How Bands Should Write an Inquiry Letter to Book a Show
There are people in the world who make your job easier and those who make it harder. In order to write a successful booking inquiry, you need to be the former—be the band that makes the booker’s job easier.
This isn’t rocket science, but it should take some brain power to produce. If you are zapping off your booking inquiry from your cell while riding your bike and checking the waves, you are not giving it enough attention.
In order to get into the zone, I humbly suggest you set aside an hour and put yourself in the booker’s shoes. Assume that they have never heard of your band and that your e-mail will end up next to 30 other similar requests awaiting their fate.
Get straight to the facts: What does your music sound like live? When do you want to play? What kind of crowd do you draw? What will you do to make this show a success? Don’t waste time trying to explain that there is no other band that sounds like you (there is) or try to convince someone to just “believe you” when you say your band is great (they won’t).
Instead, lay out the essentials and make an offer too good to refuse.
The following is one example of a straightforward booking inquiry that probably wouldn’t hurt the booker’s head upon reading it.
Dear (Insert venue booker name here),
ABC band is interested in booking ABC venue on June 4. We are a four-piece band (guitars, bass, drums, vocals) with a female lead singer. We have been described as power pop and trash-rock revivalists. Our music could be compared to early Kinks or the Strokes. You can listen to song samples at www.MySpace.com/ABCband or www.ABCband.com.
Our last show was on Monday, January 12, and we drew 50 people to the ABC Bar. If we play a weekend night, we are confident we will draw more than 100 people. We have a local Santa Cruz mailing list of 100 contacts as well as a MySpace page with 500 fans, a Facebook page with 200 fans and 50 followers on Twitter.
We will have a flier produced within two weeks of our show confirmation. We will print 100 copies and distribute them to local record stores, coffee shops and UC Santa Cruz.
We have a relationship with A SECOND band and A THIRD band and feel that we would make a powerful package that will sell out your venue.
We appreciate your consideration and would be happy to bring by our current CD and press kit if you are interested.
Thanks, ABC Band
Contact Info
Band Website
For a complete breakdown of a sample inquiry request, go to
http://santacruzrehearsalstudios.wordpress.com/category/how-to/
Up next: “It’s Not Easy Being Green: How Local Bands Can Rock the New Catalyst Green Room.”
