Booked: festival edition
Every year, fans worldwide grow eager as festival season approaches to see if their favourite artists make the lineup. From hiring the top entertainers in the world to headline to hiring artists just making their way into the industry, festivals are the perfect way to get your head in the game. Festival lineups are usually created by the people who work behind the scenes almost half a year to a year in advance. With the innovation of social media, festival curators pay close attention to artists in all genres, providing a wide range to get as many people to attend their festival as possible while giving artists a chance to shine. Some curators have even resorted to social media platforms with a voting poll to really get their audience involved. It would definitely be an amazing opportunity to have a booker reach out to you to perform, but sometimes you just have to try first and reach out to them. So how can you get a placement on the lineup for an upcoming festival?
Framework for Shows
First, you need to be able to stand out with your content and show that your live performances are memorable. Starting off with practice at shows and events can help you better your performance and excel in the areas you may feel you need to work on. Engaging with your audience is another big thing that bookers look for. Saying that, festival bookers are searching for the most ideal entertainers to attract an abundance of people, you need to make sure that your live performances are something that will go down well in their books. From engaging with your audience, having cool visuals, and performing some of your most popular songs, you can knock out a killer live performance in no time. Building the framework for your shows from the beginning of your career will help you get booked often as you grow.
Submit on Time
Festivals bookers have their eyes on next year’s lineup as soon as the festival is over. Always wanting to set the bar year after year, their calendar moves quickly to make sure they have the best lineup yet. Keeping that in mind, it’s beneficial to check up on deadlines and create a calendar full of submission deadlines for your desired festivals. Don’t let the opportunity that could shift your career slip out of your hands because of a submission deadline mistake.
Details Matter
It’s also important that when you do reach out to bookers, to research the festival first. Ask yourself a few questions regarding the size, costs, and benefits. As a rising entertainer, you may be on a budget and have to make sure that the costs of the festivals don’t hurt you more than they benefit you. Ask yourself if your booking fee covers enough of your costs and if the festival you would like to perform at welcomes submissions from artists without agents. Preparation for your submission includes creating an artist bio for yourself to send to the festival bookers. In the bio, make sure to include how your music sounds, your influences, highlights in your career, and more relating to your content. This artist bio will not only help you to get in contact with the festival bookers, but will also benefit you with future sponsors, shows, and more. As you grow, you can keep adding to the bio, but keep in mind to include the important details.
Strong Content
Add in your songs next, but make sure that the quality of even the few tracks that you send over are impressionable. Sending in a few links from tracks on SoundCloud or Bandcamp can work too. Along with your work, attach a few links to any press coverage you may have had whether its a review from Pitchfork or a feature in playlists on Spotify or Apple Music. If you have any videos of you performing live, send those in as well. As mentioned before, of course, your content matters, but your live performances are what will entice bookers even more. Having a strong social media presence will definitely boost you into the eyes of bookers. Many bookers look for artists who are creating a buzz and have a solid audience. From your posts, they can also tell how serious you are about performing and being an entertainer as well.
Keep in mind that initially, it’s going to be a tad difficult to get added to the lineups of huge festivals. Contacting festivals in your area can be a start and remember, it’s all about building and growing your stage presence that will blow the promoters even to these large festivals away sooner or later. Keep submitting your work every year and in between that time, make sure that you’re only making your accomplishment list and content stronger. It’s all attainable, but all depends on your efforts towards it.