As most musicians will know, the competition is fiercer than ever when it comes to entertainment for weddings and function events. Potential clients have thousands of bands to choose from within a multitude of genres and a myriad of agencies all claim that their bands will provide the best show.
From a band’s perspective, it can be difficult to stand out among the throng of musicians and prove that they alone can offer something unique.
For the client, evaluating quality often means sifting through self-important band biographies, dodgy recordings and questionable reviews.
However, in recent years many agencies and bands are now creating their own showreels in an attempt to give the client a better impression of what they would receive for their money.
Considering the audience on YouTube alone, a well-made showreel produced by a band can potentially launch them into the stratosphere, as it has done with world-renowned function bands including Funky Friday and Men in Blue.
Naturally, each showreel is unique and showcases the band’s specific talents. Some work on a comedic level whilst others are far more serious about the services the offer. However, all should contain five main elements.
Great Live Footage
Everyone who watches a showreel is a potential customer and therefore is predominantly interested in knowing what the band looks like live.
A great video of a live show, with the audience dancing away, is a fantastic way to demonstrate the band’s ability to put on a memorable show.
Studio Quality Audio
As a rule, there are two schools of thought when it comes to promo video audio – you can either get a live recording or sync a studio recorded track to the footage.
While live recordings are going to be more exciting and a better representation of what the client is booking, there is a higher chance of mistakes being made and the audio sounding rougher.
In contrast, while studio tracks will be highly unlikely to contain mistakes, it could be argued they aren’t quite as effective at showing a client your show and the clean, processed sound could potentially be less exciting to some.
The most important thing to remember about both of these is that the audio must be very high quality.
While the availability (and relative cheapness) of recording software means that it is now possible to record at home, or record a show yourself, the result must still be of professional standard.
If you are set on recording yourself, you’ll have to be very honest about your skill set – consider sending your stems away to be professionally mixed or mastered if you don’t feel confident enough yourself.
While it may be the more costly option, the benefits of using a studio for your recordings are going to be immeasurable.
The input of an experienced producer, utilising very expensive equipment in a highly creative environment can have a brilliant effect of the overall sound.
Customer Reviews
If possible, bands should try and get previous customers giving a review on video. It’s great to be able to see a bride and groom passionately explaining how wonderful they thought the entertainment was and features well within a showreel format.
In the age mobile phone recordings and go-pros, even a roughly shot yet a well-timed testimonial from a bride & groom in the moments after the show can be worth more than gold.
Try adding written testimonials superimposed over the footage of the band performing (But keeping in mind the live performance footage is the most important thing!)
Review of Monstaball
Band Interview
An interview with each band member is a great opportunity to introduce the different instruments, varying line-ups and other services the band can offer, as well as highlighting the achievements and quality of it’s musicians.
During each band member’s interview, the band can be promoted and made appealing. For many younger bands performing more contemporary material a fun edge is often added making the show reel more personal.
Unique Selling Point
Each band has its own unique selling point. Whether the band can offer a 9-piece line up performing classics from the 1950s to present day like Men in Blue, a 1920s female vocal trio like the Puppini Sisters, or even offer guests the opportunity to sing with the band like The One Hit Wonders Bandeoke Band, a showreel can advertise the unique selling point in ways that a simple biography or reviews do not.
YouTube offers bands and potential clients a simple, yet effective way of finding one another not only on YouTube itself but also through the embedded videos on third party websites.
Whilst there are so many musicians trying to make a living from performing at function gigs, the emphasis lies on professionalism.
Any trace of amateurism is bound to result in the loss of potential clients therefore showreels should always be created with professional software, if not in conjunction with a production company.
More examples of YouTube showreels by bands featured on LastMinuteMusicians:
Remember to add your promo videos to your LMM Profile!
Bands who are prepared to put video clips of live performances on their profiles will get more gigs.
There is no substitute for actually seeing and hearing a band play live at an event which is similar to customers own.
Every day we see bands with videos get more gigs in our directory than those without.
Here’s an example video from Something Trio:
Do you have any advice for making a great promo video/showreel? Post tips in the comments below!
