The Young Performers Club has been booking shows for almost ten years, and we continue to be stunned by the lack of seriousness and effort in responding to gig opportunities. Of the 700+ shows we have participated in, there have been commitment issues more frequently than not. It is better to respond you are not available than to not respond at all? People have taken the time to consider you for their show or event, so it is entirely disrespectful and unprofessional to ignore these calls and emails. Why is this important?
- There are so many connections in this industry and you don’t know who is connected to who
- You don’t know what other future opportunities this contact may have for you
- By not responding, you drop down or get deleted on that contact’s prospective performer list
- You create an unfavorable reputation for yourself as a performer and can appear as arrogant, unprofessional, uncommitted and not serious enough
- You create the reputation you are already too busy so people will think twice before they call again
- This type of behavior will not go unrecognized and will be remembered!
It takes minutes to provide a timely professional response either through text, email or leaving a message. An example follows:
Thank you for inviting us to perform at your event. We unfortunately have other commitments on that date, but would love to hear about other performance opportunities you may have in the near future. It sounds like an exciting event to be a part of. Thank you for your interest in having us perform, and we hope your event is successful. I have provided my direct contact information for future reference.
Not showing up for commitments is behavior that is remembered. We have no shows or cancellations moments before show time at many of our competitive showcases, which is very disturbing since it is a spot another performer would have loved to have had.
We get calls frequently for performance opportunities, and contact the performers who we are confident will respond and follow through with their commitments. Many of the gigs are paid gigs and are gigs that will enhance your resume.
We recommend all performers respond within 24 hours, and preferably 12 hours of receiving a call on a performance opportunity. Showing your appreciation for each and every call is extremely important.
At the end of our recent showcase one band, came up and thanked me for doing the show and then all members shook my hand and showed how appreciative they were to have been a part of the event. Believe it or not, this is not a common occurrence. It really made the day that much more special knowing how much it meant to them to be a part of the showcase.
Every call you make, and text or email you send matter. Put some thought into them and say “thank you” any opportunity you get.
Once you get on the back of the list, you will have to battle your way back to the front of the list. Many artists, decline all unpaid gigs and so much as tell you they only do paid gigs. This is very narrow thinking as some of the biggest gigs you can do can be unpaid. Those types of gigs can have a significant impact on your resume and could result in other referral opportunities.
Don’t be one of the “he/she is hard to get a hold of” type performers! How you manage your engagement opportunities is as important as your talent itself.