Festivals have been becoming more and more popular in recent years. Look at Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, and Coachella for example. They will make a return once the pandemic is over too. With them becoming more and more popular, that means that each year there are more bands trying to get those choice festival gigs. This means that getting booked can be incredibly competitive.
If you want to get your foot in the door, you’ll need to do a bit of work. This won’t be simple – if it was, it would be done by everyone, but it’s truly possible to get yourself out there in front of those festival crowds. Here are a few tips for doing just that.
Get the right gear
With music, as with everything else, you need to have the right tools for the trade. This goes beyond things like guitars, amps, drum kits, and durable custom tents to play in, it also includes talent.
Practice, practice, practice
The band might be ready to play that festival wedding, but before booking one, you might want to ensure that you’re ready. That isn’t negative to how good you might or might not be, or to your music, you just need to be prepared for any unique demands that there might be that are inherent with playing a festival wedding.
If you don’t have a lot of experience with this, you might not be exactly ready. This type of gig is different from playing at a club and, for this reason, promoters tend to seek out bands that have earned a track record of putting on a live show that commands crowds.
Play the right tunes
You might not want to play any old festival wedding or festival that will book you. That would be kind of like practicing your stage presence and then sending your music to every single agent, label, promoter, etc. in town, whether or not they work with your type of music.
What you should do is to narrow your search parameters a bit and choose a few of the festivals that you’d love to play in. These festivals should be open to your music genre, have stages that will be a good fit for the size of your band, and be easy for you to travel to.
Don’t waste your time trying to get into festivals that won’t be a good fit for your band, even if you like them as a fan. Booking will be a lot easier if you can manage to get into where the band will fit in.
Update your calendar
A lot of the time, a massive obstacle for musicians trying to get booked for music festivals or events is just getting their application submitted on time. Don’t apply late for gigs.
Never miss deadlines. Make a calendar and fill it with all of the submission deadlines for each of the festivals you’re interested in playing in so that you never miss an opportunity. If you miss the deadline, generally there won’t be another opportunity to apply until next year. You might technically find a method of doing so, but it probably won’t get you booked.
Finally, don’t give up. It’s a competitive business, but that doesn’t mean that you and your band don’t belong under the bright lights on the stage.
Keep on making music and booking gigs while you’re working on getting a slot at one of the music festivals that you aspire to. Remember that each new fan, song, and show is one step closer to your goals being achieved.
Do you have any tips for getting booked for festival shows? Leave them in the comments below…
