Veils Posted November 16, 2009 Share Posted November 16, 2009 Last night I played at a friends wedding with 4/5 of my current band. We were all a little apprehensive about doing it at first as we were asked to include tunes like Crazy In Love by Beyonce and Toxic by Britney Spears. When we actually got down to arranging them how we wanted to, it was such fun! We then decided after an enjoyable night that we might as well give it a shot at actually doing it more often, so can anyone on here who is in a function/wedding band offer me some tips on how to do it well and more importantly, how to go about putting your name in the frame for getting gigs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crez5150 Posted November 16, 2009 Share Posted November 16, 2009 There are quite a few threads here if you search..... A few of us here are fairly successful in the Function/Wedding market..... I'm afraid it's not as easy as just putting your name in the frame for gigs...... It's a lot of self promotion, time and money to be successful. The one thing I will say (Again as I always do....!!!) Please please please please do not undersell yourself..... Think of yourself as a service provider rather than a band.... treat it as a proper business as that's the market your selling into.... put money aside from each gig that you play in order to plough some back into your business. Advertising, Flyers, Wedding shows etc..... all cost a lot of money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RayFW Posted November 16, 2009 Share Posted November 16, 2009 Adding to what crez said, in my experience it takes a lot of time, effort and money for it to pay off. I formed an 8 piece wedding/function band 18 months ago and we've been gigging regularly for reasonably good money for around 12 months. Only now are we starting to break even because of all the costs involved in promotion and investment in PA etc. We've had to shell out for photos, studio time for a demo, wedding fayres, flyers and promo packs, website and Google adwords, insurance, PAT testing etc. etc. and it all mounts up and takes a lot of time to manage properly. I think a good place to start is getting a decent website and paying for Google adwords to generate traffic. The costs can quickly mount up though - we're currently paying nearly £1 per click. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teej Posted November 16, 2009 Share Posted November 16, 2009 Red Jackson do a lot of functions of different sorts - weddings, parties, corporate promotions, charity balls and fundraisers. Much more than we do pub/club/restaurant/venue/festival work. We're a bit different - we play a mix of blues/rhythm'n'blues from the '30s-'50s with a jazzy, swingy, hepcat feel; and we arrive with minimum kit. We can fit into extremely small spaces and play pretty quietly if we need to (big gigs will usually have a crew dealing with pa, lights etc). Pretty much all our work comes from people who've seen us working as street performers. Most of these will have picked up a business card ('free' from vistaprint, as is most our printed material), and/or bought a CD, and then checked out our website. (OK, so there's three tips - get yourself a good website; promo material doesn't need to be expensive, but you need it, and it needs to be good; and you need a CD). I wouldn't recommend our approach to everyone: the drummer and I are seasoned professional buskers with over 15 years of experience, and our material is street-friendly. But some of it will apply. Think about presentation. We know several other good busking outfits who are nowhere near as successful as us in this field; certainly material comes into it - our stuff is 'cooler', thus more up-market - but also we're more approachable than, say, 2 guys dressed as hard-core rockabillies complete with facial tattoos, or a soloist going for the 'blues-hobo' look. How you work out your image is down to you, there are threads here about that. You're entering a field with a LOT of competition, and you'll need an angle to make yourselves stand out. Ours is partly our material - we're not doing the funk/soul/pop covers thing. You are, so what's your angle going to be? You should find lots of info in various threads here - I don't always agree with some of it, because my band works in a very different way to most (our 'angle') - but for a band starting out and with mainstream (no insult intended) material, much of it will be sound. Good Luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldGit Posted November 16, 2009 Share Posted November 16, 2009 +1 on the above. You have to treat it totally differently to gigs in pubs, clubs etc. Here's the "tips for paying weddings" thread. Well worth reading it all the way through [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=5436&st=0&p=56924&#entry56924"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=...amp;#entry56924[/url] and here's my "how to do a function band website" thread. PM me for more info [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=142&st=0&p=936&#entry936"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=...6&#entry936[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veils Posted November 16, 2009 Author Share Posted November 16, 2009 Thanks very much for this guys! I do appreciate a lot of what is being said here and while I've done pretty well with "originals" bands for my relative youth, I realise I am entering a field where I know precious little, but I am aware it will need good promotion which costs! Agreed as well on that we are going with mainstream (no insult detected ) material but we are trying to play around with arrangements where applicable. Whether this is what we use as a selling point or not, this is where my lack of knowledge could be an issue Will get reading on the above though, many thanks again guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldGit Posted November 16, 2009 Share Posted November 16, 2009 [quote name='Veils' post='655751' date='Nov 16 2009, 10:36 AM']Thanks very much for this guys! I do appreciate a lot of what is being said here and while I've done pretty well with "originals" bands for my relative youth, I realise I am entering a field where I know precious little, but I am aware it will need good promotion which costs! Agreed as well on that we are going with mainstream (no insult detected ) material but we are trying to play around with arrangements where applicable. Whether this is what we use as a selling point or not, this is where my lack of knowledge could be an issue Will get reading on the above though, many thanks again guys![/quote] +1 on don't under price yourself. [b]Minimum[/b] fee is £100 per person plus £100 for the band coffers, plus expenses. Make sure you are polished and ready before gigging though... Your Unique Selling Points points will have little to do with the arrangements of the material you are playing, or the material itself if it's mainstream (nod's to Teej). There will be at least 2 million other function bands within driving distance of every gig you get an enquiry for who will be playing more or less the same stuff, give or take a tune or two. Check their websites for set lists. That's what works at weddings. What sells function bands is outstanding professionalism portrayed through your marketing material and a big handful of other people saying how fantastic you are, in person and as testimonials on your marketing material. That and actually being great entertainers for audiences consisting of toddlers, disaffected tanagers, 20-60 ravers and grannies... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veils Posted November 16, 2009 Author Share Posted November 16, 2009 Just been having a read of some of the other stuff on those threads. Very useful info So useful I have sat at my desk doing nothing for an hour....oops......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.