Thursday, July 14, 2011

What a full time musician does when he's not on stage


Have you ever wondered what a full-time musician does all day?  Well I'll tell you, it's not sitting around watching TV.  

We had a comment from Ms. Chere on a previous post that stated, "I like to learn about the day in the life of a band member. I'm a writer and people think that's glamorous (hardly) but what about musicians? Must be similar."

So Ms. Chere, this is for you.  There's much more here than the original reply of "drive, gas, eat, repeat". Hope you enjoy!

Chubby's personal schedule

  • ·     Every Monday morning I regroup after the weekend gigs
  • ·     File receipts (Keep all your receipts i.e. band wages, gas, parking, etc…)
  • ·     Record Mileage  (I keep a mileage record and log mileage before leaving and when I get back)
  • ·     Follow up with the promoters and venues to thank them for having us
  • ·     Go over my gig schedule
  • ·     If I’m holding dates, I follow up on progress of show and contract details
  • ·     If I need to fill in dates I locate numbers to call and email addresses to write to
  • ·     I make three attempts to contact the appropriate person for a booking.  I call and follow up with an email
  • ·     Make contact and send press kit (Ask if they want a hard copy or EPK)
  • ·     Depending upon your venue focus (clubs, festivals, etc.) there are online resources available. For example just google “festivals” in the area you want to play (I used to have to buy the Pollstar Directory to make contact)
  • ·     Advance the shows for the upcoming weekend and get directions
  • ·     Send out a text to my band members to inform them of upcoming shows, when to meet, where we are going, pay, etc..
  • ·     Work the gig schedule about three days per week
  • ·     Personally answer my phone, email, Facebook, twitter, and voicemail messages
  • ·     Make sure my merchandise is stocked up and ready for upcoming shows
  • ·     Mail merchandise for online sales
  • ·     Send list of new gigs to webmaster to update gig section of website

 Not glamorous at all, but it keeps me busy and my gig calendar full. When I'm on the road, this is what I do....

 

If you're a musician, what do you do to fill your days at home? 

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