Cheryl B. Engelhardt » Paying Gigs

Bodies, Butts, Ears

Cheryl — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 16:06:31 +0000

Here’s a little piece on how I aim to get bodies through the door, butts in the seats, and all ears on the music!

When I first started performing and recording my own music, I went through a phase where I could pack your average-sized singer/songwriter venue. My new career was a novelty to all of my friends and family and it was easy to fill the seats. But like novelties are notorious for doing, this one wore off. Then I had to start working for the crowd. But I didn’t know it. So a few years of playing for two to fifteen people went by and my confidence plummeted. I figured I just wasn’t good enough, and anyone who DID come to see me was doing me a favor. (SUPER negative and depressing, huh?) I stopped asking for favors and only sent out one email announcing the show to my slowly growing mailing list (we’re talking tortoise-pace here folks) and that was it.

But I got seriously sick of the bite-sized crowds and made myself realize that my performance, good or bad, wasn’t the issue- the issue was that i was afraid to ask people to come… I was afraid of being a burden, that the wouldn’t like me, etc etc. Recognizing this fear was a huge breakthrough and led to the entrance of the next major player in my life: self-promotion.

I have a show tomorrow, with my band, and I want to play for a big crowd more than anything. Besides the obvious emailing, facebooking, and twittering, I’ve gone on to send individual and personal email invitations, made phone calls and got in touch with old acquaintances, colleagues, friends and fans. Anyone who ever bought a CD or showed any interest at all in this music.

At rehearsal last night, I filmed small segments of a new song and made a quick “video-invite” (you heard it here first!) for the show, playing glimpses of what to expect and showing off the goofy band.

And I am writing this article, blogging about my process, hoping you’ll be curious to see if my methods of promotion work for tomorrow night. Well, all i can say is….. come on by to Sullivan Hall and find out!!

Paying Dues- The Relative Minor

Cheryl — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 02:08:14 +0000

I just finished my 5th set of the evening of the 5th day in a row of restaurant/lounge/casino gigs in Switzerland. I took these gigs to fill in the time between “real shows”- ie, performing at real venues with stages and people to listen and buy CDs and to connect with. This week’s shows were what I considered time for rehearsing, refreshing, and refunding. I got to run all my new songs with out worries that anyone was really listening. I refreshed my memory on how to play a bunch of old tunes, and, I was being paid to do this. Really not that bad. If I can look past the angry French chef who literally said “your music is not good, play Beatles” and resist the temptation to blame language barriers (that wasn’t really he meant to say), and if I can look past the unusually low CD sales, perhaps I can say this week was a good thing. In the back of my head, though, I felt like I was paying dues.

The phrase “paying dues” is what I relate to as washing the bathrooms at a recording studio seven years ago, staying late at the editing house to run a Beta tape to the color correction studio four years ago, finding a waitressing job, or keeping my personal training clients. I was “paying my dues” as a novice in the music industry because I wasn’t doing music all the time, exactly how I wanted to. Now that I am touring and composing full time (I say this even though I haven’t quite cut the umbilicord with my personal training clients- that’s another article: being authentic about what’s so), I have assumed I’m “doing it”, fully in the music industry with my music on cds and commercials and documentaries, and a tour schedule that covers thousands of miles. But this week, I think I learned a few things, the most obvious being that “paying dues” is relative. Read on.

This week, I got to know the piano better. I trained my voice to last the entire 4 hour gig. I promised myself never to write another song using a chord progression that resembles iii-VI or switches back and forth with the relative minor + major (take one listen to almost any of my songs and you’ll know what I mean…. it’s embarrassing).

There were bigger things I learned too: that maybe I created the lack of CD sales, the people not listening; I had thought dinner and craps were more deserving of my audience’s attention and thus treated my audience accordingly… I walked in with the attitude that I was there to rehearse, refresh and refund, and nowhere in my energy was the possibility of being inspiring. I walked into these shows with a grain of salt, when I could have given, and left with, a beach. In the past, I was quite good at this; back in the day, the recording studio job was not cleaning toilets, it was learning about patch cables, analog editing, Pro Tools… and all I had to do was wash the bathroom, get tooth brushes for the Bahamen’s late night session and a t-shirt for Mos Def! Easy! Where is that Cheryl?

