Festival gigs

[Mickeyboro]

This is the time of year I always rue the fact we never get on any festival bills. 
 

It anyone has the secret to this, and how to sort the worthwhile (financially and otherwise) from the really not worth it, please feel free to share! 🙏

[AndyTravis]

We’ve ended up on 3 smaller local festivals this summer.

 

We sent off some demos and to be fair 5 got back to us - 2 ended up being when various members of the band are on holiday.

 

Havent played a festival since 2008 so after a hiatus; I’m looking forward to it.

[Mickeyboro]

3 minutes ago, AndyTravis said:

We’ve ended up on 3 smaller local festivals this summer.

 

We sent off some demos and to be fair 5 got back to us - 2 ended up being when various members of the band are on holiday.

 

Havent played a festival since 2008 so after a hiatus; I’m looking forward to it.

What kind of notice did they need (ie how early do they plan?)

Were they general fests or generic?

Is it for money, exposure or both?

Questions, questions!🙏

 

[AndyTravis]

6 minutes ago, Mickeyboro said:

What kind of notice did they need (ie how early do they plan?)

Were they general fests or generic?

Is it for money, exposure or both?

Questions, questions!🙏

 

Well we went down the route of “exposure” - but all covered travel expenses when we asked. Not earning, but not losing money.

 

The latest one though I said we need £400 as they were late booking us and they’ve gone for it.

 

I do recall playing a bigger festival in 2008 and getting £650 and tickets/travel but once we actually looked at it we lost £100’s as a van full of gear from Manchester to IOW was a dear do - We did play to a few thousand and traffic to websites etc went up for a bit.

 

died off quickly enough as various band members had issues at that time.

 

Cant believe I stayed on for another 3 years

[AndyTravis]

11 minutes ago, Mickeyboro said:

What kind of notice did they need (ie how early do they plan?)

Were they general fests or generic?

Is it for money, exposure or both?

Questions, questions!🙏

 

These have been booked for 2/3 months for August/September.

 

I suspect bigger festivals are 6-10 months ahead.

[meterman]

For the big festivals, unless you're prepared to play for free in a 'local band tent' somewhere near the car park (been there, done that - thanks Isle Of Wight festival) you'll need to be with an agency or have a buzz surrounding your band, then they'll contact you.

 

For smaller festivals, the same will apply, but if you have an 'in' with anyone doing the bookings or with PR or something, just be cheeky and ask. Send videos, band CDs, anything you've got. If it can work for dossers like me, then you'll easily have a decent chance. Good luck. 👍

[meterman]

Oh yeah, anywhere between 3 and 6 months notice in advance is normal, even longer depending on which festival it is.

[BigRedX]

I've already done two festivals so far this year - HRH Goth and BlaqkhOlesun (3 if you include Goth At The Brewery which is part of the WGW) - and will also be playing Leodis Requiem this weekend in Leeds and have another three already lined up later in the year. All are properly paid. As you can probably tell from the festival names they are all "genre" events, and are all indoor which is my preferred festival location in the UK. One year The Terrortones did a "summer" of festivals and it rained quite heavily at every single one, except the one where we played inside when the weather was sweltering and most of the audience stayed outside. For a couple, our stage set up was mostly about avoiding the leaks in the stage roof.

 

I don't generally don't get involved with organising gigs, but I do know that for most of them we were approached by the festival organisers and asked if we were available. It helps that both bands I play with are known on the "scene" which already gives us an "in". Also most of the festivals I've done in the last 3 years the line-up was organised about 6 months before the festival date, however IME there are always last-minute cancellation slots available.

 

My advice would be target your festivals so that you are approaching events that would be interested in the kind of music your band plays. You're probably already too late for this summer unless you are hoping to fill a last-minute cancellation, in which case make sure that all of your band are available for any potential offers before putting your band forward. Otherwise start contacting organisers for 2025 about a month after this year's event is over.

[chris_b]

The local festivals, big and small, are all about networking. If the promoters know you, if you have a good reputation, you stand a chance.

[Burns-bass]

Our band booker does all this stuff in January when there are no gigs, it's dark outside and nobody is doing anything else. She gets a list of local festivals and specialist ones that cater for our type of music. Apparently, you need a high quality video of you playing, so we got one of those (a student did it for £250 and was amazing, so we now use him to work for us professionally where he earns substantially more), and some good promo shots. A short band profile is useful too, apparently. 

 

Then it's a numbers game. As soon as you've been at one festival and done a good job, things pick up from there. 

 

Remember to be respectful (I'm not suggesting you wouldn't, but you know what some bands are like!), and give them time to do their work and select the right bands for the audience.

[Kitsto]

When I was in a band we got a number of gigs at charity festivals. Obviously they weren't paid, so they were easy to get on, but it was a good way of getting exposure (and used to playing to a crowd open air). That may be a way to getting paid gigs at 'proper' festivals. 

[TheRev]

Unless you're regularly pulling 100s of punters to venues, festival bookers aren't going to be asking you to play, but they will be looking to fill slots lower down the bill, so you job is to let them know you exist and to make it easy for then too book you, and that requires a fair bit of prep work:

 

1) Put together a list of festivals you'd like to play.  Be realistic about where your band fits into that festivals' profile, music style and clientele and whether you have a snowball's chance of getting booked.   I play at (and work for) festivals in Dorset a lot, and the following festivals are the better known 'non-specialist genre'/general punter type festivals close to you:

Poole Harbour festival

Swanage Carnival

Teddy Rocks

Weymouth Quayside

DorsetFest

Chesil Rocks.

