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Nurture Your Contacts to Maximize Publicity and Bookings
by Jerri Goldstein
Success in this entertainment business is to a large degree based on not what you know but whom you know. They could mean the difference between getting booked in a choice club, getting reviewed in a major market rag, getting that record deal or getting your song covered by a major label artist. Don't get me wrong, talent and all of your efforts thus far play a major role. But, from my experience and from so many stories told to me by other artists, managers and industry professionals along with historical accounts about industry luminaries, dropping a name or two can get you in the door. With that in mind it is so important to build solid relationships with your contacts and nurture those relationships to benefit your future career.
It is so import to rely on the contacts you have already developed in order to connect with their colleagues in the field. This contact expanding technique is particularly important as you broaden your base of operation from your hometown and begin touring to neighboring cities. Calling upon your hometown contacts in the media and business to help you gain access to their contacts in other markets, can speed up your success in those new markets. This process, works wonders on a career when your relationships with each and every contact you make is carefully nurtured. When you treat your contacts as part of your growing industry family, they respect you and feel comfortable and are willing to help when they are able. Take your contacts for granted and you will run into many dead ends and wait long hours for calls that will ultimately not be returned. I suppose it is a matter of industry manners.
Here are a number of scenarios I offer for your consideration. How did you act when you found yourself in a similar situation? If you haven't yet had these opportunities, perhaps these suggestions may influence your future strategies.
1. The Invitation -
There are a number of opportunities that I often see artists miss as they go about their booking routines. When attempting to book your act into a particular venue of choice, you might take smaller gigs in other venues just to get started in the market. You might even have landed a great opening slot in a different venue. It is important to let the venue booker of the club where you are hoping to eventually get a gig know about all of these gigs and to invite them to attend. Depending on the night of the gig, the booker may be too busy, but you extended the invitation and that counts for something and is another positive opportunity to put your act's name in front of the booker. If you're opening for a band that is of particular interest to the booker, they may actually come to the show at your invitation. The fact that you invite the booker to other local gigs also keeps them informed about your career progress in the market. As they see that you are playing, they become more attentive to your act. At some point, the situation may be just right and they will accept one of your invitations.
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