What to look out for when booking a band over the internet – part 1

There are 1000’s of bands advertising on the internet these days so what are the most important things to look out for?

In the spirit of transparency I’d like to point out that you are reading this blog from our band’s website  www.thechoiceonline.co.uk so clearly we have a vested interest in the subject matter. Hopefully you’ll find this blog interesting as it does offer a perspective from a band’s point of view –  from people who actually work in the industry!

It’s also important to us (and our industry) that the right sort of bands get booked for the right events because a bad experience with a “not so suitable” band can ruin future gigs for all of us.

Before the internet took such a stranglehold over our lives, to book a band you would have had to contact an entertainment agency. These agents became the voice of recommendation. You would tell the agent what style of band you were looking for and he/she would then recommend the most suitable band for your event.

Importantly the bands that were recommended would have a working relationship with the agency. To continue that relationship the band would have to create great feedback and generate more work (future gigs). So the circle would go on, the agency would book a band they would in turn get more work for the agency….. a level of quality guaranteed.

This third person recommendation has all but vanished from the scene unless you have been personally recommended a band from a friend or colleague. If you do have a recommendation then tip number 1 go with that recommendation!
As a band ourselves we get a lot of referrals and of course some of the time we are not always available.  In this situation what we always try to do is to recommend colleagues that I know run similar bands to us and are of similar quality.  It’s that third person recommendation again that’s all important, we want to make sure that the gig gets covered properly with a great band that will do a great job!

There are lots of agency websites on the internet these days and indeed we are on a few of them but do beware. We know of occasions where bands turn up for the event and the collective musicians involved  haven’t even met each other before!  These bands are not necessarily bad but certainly not experienced at working and jelling together as a professional band should be, also these “put together” bands tend to have a very limited repertoire.

I think it’s really important to make sure that if it’s a wedding band you’re after for example make sure the band is performing at weddings regularly. How do you know this -well most established bands have a Facebook page. Whether you like Facebook or not it is very informative. It’s also  much more transparent as far as testimonials are concerned, it’s very easy to write a lovely testimonial page on a website but it’s not so easy to have lots of comments on a Facebook page!

You will also find that bands will always post gigs on their Facebook page so it’s easy to see just how much a band is working – the more work generally the better the band.

That’s it from my first blog on the subject, next time I’ll talk about band website content and reading between the lines.

Good luck with your hunt for a great band – if you’re in any doubt email me or just book  The Choice and be done with any worries!!