Plus, there's tons of village fete type litte 'festvials' around every weekend during the summer.

 

2) Once you've picked your festivals, follow them on Facebook or wherever so that you get a heads up when they put out a call for applications to play.  Expect this to happpen any time from March to May/June for a festival in July/August.  Not all festivals put out calls for applications because they already get loads without chasing people, so do a bit of homework and look through a festivals' web pages/blogs/facebook from the previous year- if they don't put out calls, then send them your EPK /details around April/May.   

 

3) Put together a decent electronic press kit (EPK) that you can quickly and easily send out to bookers and that is acessible from your band website/facebook page.  Make it very, very easy for a booker to see what your band is about.  Images of lots of punters enjoying your band are better than lots of pictures of your band playing their instruments.  When calls for applications go out, send your EPK with a brief email that includes your contact details (assuming you are the band 'manger'), where you're located, how many are in the band and the type of music you play (disco covers/polynesian funk/Tibetan goat folk/whatever).  When applications come in, bookers have about  3 minutes to check out each application, so don't waste time with waffle/bigging yourself up, they just need the facts so they can put you in the 'possible' pile rather than the no/TLDR pile.  Bookers will often approach applications with a brief e.g. 'I need a folk-punk band to do 40 minutes at 2:30 on the Friday and who will play for expenses' - so that's the sort of information you need to provide them with.  Finally, and this shouldn't have to be said....but make sure the band is actually available to play at the festival you've applied for, as if an offer comes in for a Friday afternoon slot, that is not the time to tell them you can't do it.   If you can't do the Friday afternoon for that particular festival, then say so in your email/application.     

 

4) Be realistic about how much you'll get paid.  Every festival has a budget and the lower down the bill you are, the less of that budget there will be for your band.  Decide as a band what the minimum you are prepared to pay for is.  It doesn't have to be the same for each festival - you may be happy to play Pole Harbour for a couple of drinks tokens each to get on the bookers list of bands for the following year, but want travel expenses  and camping for a festival in Devon.   Both are fine, but have that conversation with the band before you apply, not when the booker is waiting for you to confirm an offer.   

In my experience, bands who are easy to work with and bands who are d**ks cost the same money, but bands who are d**ks only get paid once.  The easier you are to book and work with, the more likely you are to get booked again for better money.

 

Dave

Edited July 8 by TheRev

[Lozz196]

Very good points there Dave, especially the last. 

[Marky L]

On 08/07/2024 at 14:30, TheRev said:

Unless you're regularly pulling 100s of punters to venues, festival bookers aren't going to be asking you to play, but they will be looking to fill slots lower down the bill, so you job is to let them know you exist and to make it easy for then too book you, and that requires a fair bit of prep work:

 

1) Put together a list of festivals you'd like to play.  Be realistic about where your band fits into that festivals' profile, music style and clientele and whether you have a snowball's chance of getting booked.   I play at (and work for) festivals in Dorset a lot, and the following festivals are the better known 'non-specialist genre'/general punter type festivals close to you:

Poole Harbour festival

Swanage Carnival

Teddy Rocks

Weymouth Quayside

DorsetFest

Chesil Rocks.

Plus, there's tons of village fete type litte 'festvials' around every weekend during the summer.

 

2) Once you've picked your festivals, follow them on Facebook or wherever so that you get a heads up when they put out a call for applications to play.  Expect this to happpen any time from March to May/June for a festival in July/August.  Not all festivals put out calls for applications because they already get loads without chasing people, so do a bit of homework and look through a festivals' web pages/blogs/facebook from the previous year- if they don't put out calls, then send them your EPK /details around April/May.   

 

3) Put together a decent electronic press kit (EPK) that you can quickly and easily send out to bookers and that is acessible from your band website/facebook page.  Make it very, very easy for a booker to see what your band is about.  Images of lots of punters enjoying your band are better than lots of pictures of your band playing their instruments.  When calls for applications go out, send your EPK with a brief email that includes your contact details (assuming you are the band 'manger'), where you're located, how many are in the band and the type of music you play (disco covers/polynesian funk/Tibetan goat folk/whatever).  When applications come in, bookers have about  3 minutes to check out each application, so don't waste time with waffle/bigging yourself up, they just need the facts so they can put you in the 'possible' pile rather than the no/TLDR pile.  Bookers will often approach applications with a brief e.g. 'I need a folk-punk band to do 40 minutes at 2:30 on the Friday and who will play for expenses' - so that's the sort of information you need to provide them with.  Finally, and this shouldn't have to be said....but make sure the band is actually available to play at the festival you've applied for, as if an offer comes in for a Friday afternoon slot, that is not the time to tell them you can't do it.   If you can't do the Friday afternoon for that particular festival, then say so in your email/application.     

 

4) Be realistic about how much you'll get paid.  Every festival has a budget and the lower down the bill you are, the less of that budget there will be for your band.  Decide as a band what the minimum you are prepared to pay for is.  It doesn't have to be the same for each festival - you may be happy to play Pole Harbour for a couple of drinks tokens each to get on the bookers list of bands for the following year, but want travel expenses  and camping for a festival in Devon.   Both are fine, but have that conversation with the band before you apply, not when the booker is waiting for you to confirm an offer.   

In my experience, bands who are easy to work with and bands who are d**ks cost the same money, but bands who are d**ks only get paid once.  The easier you are to book and work with, the more likely you are to get booked again for better money.

 

Dave

 

All those down my way