That Cheryl had no expectations back then. She had no idea what the music industry looked like. Now that I’ve worked in many areas of the biz, perhaps this knowledge has forced me to think that I know the difference between success and paying dues.

Really, what I learned this week, is that I am only paying dues if I say so.

Musicians and Venues: Raising the bar

Cheryl — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 19:07:54 +0000

To all the musicians out there who love music, love their life of music, and love to make a living through music, listen up! I need your help creating a database of venues around the world who appreciate and therefore pay decent guaranteed fees to musicians performing mostly original music. Every musician that participates (which means giving the name and some details about a venue you KNOW pays and treats musicians decently) will gain access to the “Gigs That Guarantee” database. You can plan your next tour by searching the database in any category…. location, region, price per gig, venue type, etc etc. So next time you’re on the road, you’ll be performing for fans AND money, instead of for bookers and venues who only care about ticket prices and drink sales.

I want to make this a really successful and useful database. I want to offer it to musicians who are talented, driven, doing this for a living with honed performance skills. Now, I don’t want these venues to suddenly be bombarded with phone calls from part-time hobbyist performers looking to make a buck. Soooooo what I’ve decided is to offer the username and password for the database (which will live on this site… soon) to any musician who 1. performs for a living and 2. provides the database with at least 2 new venues that pay at least $100 (and this is 100% confirmed and current).

The hope is that word will get around, the database will grow, and venues that are part of the database will be rewarded with more great musicians playing in their spaces. Ideally, other non-paying venues will catch on and start to pay, realizing that quality music has picked up its gig bags and taken its talent elsewhere. Really, this is the magic bean of a giant beanstalk… one that will help raise the bar.

To participate, send an email to info@cbemusic.com with the following information:

City State Country Phone Email Contact Name Website Pay Minimum Genre Capacity Type of Venue

I’d LOVE your thoughts and additions to this Gigs That Guarantee idear. I know there are similar things out there, but nothing that really makes me go “wow, that is so easy to use, and up-to-date!”. Please spread the word about Gigs That Guarantee!!!

Making Money

Cheryl — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 00:10:51 +0000

I used to think that NYC musicians are doomed to playing in clubs that pay $1 per person after the first $50 is collected if you brought more than 40 people. WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN????? Luckily, I have learned that there are gigs out there that pay you decently in exchange for your performance. Simple as that. Some of these gigs are in unexpected places: house parties in peoples’ private homes, ski resorts’ après ski, summer camps, high schools, colleges, restaurants, museums, to name a few. It takes a lot of legwork and a good phone plan but the money is out there, right next to the eager listeners.

Selling CDs is one of the best ways to make money. I have gotten over being embarrassed about announcing that I have CDs for sale . . . shameless plugs are not shameless if you are making money… how are people supposed to know about your great product if you don’t tell them? CDs at live events tend to be more lucrative than CD sales online. But keep directing people to your website… tell them about it in person and direct all of your other websites (myspace, facebook, whatever) to your CD sale site. Also I’ve tried a few gimmicks. Buy 2 get a free poster and sticker, or sign up for the mailing list and get a CD half off, etc etc. I try to be original because everyone else is doing it one conventional way. It seems to be all about catching someone’s eye. Once you’ve won their eye, you have a few seconds to win over their ears, and once you’ve done that, the heart is close behind. Once you’ve won their heart, you’re in, as the heart is directly connected to the wallet.

There’s no shame in supplementing your gig money and CD sales with an additional job. Many musicians feel that they would be shifting focus away from their passion if they found a day job, especially one that wasn’t even related to music. I have found that there are several ways to fluff up the old bank account without compromising my musical integrity. First off, I teach private piano lessons. In just 4 hours a week, I can make half of my rent, and by teaching piano, I have become so much more proficient at my main instrument that I feel like I should be paying them. (Don’t tell them that!) Taking cues from my successful piano lessons, I figured out what else I love, and decided to teach that. In the summer, it’s abs classes, or guiding kayaking tours. Of course, location is important, but finding flexible people to work with you around your busy life is extremely advantageous. Even though I’ve toured for weeks at a time, my piano students enjoy a break and feel they can cancel if they are feeling stressed or scheduling doesn’t work out. I am equally flexible with them, which I believe is the key to keeping my students for the long haul.

