I am of the belief that young classical musicians do not need management to launch their careers. After all, the world is so hyper-connected these days with so much information available at the push of a button. From the comfort of my couch, the skytrain in ATL, or an airport shuttle in Portland, I can find out much of the information that I need to publicize myself to the appropriate organizations, in hopes that they will hire me in the future. We are also lucky enough to have the ability to promote our wares via the internet or in print.
I posted a bit of a
BRAGGY BLOG the other day listing my accomplishments from this past performance season. I am immensely proud of each and every concert that I've played this year, but it's been quite difficult at times in the 'extra-musical' aspects of my career management. I will explain. Before I do: after writing this blog and re-reading it, I feel like much of it comes off as downplaying the artistic aspects of a career in music. Please do not misunderstand: I would play every concert for free if that were financially feasible. Unfortunately it is not, and the business side of music is a necessary evil. I am not hard-headed in contract negotiations and often work on a "sliding-scale" for pay. It's just hard to live in the United States (with student loans, rent, and, ya know, food) without an income! But anyway, on to the actual blog!
In my last blog my dear friend
JENNIFER BEWERSE asked how I was able to afford all of the concerts that I played last year (I assume she means travel, hotels, cars, and other expenses related to performing). So I thought I'd talk about gigs that I booked myself: this will be a stream of consciousness blog about booking gigs, the negotiating process, remuneration (though I won't be talking specific dollar amounts), travel arrangements, etc.
My personality has transformed over the past few years from a somewhat uncertain and confused music student to a confident and business-minded professional. This is not the easiest thing for musicians to do. We all have weaknesses and we've been trained to focus on these areas so as to fix these problems. Unfortunately, when we focus on these areas of weakness, we tend to obsess. Eventually the obsession can become a major detriment! It's hard to come off as a confident musician who should be hired when we are killing ourselves in our practice rooms! Looking past that which we stress about in practice rooms is the only way to come off as a self-assured performer. Sometimes confidence comes off in a negative light, as being a cocky jerk. I operate under the "you can't please everybody" principle, but I try to learn from each situation. (sometimes it's a rough road, and try as you might, there seem to always be people who dislike you!)
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| Website screenshot |
Confidence itself can't - and won't - result in performance gigs though. A performer has to promote him/herself. I feel very comfortable in my abilities in this area. About one year ago, I established my
WEBSITE, my little home on the web. The site features comprehensive information about me, including my full-length
BIO, concert
DATES,
AUDIO clips, and social networking pages, such as
FACEBOOK and
TWITTER. You can even find a link to this blog!
The website is my home base. Everything I do, all conversations that I have, all materials I hand out, will somehow mention my website. Audience members who attend my performances will find a program, program notes, and publicity postcards, each with a link to my website listed at least one time. I hand out business cards like they're candy. Again: website is listed.
Concert audiences are a wonderful thing. We need them to come for a few reasons, not the least of which are ticket sales and someone to perform for! I strongly believe in audience engagement - before, during, and after a concert:
Before: people buy tickets to an event because they are interested in something about it. In the case of a concert, an audience member may know the performer, be interested in the music being performed, love the instrument that the performer will play, or any number of things. Getting a ticket holder really excited about the concert is difficult before the fact. It's why I write this blog. I like to talk about what is going on in my head while I'm practicing. I enjoy discussing musical and non-musical aspects of my life. Sometimes, I post things that about my work that I wouldn't write in a program note. Any of these things helps an audience member to personally connect with a performer. Jennifer, mentioned above, once told me that audience members came up to her after concerts and talked about her blog, which they had read before coming to the concert. I've experienced this as well. Sometimes it's a bit surreal to hear someone you've never met talk about how awesome your
PRACTICE ROOM is.
During: I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a fan of talking to the audience during concerts. I write program notes so that I don't have to stumble through a prepared speech. When I get nervous, I talk quickly, I forget things, and I generally confuse everyone. If I don't have a speech memorized, I mess it up. If I do have the speech memorized, it sounds like I'm giving a recitation. Therefore, I try not to do it. That said, I enjoy opening up a bit, tearing down the fourth wall and letting the audience in to my own little performance space. This is also the reason why I really love performing in more intimate and unusual spaces (bookstores, bars, etc.). When an audience member purchased a ticket because they love the cello, I expect that they were hoping to hear solo Bach. When I play works by
DOMINICK DIORIO,
STEVEN KNELL, Ned Rorem, and even Benjamin Briten, I feel the need to connect and explain why this (often crazy and new) music is just as awesome as that of Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms.
