Festivals are a great way for an unsigned band to get in front of a decent sized audience, but they aren’t easy to get to play, as everyone wants to do it. From the Benicassim Festival in Spain and the wonderful Strawberry Fair in Cambridge to the local folk festival, there are opportunities for artists of all levels.
Picture by Paul Linus Claassen
Here are a few ideas for getting your band in front of a festival audience:
- Start small. You may not get booked for the main stage at Glastonbury but there are numerous other opportunities for bands to play at smaller local festivals. Even at Glastonbury itself there are small stages like Croissant Neuf, Tadpole, Small World, Manadala, Avalon Cafe where unsigned artists can play (although places on theses are also highly prized). Aim for a place on a small niche, local festival first. There are lots of them and the promoters are more likely to give you a chance.
- Apply early. Many summer festivals start booking bands the year before so you need to get in quick. Thoroughly read the application instructions on the site and follow them to the letter. Start looking at getting the festival gigs booked for the summer in January not June (depending on where you live in the world).
- Have a great press kit. There is more info on how to put one together here.
- Be flexible about payment. It is a sad fact that festivals have to work to a tight budget. If you are flexible about how much you will except for payment you have more chance of getting booked. You need to work out if the exposure and the potential CD sales make it worth playing for free. If there are only going to be 20 people there and you have to hire a van and drive 300 miles don’t bother.
- Send them a link to a video. Prove you are amazing live by sending them a link to your fantastic live video (in front of a decent sized audience) as part of your introductory email, it might just swing it your way.
- Apply only for relevant festivals. Your indie rock band is unlikely to go down well at the black metal festival. Don’t waste the promoters time, do your research.
- Have a decent sized mailing list and social media presence. Think about from perspective of the promoter, times are hard and festivals are going under all the time. If you can give them the chance to have an extra few thousand people know about the festival they will be more interested. Tell them if you have a few thousand people on your mailing list, it can make a big difference to how seriously they take your band. Send a link to your Live Unsigned profile so they can see how many gigs you are doing.
- Volunteer to help. If its a small community festival get involved yourself. Offer to help out and you’ll find it a lot easier to get on the bill.
- Festival promoters often aren’t regular promoters. Often organisers of small festivals only put on one gig a year. Find out the names of the people who are running the festival (don’t start an email with Hi!) and personalise your email. Make an effort to get to know people and these relationships will give you a lot more chance of getting a gig. It is all about who you know (and how hard you work and how good your music is).
- Follow up, but don’t be annoying. A few weeks after submitting your details contact the promoters again to make sure they got your press kit.
Festival gigs are always tough to get, by approaching them in the right way you’ll have more chance of getting the gig. All of the above will only work if your music is great. You need to be confident and amazing live before you start playing at festivals.
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Tags: DIY Musicians, festival gig, festivals, Gigs, How to, playing live, Top Tips
