Members Potts Posted July 21, 2012 Members Share Posted July 21, 2012 So I'm doing 20 dates a month right? It'll slow down to about 12-15 in the winter. Do you think I could cut back on the $200 gigs and travel a bit and get $500 gigs through this service? Can someone please explain it to me a bit? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted July 21, 2012 Members Share Posted July 21, 2012 There's been a few threads on Gigmasters here over the years, but here's the basic low down: We get a good chunk--at least 50%--of our private events gigs through Gigmasters. The key to their success, IMO, is their high ranking in search engines. So people randomly searching for band for an event is pretty sure to stumble upon GM pretty easily. But they don't do anything for you except give you a profile and a way to connect to people searching for bands. They aren't a booking agent in that regard. I doubt many clubowners use it, as they have their own avenues to find bands. I think what also works for them is the degree of security people feel booking an unknown act through GM rather than maybe just finding your personal website online. So what happens is people are looking for, say, a solo act for a birthday party in Buffalo. They'll search the relevant criteria and a list of acts will pop up. How high you come in their search is a combination of how close you are to what they are looking for, how close you are physically located, and how much business you've done through GM in the last 6 months. If they are interested in you, they can express that interest and you'll be notified that someone is requesting a bid. This also automatically goes out to about 5 other acts who are similar. You'll know whether you were specifically requested or "auto-added" to the bid. Then it's up to you to get back to them, put in a bid, and negotiate whatever details. Gigmasters takes 5% plus an annual fee (or semi-annual I think) to be a member. I did a quick search for solo performer/acoustic guitar/90s hits in Buffalo (there are a variety of different catagories you can be listed under simultaniously) and no one came up closer than a couple of guys around Pittsburgh. So you might be able to carve out a nice chunk of the market to yourself? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Potts Posted July 21, 2012 Author Members Share Posted July 21, 2012 Thanks pal and thanks for taking a peak at my area for me. It would be nice to go a little more private and back off next summer on so many "bar" gigs. I also like to do cocktail hours for weddings so maybe I can push that somehow as well. They're quick and easy and a nice way to kick off a wedding. Thanks again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted July 21, 2012 Members Share Posted July 21, 2012 Thanks pal and thanks for taking a peak at my area for me. It would be nice to go a little more private and back off next summer on so many "bar" gigs. I also like to do cocktail hours for weddings so maybe I can push that somehow as well. They're quick and easy and a nice way to kick off a wedding. Thanks again! Yep. One thing that quickly became clear to me once we started going the private event route is just exactly how many private events there are. When you're so involved in the club scene you don't realize how many people are putting out good money for live music for their backyard event every weekend. I first got turned on to GM by a bass player I knew who told me he got a ton of gigs for the Science-Guy-For-Kids-Birthdays act he did on the side. If it's the wife's 40th birthday party coming up and you want to have some live music at the event, where are you going to look? You'll search on the internet, right? You pop up on Gigmasters and maybe you'll get the gig. If you're not on there then somebody else is gonna get it. Putting up some good testimonial stuff and a live video I think go a long ways towards getting noticed. Check out what the other guys who are getting gigs do promotion-wise; copy what they do and do it better if you can. The service has been berry berry good to me. Others here have not had such good luck with it. So all I can tell you is maybe give it a try for 6 months and see what happens. You do have to give it some time though. The more gigs you book, the more you look desirable to people looking for acts. Obviously the guy with 100 bookings and a couple dozen 5-star reviews is going to get more gig requests than the guy with nothing. It's a building process like anything else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nchangin Posted July 22, 2012 Members Share Posted July 22, 2012 May I ask what the annual fee is? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted July 22, 2012 Members Share Posted July 22, 2012 They have different levels of membership based on how far you want your reach to be, how many different catagories you want to be listed under and how much audio/video stuff you want to upload. http://www.gigmasters.com/signup.aspx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kmart Posted July 22, 2012 Members Share Posted July 22, 2012 Only locked in a single GM gig during our initial 6 month (trial for us) subscription, but from a traffic and inquiry standpoint, getting a much better idea of what any similar bands are doing and charging via GM, etc., it's been an eye opener. The deposit for the single locked in gig is more than enough to cover a full year's subscription, so we're giving it the benefit of the doubt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted July 22, 2012 Members Share Posted July 22, 2012 Only locked in a single GM gig during our initial 6 month (trial for us) subscription, but from a traffic and inquiry standpoint, getting a much better idea of what any similar bands are doing and charging via GM, etc., it's been an eye opener. Good point. We had the same eye-opening experience. We all know what the club bands are making because the clubs pay what they pay for the most part. But private events? How do you know what to charge? When we first started with GM there was a good deal of "THOSE guys are getting THAT much???" Our fees are probably 2 or 3 times higher now than they might have been otherwise. And people booking bands don't really have a clue what most bands make. Silly rabbits---many of them probably think bands working in bars actually get paid DECENTLY..... Some of them actually believe it makes sense that each band member get several hundred dollars each for their talents. Go figure.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Scott Powell Posted July 23, 2012 Members Share Posted July 23, 2012 We have booked 6 gigs thru GM this year,and the lowest paying gig was $1000. We have played private birthday parties,frat parties at GA Tech,and have 2 weddings later this year. All we need is the 12 month Basic Membership,and it's $179 a year. I really like GM,for us it has worked very well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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