Today I have a guest post from Celeste AKA GalaxCgirl. Celeste performs as GalaxCgirl in Asheville, NC and the surrounding area where she combines her DJ set with live visuals. Celeste was actually sent to my post about booking your own live shows after she made a similar rant on her facebook page. (Thanks J-Mo!) She came to my site and left and comment. After talking with her a bit, I thought it’d be great if she could share her thoughts here. Below, Celeste shares her thoughts about how to make it easier to get booked by adding value to your music scene. Check it out here.

Enjoy the guest post and leave your feedback and comments below.

So you wanna get booked to play? While I have never wanted to call myself a promoter, ok, I admit…I do make some bangin parties happen sometimes, lol. And I get A LOT of people hitting me up wanting me to book them so I can only imagine how many inquiries people who do call themselves promoters get.

So some things to consider as a random DJ asking to get booked:

Talent aside, there are a million other acts with extreme talent lining up to be booked so it only makes sense for someone who busts their ass with the blood, sweat, and tears of countless hours of real back breaking, hair splitting, finger numbing work to organize and promote a party, to book someone who appreciates the hard work and dedication it takes and will help the party go off beyond just dropping in for their scheduled set. Unless you are way huger than you think and attracting gobs of fanatics who can’t get enough of you by the mere whisper of your name, what can you do to enhance the party? What else do you bring to the table?

Do you have an online presence? Are you even promotable? If you have NOTHING online and don’t even promote yourself how can anyone else promote you? But if you’ve made it past that genius step and do have some kind of even tiny presence to be promoted, why should they promote you and tell all their people about you when they have a ton of friends who also want to be booked but who actually return the favor and do the same for them? Have you shown support? Display excitement for their events? Do you like their facebook pages? Follow them somewhere, anything?

Do you promote yourself and the events you are doing? Do you tell and invite all your friends, post the page, post the flyer, make comments like a professional hype man to get everyone and their mother going out of their minds with anticipation for the best party ever even if they have to drive from Alaska? Will you help hand out flyers at every show to every person despite the mean people who act like you are scum for trying to invite them to a party and put up posters in the freezing cold with your nose about to fall off while your fingers are frozen numb and almost bleeding from not being able to wear gloves as you slap up posters in every possible spot? Then will you go check on these posters and put them back up the next day after they’ve been covered up or the haters have torn them down? If you don’t do that you should at least post it on facebook thirty gazillion times. (QE’s note: Be careful not to burn out your fans & friends on Facebook.)

Do you have anything to add to the party besides your set? Gear, deco, lights, tents, graphics, anything? Will you come help set up speakers and subs that weigh more than an elephant before the party and will you be there at 6 in the morning or the next day to help pack them up even though you are more dead tired than a zombie with it’s head shot off?

Do you also throw parties so you can return the favor of the booking if said promoter is also a performer and would also like bookings? Or will you encourage other promoters you know to book them? Or do you write a blog that you could help out by doing a little write up? Or own a cake shop and could bring a cake? Or a print shop and could print some posters? What else do you have or do that you could apply to enhance the party rather than just using and riding along on others efforts?

Do you come and make the party more hype by sticking around for the other acts, starting up the dance floor early in the night, exuding a vibe of uber awesomeness to inspire everyone to have the time of their lives? Or do you just show up for your set like you’re the only one that matters and possibly play the same tracks the DJ right before you just dropped rather than immersing yourself and becoming one with the party?

Also in initial contact, it helps to be somewhat articulate and include enough info on yourself and what you do – don’t make them go searching for you. Provide links, clickable links -don’t make it hard to check you out when they’ve got a billion other DJs with way more hype and professionalism hoping to get booked.

If you are past the point of “paying your dues” (aka playing for free and doing opening slots over and over til you have a real fan base because you are beyond awesome)(which you might think that you are but you’re actually still not and the harsh reality is that it can take a few eternities sometimes despite how amazing you are), is your price reasonable and flexible? In a lot of cases the DJ should really be paying the promoter for promoting them not the other way around, lol. If you are not bringing a million tons of gear that takes a million hours to rig up and can just mosey in and just plug in like a billion other DJs, you can’t expect an over inflated amount or maybe even anything at all when there is a trillion other expenses to be met until you are someone who is actually attracting the numbers to pull in the amount you want. If you’re not doing something extra or you’re not super famous and someone is paying anything at all, consider yourself very lucky.

