Does Your Band Need a Promotion Package?

Does your band need a Promotion Package/Press Kit? Lately, The Blog has put forth the proposition that local bands should broaden their horizons, open up new opportunities, and increase their earnings by booking gigs at fairs, festivals and casinos. However, it is highly unlikely that this will happen without a first-class, professional-looking Promotion Package! The Promotion Package is usually the first substantive contact with the person who has the power to book your band. It will be the first impression they get, and if it's not a good one, it will probably be the last time you will hear from them! What should the Promotion Package do? I think it should tell the reader who the band is; it should give the band an identity! If it is well done, it should be interesting and intriguing and make the reader curious, so they want to know more about the band. It should make the reader WANT to see the band perform! Then the demo disc will offer a sense of what the band sounds like. What should the Promotion Package include? If I was booking bands, this is what I would want to see in a Promotion Package before I would seriously consider hiring a band: 1. Picture: A good, tight, posed picture of the band. This is my first visual impression of the band; my first look at them. I like pictures like this: http://www.galvestonmusicscene.com/Bands/DO.JPG and this: http://www.galvestonmusicscene.com/Bands/The-Line-Up.jpg I can see their faces, and get to "know" them, with this picture I can not: http://www.galvestonmusicscene.com/Bands/magazine.jpg I don't care about pictures of the audience, or the band partying with the audience. I want to get to know the band! 2. Description: What does this band play? For example: "The Bolvar Fairies is a Rock & Roll band that primarily covers the hits from the 1960s and 1970s. We have a few original Rock tunes and, we throw in a little Blues, Funk and Country to spice things up". Now I have a good idea what I'm going to hear if I book them. 3. Play List: A complete list of song titles, with band credits, and sorted by genre. This needs to be updated frequently as new songs are added. 4. Home Base: Where is your band located? Are you in the vicinity of my venue, are you going to have to travel to get here, or do you want to book my venue as part of a road trip? With numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4 I have enough information to have a reasonable first impression. I now know whether they might fit what I'm looking for, or not! If you haven't done well with the presentation so far, I may not continue reading. 5. Band History: Tell me how the band got together, and how they have evolved over time. Tell me the truth or make it all up; or a combination of both. The great business franchises throughout history usually have a Creation Story that is part truth and part myth. eBay was started to sell Pez dispensers; or was it really? It is a good story! Record companies have done this with their bands for years! However you do it, make it interesting and concise; not a lot of long rambling bullshit! 6. The Players: Who's in the band? What are their names, what do they play, who does vocals? Include individual pictures of each member, either posed or while the band is playing; but up close. 7. Biographies: Tell me about each individual member. Once again, tell me the truth or make it all up; or a combination of both. Make the band history and the biographies interesting and intriguing, so that I want to get to know these guys! 8. Calendar: Include a list of your most recent gigs for at least the last 2-3 months. I want to see where you have been playing; who else has been hiring you. This needs to be kept up to date, or it is easy to look like the band hasn't been playing for awhile, and they're trying to re-start their career at my club. 9. Projects: Do you have CDs for sale? Are you recording a new CD in the studio? Are you writing a soundtrack? Etc. If it doesn't apply; skip it. 10. Press: Include your reviews, and interviews, if any. 11. Equipment List: If you don't want to bring all your own equipment, what equipment does my venue need to provide for your band? 12. Web Site: The URL of your web site, if you have one. A good web site should include all of the same elements of a good Promotion Package, at a minimum. 13. Contact info plus business card: Make it easy for me to contact you. 14. Live Demo Disc: With Don Emerson in town, everyone should have one of these now! 15. Video: Do you have a video that you can send me if I'm interested? If you didn't get me interested in items 1-8, I'm probably not going to take the time to listen to your CD, so that's another reason that the pictures, and the text of the Promotion Package are so very important! With today's computers, printers and digital cameras, this type of Promotion Package should be fairly easy, and inexpensive for anyone to put together. I believe that the type of Promotion Package described above is essential for bookings at fairs, festivals and casinos, but I am also well aware that many bands are not satisfied with their bookings at local clubs, and would like to get booked at clubs in Houston and in The Golden Triangle. This type of Promotion Package will give anyone who builds one an edge in getting bookings in every type of venue!! Finally, sending the Promotion Package in a Priority Mail Envelope, with a colorful address label that highlights the band's name, and even includes a logo, if you have one, will bring immediate attention, and an air of importance to it when the parcel first arrives. You can pick up Priority Mail Flat Rate Envelopes, at the post office, that allow you to ship any amount of material that you can stuff into them, anywhere in the U.S., for $3.85, or buy prepaid envelopes on the USPS web site. Let the games begin! This article is available for free use in any publication, as long as the byline is included, the article is reprinted in its entirety, all links in this article and biography remain live at all times, and the publication is NOT any form of SPAM. The article first appeared at: http://www.galvestonmusicscene.com/Archives/07-19-2005-Promotion- Package.html