The Gigging Success Podcast With Brad Lazarus

Can you relate to any of these?...“We added our details to their websites but not getting gigs”, “We can’t get any traction with agents”, “How do we crack the apathy from entertainment agents”, “The agents take us on and then hide our brand so all the impact is lost”. In this the first of a two parter we cover multiple strategies to help you overcome all these problems.

At the start of 2014 All Covered Up party band had one booking. Adam, the band leader set himself a target of 20 private event bookings by the end of 2014. Adam smashed that goal. Hear how he managed to do it all while being employed full time .

Being unique and different is critical in a market place that is filled with cover bands and acts that look and sound like their competition. Joe Lee from Party Piano’s made damn sure he didn’t fall into that trap. He cleverly borrowed a unique concept for his band and marketed his way to the success he now achieves. Listen to the podcast to find out how...

One of the biggest challenges for most cover bands is how to not look and sound like every other band out there. It's very easy to fall into 'The Cover Band Commodization Trap'. When you do, you leave your prospective client with no other reason to make their decision on apart from what you cost. That’s bad news for you. Here’s how to overcome the problem and beat your competition to the booking EVEN when you’re more expensive.

Sometimes a band comes a long that makes success look effortless. The Bluejays are one of those bands. BUT don’t think for one minute that the bookings just fall out the sky miraculously. These guys have cleverly used branding, social media, networking and serious organisation to make things happen for them. Check out the podcast to find out how.

If you want well paid gigs with good clients in great venues then you absolutely must have a website. Relying on a Facebook page is just not going to cut it. Your website is your bands home online. It’s where your prospective clients go to make their final decision as to whether they want to book. You need it to show your band off in the best way possible. Dave Cool is Artists Relations Manager at Bandzoogle. They’ve helped over 2500 musicians build amazing websites. He knows a thing or two about websites and shares that with us on this podcast.

The Musicians Union in the UK have a number of initiatives ongoing that are there to help you achieve a fairer deal for your performance. In this podcast we run through all of these in detail as well as covering some key factors involved in how to value yourself as a performer.

If the word ‘sales’ fills you with dread and fear then this is the post for you. That feeling of nervousness, sweaty palms and dry mouth is enough to make you never pick up the phone again. It doesn't have to be that way though. In this post I'm going to walk you through a much softer and gentler approach to selling your cover band over the phone or face to face.

If you're standing on a soap box and yelling about how great your band is, chances are you're losing bookings. Prospects aren't interested in your opinion of your band. They want you to show them clear evidence that real people paid their hard earn cash to have you perform for them at their event. The most effective way of communicating this is through testimonials. The most powerful of all testimonials are video ones. In this post I take you step by step through a system I call the 'Stage Right Technique'. It's a no cost, fast way of producing multiple video tesimonials that'll help you secure more gigs for your band and, done well, at higher fees. Look out for the bonus material in this post.

Running your own small business places massive strains on the time you have available for other things in your life. That doesn’t faze Brad Wills. He’s successfully balancing running a small business with family life commitments while also finding the time to work on marketing his cover band. Listen to this episode to find out how.