The last question was an open-ended one: advice from the promoters directly to you, about what you can do to improve your chances of getting gigs (aside from playing great, of course…)

Big thanks to all the promoters who answered. I couldn’t fit all of them in here but below are a selection which nicely sum up the things we already looked at in this article.

“Find your target and do you homework. Instead of mass pitching to all the bookers in the world, find out who would be the most potential ones for your project and try to reach them. Be interested in what they do, and don’t just “sell” blindly. Figure out why they should book you and tell them that. Give it time, and don’t be too pushy. The best contacts develop on a personal level and those develop over many years” – Matti Nives / We Jazz (Finland)

“Learn about the industry and build relationships with programmers as programmers will not be able to programme all artists that apply (for example we receive about 400 applications/enquiries a year but we only select about 8-9 for the festival) and having a relationship will help in the long run” – Penang Island Jazz Festival (Malaysia)

“Arrange showcases when we are around’ Umbria Jazz (Italy)

“Be politely persistent” – THSH Jazzlines (UK)

“Create a strong narrative, a compelling identity, a good press pack and a well maintained digital presence. Get influencers to your gigs and solicit testimonials from them to further validate your concepts” – Kenneth Killeen, Improvised Music Company (Ireland)

“When you can, come and see us, and talk to us at our gigs or festivals. If you are playing in our region tell us so we can come and see you. Nothing works better than talking directly to artists and seeing their performance” Steve Crocker, Seven Jazz Leeds (UK)

“Good recording on a relevant label. Original and interesting music. Diversity and freshness in approach” – Pancevo & Belgrade Jazz Festivals (Serbia)

“Be as concise in your opening email as possible and don’t send too many links, just one or two that will get a promoter right to the heart of your music. Be sure to take a look at what projects the promoter works with, target promoters who may actually book your music, don’t just email every promoter you get an address for hoping for the best. Stay positive!” – Wesley Stephenson, Newcastle Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music (UK)

“Be sure you have enough up to date live content. The video quality doesn’t have to be brilliant, in fact I always search low quality clips of which I can easily tell the band’s ability to be on stage and hear how it grooves. The same goes with the audio quality of the video. BUT in order to promo the band I need decent quality video” – April Jazz Festival (Finland)

For festivals, timing your approach is crucial and increasingly festivals are starting their programming earlier. Find out when is a good time to contact them, and definitely don’t ask for a gig during the festival or in the immediate lead-up to it! – Cheltenham Jazz Festival (UK)

Thanks…

Big thanks to all the promoters who took time to read my email and to share their insight. I know only too well how many messages they are getting a day, so it’s no small thing that there was so much feedback for this survey. Some of them were answered anonymously, but from those I know, I wanted to shout out to them. Please check out their gigs, follow them on social media and take all of their advice on board before considering whether you should email them or not!

Ronnie Scott’s, Spice of Life, Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music, Jazz North East, Philippine International Jazz Festival, April Jazz Festival, Southport Jazz Festival, We Jazz, Cully Jazz Festival, Jazzlines, Lublin Jazz Festival, Umbria Jazz Festival, bee-flat im PROGR, Jazz Fola Aix, Ribble Valley Jazz & Blues Festival, Turner Sims Concert Hall, Cankarjev Dom, Ljubljana Jazz Festival, Fougou Music, Pancevo Jazz Festival, Jazz at the Lescar, Belgrade Jazz Festival.

More on booking jazz gigs…

If you’d like to dig deeper into the Jazzfuel content on this topic, you can find the top articles on booking jazz gigs right here. A few ‘most-read’ pieces to get you started: