Music Industry

How To Book Shows as an Independent Artist (An Honest Guide)

01 March 2024 by Gaetano
how to get booked for shows by building an online presence

In this article, I am going to explain how to get booked for shows as an independent songwriter. Follow these steps, and you’ll get booked without even trying.

Are You The Moth, Or The Flame?

Be the flame that attracts the moth, not the moth that chases the flame.” – Giacomo Casanova

Sadly, I used to be a moth. Blind, confused, and desperate to share my talents.

I like so many others, allowed myself to be taken advantage of by sleazy music industry parasites.

When I was 19 years old, one so called major “producer” actually tried to get me to co-sign a luxury car for him just based on the fact that I had a squeaky clean credit score.

Then I realized: I don’t chase women, so why am I chasing the industry?

I have enough talent. All I need to do is build a movement, focus on creating online content, and people will catch on organically.

With social media and the internet becoming such a prevalent instrument, I decided to stop chasing and start attracting.

Here’s how I got booked for my first international show without trying.

YOU WON’T GET BOOKED FOR SHOWS WITHOUT TALENT

gaetano video header

Let’s face it – everyone’s “talented” these days. Almost every person you meet (especially in New York) does something related to music.

They’ll hit you with the classic “let’s work” line…

“Oh you sing? Yeah, yeah, I sing too” Or my favorite, “Oh you sing? I rap and shit. We gotta work fam!”

The reality behind all of that chatter and noise is that most of the aspiring artists, rappers, and producers you meet are amateurs.

They are so eager to get out into the world and chase their dream, but they didn’t invest enough time and effort in developing their craft.

You must have a rock solid foundation before you can build a house…

Many people do not know how far I’ve come. I used to suck. Well, maybe not suck, but surely not as polished as I am now.

I promise you, I didn’t just step into my home recording studio one day and start recording full records. And I didn’t publish 3 songs and immediatelly got a record deal.

I also promise you, that I definitely didn’t just pick up a guitar one day and start ripping solos. As we all know, labels used to have an artist development budget.

You have to invest and develop yourself!!!

Related Read: Check out the best recording studios in NYC

On the singing tip, I’ve invested thousands of hours (and dollars probably) of my own money and time into professional vocal training.

Fortunately, I was able to learn from one of the greats, a legend in the game, Craig Derry.

On the guitar tip, I’ve never had one lesson. That was all passion and drive. When I was a kid growing up, my boys on the block would be playing football and stick ball in the streets. Guess what I was doing? I was in my room teaching myself how to play the “Eruption” guitar solo by Eddie Van Halen.

VISUAL BRANDING – CREATE AN OFFICIAL WEBSITE

Music Industry & Digital Marketing Insights | Gaetano DiNardi

This is the easiest way for a booking agent to know you’re the real-deal legit. Mine, in the example shown above, is nothing really too extravagant. It’s simple, slick, effective, and communicates my musical style within the design elements. Websites are very affordable and easy to create in today’s advanced technical world. There’s really no excuse if you don’t have your own website in 2015. The reason why so many artists fail to have their own official site is either because they are flat out lazy, or because they don’t have any valuable assets to put on their website to begin with. For me to create my site, I had to do a lot of work first.

  • Get a professional bio written
  • Take a professional photo shoot
  • Create a full EP
  • Shoot music videos
  • Find a designer to create a logo and visual branding elements

So let’s get back to the amateurs for a minute. Aside from their music being bad, there’s a dozen other things that are bad too. Bad visual branding, no personal website, inconsistency across social media profiles, low quality videos, non-existent online following, no e-mail marketing, etc. Being on point with all of these digital assets are what sets you apart from mediocrity. Before I started blasting my music out, I made sure I had a music marketing strategy in place and all of these assets ready to go.

Just think of it from a booking agent’s perspective. There needs to be a central online hub where a regular person can go to learn everything about you and your artistry. It has to be highly professional and modern. You’re competing with hundreds of thousands of other artists out there. Don’t expect to get booked for anything if you’re using your personal Facebook page as your primary method of displaying your art to the world.

USE SOCIAL MEDIA TO ATTRACT BOOKING AGENTS

gaetano instagram

Let’s just be real right now – numbers matter. Booking agents and venue managers want to see that you have a movement.

They’re gonna check your following. That’s not the only thing that matters though. They also want to see that you’ve been on your grind.

They’re gonna meticulously scroll through your photos and videos.