Anyways, honestly, just to be straight up, I much prefer to book people who first like my facebook page, have shown me support, love or have promoted me even if it’s only for their own selfish reasons of knowing that supporting me just enables me to support them better, acts who will promote their little hearts out with the understanding that the better the party does, the more fun they will have and better we all do…not people who only think of themselves but people who let the love flow both ways and are willing to put in actual work to party…and I’m sure this goes for most people who bust ass throwing quality events. People who bust ass like other ass busters who return the love as it gets tiring busting ass to carry other’s weight when there’s already so much to do…

Good luck and blessings to everyone and your endeavors. May we all be warriors of ultimate truth shining love and bringing nirvana to the world in everything we do…

Thanks to Celeste for adding her thoughts here. You can find Celeste aka GalaxC Girl at GalaxCgirl.com or connect on her Facebook page.
Pictures from Audible Imagery & SIC Images

5. The End – I’ve played The End just a few times here in Nashville. None of them recently. I did Mashville there way back in 2008; Also BEAT Nashville. And we booked the Holla/Blogworthy joint show there. Speaking of Mashville, I attend frequently. It seems that of all the venues that host it, The End works the best. Just has the right kind of vibe for it, I guess. I’m not going to say it’s hard to get a show there because people play there all the time, right? Anyway, I’ve had nothing but good experiences there with everyone who works there. I wish they had food though Here’s a video of me at the End.

4. 12th & Porter – This place has the lounge and then the big room. If you play the big room, you get the benefit of having “the lights.” I put it in quotations because I can’t readily think of a better light display in a bar/venue in Nashville. With great quality comes a hefty price tag for artists though. All that aside, the people who work there are great. In a town full of artists, they always remember me and are as helpful as possible. For whatever reason though, I can not get people out to see me at 12th & Porter. Why not? don’t you know that I look like THIS when I play there? :

Quiet Entertainer @ 12th & Porter

3. Mercy Lounge – You probably read my last entry about my recent experience at Mercy Lounge. What’s cool about this place, they have great sound and great sound-men. Really nice bartenders and nice manager who seems really in touch with local scene and music overall. And they have a green room behind the stage! If you’re an unknown DJ/performer who doesn’t get to play out of town much, this is pretty cool. Their green room is better than The End’s green room, let me tell you. They have a free music showcase on Mondays called 8 off 8th. And while sometimes it seems like the same bands play it all the time, I could probably say that about ALL the music venues because we’re all here playing the same places. Nobody’s fault but ours. I played 8 off 8th once:

Quiet Entertainer at Mercy Lounge

2. The Basement – I have never had a bad show or experience at The Basement. Only good. Plus it’s located underneath Grimey’s, my favorite record store in Nashville. I’ve never really booked a show there myself; I have only been able to jump onto other people’s shows. Chip Greene, for instance, is an artist in town that has always put me on to shows there. My most recent show there was part of New Faces Nite, a free music show they do every Tuesday night. Here’s a video clip of me at The Basement.

1. The 5 Spot – I haven’t played there in a while, but from what I can tell it’s still the most artist friendly place/experience that I’ve personally had. Very straightforward booking process. Great bar staff. Friendly door-persons. I’ve met a lot of my closest artist friends there. I guess I’m ranking them ahead of other better sounding venues because of overall atmosphere and vibe. I don’t smoke at all but it’s a smoking venue and a lot of people are into that. This is great because you don’t want people outside smoking while you’re playing your set. They might as well be inside watching you while they do it! It’s not for everyone but the 5 Spot is great for artists/musicians who want to have a great show.

Quiet Entertainer @ The 5 Spot

I didn’t mention any of the bars and places on Broadway and downtown. I just don’t go there really. Do you? Where’s your favorite place to see a band in Nashville?

I’m playing a show at The Rutledge on Tuesday night. This is especially significant since I have never played the Rutledge before. I’ve always seen it as one of my final frontiers of venues to play here in Nashville. Alright so come out and see me play at the Rutledge, Tuesday night at 8pm!

