Beyond the Bar

I have been a student at the Academy of Arts in Denver, CO for about 5 years now. Since about 2006, I have gained some pretty cool insights on how to find and book venues for a show. Now, as you're probably aware, the most common venue for a new or unsigned band is the "bar gig!" I am not here to tell you how to find a bar gig, because I think that should be easy enough to figure out on your own. I will however make a quick mention that I recently heard some great advice from a man "Bobby Baker" that a bar gig should not be overlooked if your schedule is free because it is PAID REHEARSAL!! If you rehearse by yourself normally, now you have an audience! Never give up an audience!

With that said, let's move on... If you want shows that will help you propel your career "Beyond the Bar" as I plan to do this year with the Blake Marvin band, it seems that you have to first understand who you are targeting, and who in that market has a budget??? In Country/Rock, fair gigs are a great venue that almost always has a decent budget for entertainment. This year, I have found a number of showcases starting with the one in Nebraska called NAFM that I just returned from, and booked some of the first shows for our tour!! I will do several more of these this year to try to fill in a pretty tight tour schedule.

There are also events that do not participate in showcases and some of those include corporate events. For events like these, it's best to try to get hooked in with a "good" agent that is known and trusted in your musical market. This year, I have already seen good interest from several agents, and hope to be using them for my bookings by the later part of this year. My next posting will talk about how to solicit an agent... and have a chance at succeeding! :-) I recently had conversations with some of the top agents in the country for bands like mine, and got some insights on how to solicit an agent, and how to properly showcase. I will share some of this on my next posting.

All for now.. Blake

Make an Org Chart

Org Charts are KEY

Tonight I discovered something that I can already tell will become a vital element to my band's future success. I discovered the concept of an Org Chart.

Just so you know where this is coming from, I was working with my father and my backup singer, Audrey, and we were trying to come up with a simple page for some advertising. I quickly realized that we had too many cooks in the kitchen as too many ideas flared and productivity crashed.

This is when my dad (a past corporate executive) recommended that I devise an org chart explaining each person's role in the band, and the business that is the Blake Marvin band.

I am working on creating this now, and I will post it once complete.

Obviously an org chart is important, but I believe my followthrough and enforcement of the org chart will also be key to keep people on tasks that best suit their abilities and needs of the band.

More on this later...

Day 1 - This is Day 1 of my blog at MyBandBitz.com... It is not the first day of the Blake Marvin band, however. :-)

A little history on me:
- I grew up singing since I was about 5 years old. Whitney Houston was my hero in second grade!
- I began singing professionally (getting paid... something... not much though) at age 17. That was mostly at wedings and funerals and such.
- About 3 years ago, I was given the opportunity to play an opening act for Lonestar at the Chase County fair in Imperial, NE. This marks the beginning of the original Blake Marvin band.
- After getting a taste of what playing big shows was like, I decided to start a band and go on tour.
- The next year, I took my new band on a small summer tour across Nebraska and Colorado and learned a ton.
- Later that year, life got in the road and I had to put the band on hold for a bit.

I will fill you in on more details of the band history later, but the important thing now is that I'm back and raring to go, and I hope my band is because 2010 is going to be the year to remember for the Blake Marvin band!!

Oh yeah... there was this little American Idol thing in there too. :-)