They want to see activity – things like posts of your recent performances, music videos, studio sessions, covers, interviews, press mentions, etc.

You can have a few posts here and there, and by that I mean things that aren’t directly related to your music.

One of my favorite things to do is post pics of cool locations that I’m visiting, or a family pic every now and again.

The trick is to be consistent, yet without being too overtly promotional. And don’t forget to engage back with your supporters!

YOUTUBE: INVEST IN HIGH QUALITY VIDEO PRODUCTION

This should be a no-brainer, but This is often a big fat goose egg for a lot of artists.

The reason why YouTube is difficult to utilize is because you can’t just throw random 15 second video clips up there.

It doesn’t work like Facebook or Instagram.

You actually have to put effort, time, money, and work into a high quality video production.

Booking agents are likely to check out your YouTube to see what kind of action you have going on.

Please don’t have an iPhone video of you singing in your bathroom as the featured video.

Also, notice my YouTube banner. I just released a new project, “Acoustix,” so my YouTube banner reflects the album artwork.

YouTube channel branding is an important aspect that often gets overlooked or lost.

For YouTube, timeliness is also super important.

For example, I released my Ed Sheeran “Thinking Out Loud” remix way after the original song came out.

By the time I put out my video, all the organic search freshness was lost because too many other high authority YouTube channels with more views and more subscribers already put their covers out before me.

SMART PROMOTION: UTILIZE BLOGS

how gaetano got booked for shows you know I got soul

This was the article that helped me get booked. S/O to YouKnowIGotSoul.com!

Imagine if Starbucks came out tomorrow for the first time and started blasting “Drink Our Coffee” on their social media.

Besides mentioning that it’s $4.00 for their smallest size latte, who in their right mind would care to go and drink their coffee just based off of that? Music is no different. You have to present a story first. Get to know people and build relationships! Then and only then, will they MAYBE start to care about you.

You don’t need a music publicist to build a great relationship with a lot of press & media. Genuine and professional interactions in person and email is enough to get started.

I BECAME THE FLAME

I’m not a multi-platinum artist by any means, but I’ve made it to the point where I don’t go looking for that many opportunities anymore. I’ve built up a credible reputation, and payed a lot of dues. Opportunities just seem to be falling into my lap somehow. One day, I get an email from a booking coordinator that I’ve never met or heard of. Here’s what the email to me looked like:

Orphee Email

Not gonna lie, I thought this was a scam at first. I’m the ultimate skeptic, and someone offering to pay me to go to Canada and perform is not something that happens everyday. I ended up doing my due diligence, and it all checked out. These guys were legit. It ended up being an amazing experience and I’m really glad it happened. It was super refreshing to receive so much LOVE from an international crowd. I guess I’m just so used to the grump and bitterness of New York, but this was the first time ever that I performed and not one person from the audience approached me with “Let’s Work.”

Special word of advice: Learn some of the native language wherever you’re performing at! Being that Canada is largely French speaking, I practiced a few phrases in French so I can speak to the non-English portion of the audience, and it payed off. They really appreciated the fact that I was cultured and respectful enough to attempt a few sentences in French.

GETTING BOOKED FOR SHOWS IS HARD WORK

My heart still pounds against my chest cavity like a drum whenever I walk onto that stage. It still feels like I’m about to make love to a woman for the first time. It’s an intimate moment – Just me, my guitar, the mic, and the audience. My hands are creating real vibrations through the guitar strings which are electrically amplified into the stands. There’s nothing like it. I’m blessed that I don’t need a full band, background singers, audio tracks, or a huge production to do my thing. All I did to prepare for this show was grab my passport, pack some clothes, throw my guitar over my shoulder and hit the road.

Gaetano - Fabe Fest 2


Gaetano is a Miami, FL 🌴 based songwriter, music producer and growth marketer. As he grinds through the music industry, Gaetano is documenting his experiences and sharing his story through his brutally honest articles.


2 Thoughts on How To Book Shows as an Independent Artist (An Honest Guide)
    How I Got Booked For An International Show Without Trying | The Pros and Cons of Technology
    14 Dec 2015
    8:27pm

    […] Source: How I Got Booked For An International Show Without Trying […]

    Kiersten
    25 Mar 2016
    3:35am

    I couldn’t resist commenting. Exceptionally well written!

      Gaetano
      16 Sep 2016
      5:45pm

      @kiersten – Thank you!

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