I decided to make a list of my Top 6 favorite bands I’ve booked for BlogWorthy shows. This is pretty much a subjective list based on my own personal taste of the music and of the particular performance at the BW show. A lot of bands are being overlooked. That’s unfortunate. Most everyone I booked was actually BlogWorthy. Again, lots of great memories and highlights.

6. James Fate – He played at the first Blogworthy show; He played at the last one. He played at some in between too. He’s been kind of my go-to guy for shows. He’s just really good. He has great written material; but also, he can freestyle rap. He’s a hybrid pop-singer/hip-hop artist. His dominant strength is with the hip-hop. He’s obviously spent a lot of time learning how to interact with the crowd AND stay on point with the emcee flow. You almost have to see it to believe it. Check him out on myspace or youtube.
http://www.myspace.com/jamesfate

5. Molly Jewell – I have a girlfriend who is not Molly. And I love my girlfriend. So I mean no disrespect. but Molly is “da bomb.’ She’s like…two bombs. I first saw her perform at Starbucks. She was incredible. Whether she is just by herself or if she has a full band, she can really connect with the crowd. I think that is the key. I really don’t know if she is really that shy and awkward for real, but the way she plays it is very endearing. And so, when this girl gets up there and then decides to be amazing; you don’t know how to take it. She has a really funny song about being felt up by a doctor? Ok. Well, check her stuff out.
http://www.myspace.com/mollyjewell

4. The Billy Goats – 247, Iller, & DJ Eticut have been talked about and blogged about a lot around town. It was a no-brainer to bring them onto a BW show. The show they played for me was not well attended. I blame myself. Two months prior, we played a show together in the same venue and had 120 people there. Maybe it was too soon? Anyway, they are really good. Sadly, I didn’t get all 3 of them at my show. Wick-It the Instigator was their DJ instead of DJ Eticut. They just released their debut record. Check them out.
http://www.myspace.com/ilovethebillygoats

3. Get Got – Ray, Gary, & Skyler are three of the nicest guys you’ll meet. They performed at the last BW show ever held at Cafe Coco. They are a blend of funk, hip-hop, & electronica; the kind of genre (con)fusion that I always hope to bring to any Nashville show. They brought a lot of people to the show and those people were dancing! In Nashville, that’s a big deal for an indie show. This is kind of how it was anytime I saw them play. So I loved to book them. Check out their online demo; and go see them perform live!
http://soundcloud.com/origthedj/sets/get-got-demo

2. Derrek Phillips’ Manufactory – This has got to be the most skilled band I’ve ever booked. I couldn’t believe that they agreed to do the show! I was so excited. This was another genre fusion band: rock, hip-hop, jazz, electronica, r&b, all that. It wouldn’t be uncommon for Derrek, Paul, & Adam to write a new song as they were performing live. But it never sounded like they were writing. Up until they played the BW show, I felt like I knew this really great secret. Even though Paul wasn’t able to make the BW show, they are the band that I personally have received the most feedback about afterward. I would rank them #1 if not for the next band’s story. But Manufactory is wonderful and you should absolutely listen to them immediately and DEFINITELY see them live!
http://www.reverbnation.com/dpmanufactory

1. Tallest Trees – I just love this band. It’s strange because I think a lot of their influences are bands that I don’t listen to. However when you see them live, you immediately can deduce that this is an ambitious musical effort. I had seen them play a lot before, but by the time they played the BW show (the last one I’ve been able to do at Mercy Lounge); they were a two piece band officially (Thomas & Dabney), plus their drummer (Art). The reasons I put them at number one: They’re probably my favorite local band (note: I don’t consider Paper Route local anymore because they live on the road and haven’t played here in forever). Their BW performance specifically was absolutely brilliant. And what happened after they played was exactly what I had hoped would happen. I started seeing a lot of blogs and tweets pop up about them and the show. That’s really what I’ve hoped for each time I booked one of these shows! Check out Tallest Trees:
http://www.humantrees.com/tallesttrees/

So much great talent in Nashville performs to empty rooms or to indifferent crowds. These Blogworthy shows have just been a way for me to give another platform to a lot of great music that I see live. Plus it always ensured that I’d get to see some of these great bands! BlogWorthy is not dead; I don’t think. I haven’t gotten to do one in a while though. Keep your eyes open for more Blogworthy shows and for more Blogworthy artists and bands!