions or suggestions.

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