After: TALK TO YOUR AUDIENCES! Pack up your instrument, change your shoes, get a drink of water, do whatever you must do immediately after walking off stage, as quickly as possible and run - RUN - to the lobby or common area and talk to each and every one of those who purchased tickets to see you. Hug your mother, shake your uncle's hand, and chat with every person who will talk to you! Explain why you love what you do, why the music you just played is the best-est stuff ever! And hand out business cards. To everyone. Be memorable, be personable, and you will be hired back. Yo-Yo Ma played a concert at the University of Georgia this past season. On the second half he put on and played in a UGA logo t-shirt and the audience loved it. They also loved that he's Yo-Yo Ma, but that's beside the point. In the case of us mere mortals, they might not necessarily remember how you play, but they will absolutely remember how much fun it was to talk to you after the performance!
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| Press kit cover |
When you engage an audience, they come to see you again. When a person in the audience is a promoter, they hire you. When you get hired, you make money and play more concerts. And the cycle repeats itself. The hard part is getting hired in the first place.
Over the past two concert seasons, 2010-11 and 2011-12, I have performed 68 concerts and recitals all over the place. Of these, 47 were in 2011-12. I played - best guess, I'm not checking records - about 20 concerts in which I received no pay. To be frank, it sucks when that happens. In these cases, I had to foot the bill for travel and lodging, food and transportation in the city I was in, and other menial expenses. That said, these 20 pro-bono, publicity concerts garnered 48 more in which I was paid. And those 48 have led to other ventures that will hopefully be just as wonderful. Sometimes, as young artists, it pays to play for free. (and when you have these expenses, everything you do is a business-related tax write off...a different blog all together)
So how to get hired? Marketing, marketing, marketing. Everything I've mentioned thus far - the website, business cards, chatting with audiences/promoters - certainly help. But what else?! Create a press kit. Tell the people you want to be hired by exactly why they should hire you. Explain your purpose, what sets you apart, and what you can do for them. My own press kit is a simple thing (the cover page is shown above, but you can find and download it
HERE under "Informational Materials") that explains who I am (on the "bio" page, that is nothing if not confident…), what I do (explained on the "sample programs" and "activities" pages) and what I've done in the past (via the same "sample programs" and "bio" pages, as well as my "selected repertoire" list). Put all of this information in to a folder (don't staple it!) with a CD sample of your playing and a business card. Ship it!
But who to send it to? For me, this is the difficult part. Who wants to hire Justin Dougherty? (no more third-person narrative, I promise) It's difficult to say. Over the past two years, I've played more unaccompanied recitals than I have quartet recitals and significantly more chamber music than concerto performances (some information: I've played no concerto concerts, as I have little interest in the genre). Therefore, my concerto repertoire is rather small, my solo repertoire - including cello/piano repertoire - quite large and my chamber music - specifically quartet - rep is somewhere in the middle.
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| Dear musicians: play for free! |
I have found that the organizations that are interested in me are non-profits, small concert series, new music consortiums, and universities. I have decided to focus on these areas for the 2012-13 and 2013-14 concert seasons. Getting paid to play after being hired can sometimes be more difficult. The photo over to the right explains it all quite well (from both sides). Sometimes people just don't think they should pay for music and musicians. It's a "hobby" after all. If you rely on performances to pay the bills, it's hard to let a gig go, but if the venue is not willing to pay for your services, you have to weigh the value of a free concert versus one that will give you a paycheck.
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| A poster of mine |
There are many ways to make money on a concert that you may not expect: charge for tickets at the door (a cover charge, if you will), ask for a cut of ticket sales, merchandise/food revenue, or take donations as you perform. None of these are nearly as secure as having a fee set in your contract. This is an area that I am still figuring out on my own, and I'm not much help in that regard.
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| Portion of a press release |
If you choose to leave it to fate - collecting dollars at the door or via donations - for performance fees, then publicity is key. It's so easy to publicize for concerts! Posters at the venue and around town (left), press releases (right) to area news organizations such as daily or weekly newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations are an absolute necessity (check with the specific organization, most have deadlines for publishing that are well in advance of an event).
The website
ZVENTS is an online calendar for events in specific areas, organized much like Craigslist. Often, when publishing to a specific Zvents page - say, San Francisco - the website will automatically publish your listing on other appropriate websites - in the case of San Francisco, calendars for Marin County, San Jose, Oakland, etc. will also show your event. These calendars are frequented by a wide variety of people who may find your concert worth coming to! Newspapers tend to have their own online calendars as well. Publish your concert there as well!
Finally, I have to say that music, besides being an inspirational artistic venture, is a business as well. Sometimes it's not always how good you are, but how relevant and hire-able you are as a musician. To step on to my soapbox: not everyone wants to listen to the above mentioned composers Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms. Sometimes new music is the most relevant and interesting to today's listener and concert-goer. Finding a niche market within music is important and can separate one performer from the clones around him/her. A performer doesn't need to be Lang Lang, Yo-Yo, or Itzhak to make a living in the world of performers. The performer just needs to be an intelligent marketer. /soapbox
That's "all" for now. Hope this was enjoyable, helpful, and not-too-boring!
Until next time,
JD
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