There are a slew of in-industry jobs as well, which are great if you’re taking some time to write, or do local shows, or stay in one area for a bit of time. Interning, answering phones, or starting out as an assistant at ad agencies, record labels, jingle houses and recording studios is a great way to learn some industry jargon, get a chance to play with cool technology, and meet critical connections. Advertising agencies are a hub for creative talent- graphic designers, web designers, copy editors, music supervisors. The works. After 3 years of working at a jingle house, I had written music for nationally airing commercials, just by starting as an assistant tech. The connections and recording facility that I had access to were invaluable.

House Concerts: Landing and Sticking the Gig (as seen in Keyboard Magazine Sept’08)

Cheryl — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 23:27:40 +0000

As a touring musician, there’s only one thing better than connecting with an audience of thousands of people…. doing it again. And what I’ve come to realize is that it’s not the number of people that matters, but that connection. Of course, the more people listening and connecting and buying merch means I can keep touring and making this music as my living. But it truly does come down to the one-on-one intimacy that only happens when the audience (one person or ten thousand) has their ears and hearts open, and I wear mine on my sleeve (heart, that is… not ears. That could get messy).
With all that said, I have come to find a nice little niche of music venues where the audience is primed for connectivity . . . living rooms and backyards.

People are making it easier for themselves and their friends, family and colleagues to enjoy good music without having to deal with parking traffic, Ticketmaster fees and binoculars. They are bringing the concerts home.

The way it works is someone (the future host) hears of a musician (for this example, let’s say me) through friends, radio, TV, or the internet. They get in contact with me usually through my website. They either say that they have a private event already scheduled and would like me to perform, or they would like to build an event around a performance. We set the date one or two months out. In between, the host and I get busy (separately). I send the host a few copies of my album so they can share the music for potential guests. The host sends out invitations, sometimes as formal as mailed cards, other times as simple as an email. The host also arranges catering or plans some sort of refreshments.

Meanwhile, I am booking my band (if a band was requested…. oftentimes I play solo to increase the already-busting-at-the-seams intimacy) and working out travel logistics. Hopefully, at the time of the booking, the host and I have worked out a payment plan and I can incorporate my traveling within the budget of the night. Mostly, hosts pay me a flat fee, allowing their guests to enjoy the music and have a choice to purchase CDs and merch. Occasionally, a host will collect money from guests prior to the show or afterwards, or pass a tip jar around. And rarely, a host will purchase a set number of CDs for their guests, guaranteeing me payment for the evening. To be intimate is to be full of possibility, so I stay flexible.

On the day of the party, I show up on time, earlier than the guests so I can set up. I love love LOVE it when the host has a piano in their home; I don’t need to lug mine, AND I get to try out a new piano (hopefully it’s in tune- something I remind the hose a few weeks prior to the party). I then spend some time mingling with the guests, who commonly don’t realize I’m the “entertainment”. For some reason, I think they get more exited when I first sit down at the piano, like “hey! I was just talking to the star of the concert about macaroni and cheese! She’s a real person!” It makes me, as an artist, more accessible. I think I’d feel the same way if I was at a bookstore, casually speaking to someone about her pooch named Sam, who then had to leave the conversation to do a book reading from her new novel on rock climbing in Ethiopia. Sweet.

Anyway, back to the living room. After the host gives me a brief introduction, I play a set of about 40 minutes, mostly playing my original tunes. I always throw in a few familiar cover songs; my Sheryl Crow (makes for great banter- “the other, slightly more famous Cheryl wrote this”), a Beatles song, my jazzed version of a Christina Aguilera tune. Keeping it interesting. I occasionally share what drove me to write a particular song, especially if it’s more unique, like, “I had a girlfriend who asked me why I always write songs about guys and when the heck was she gonna get a song. I could have pulled a Sara Bareilles and said ‘I’m not gonna write you a girl song’, but I did write a song for my girls, and this is it.”

After one set, I take a quick break, allowing the audience a quick meet and greet, more mingling, to grab a desert or drink, and give them the opportunity to “take me home with them”. . . in the form of a CD. I usually play one more, shorter set, keeping things personal and professional and musical, leaving my audience feeling that they shared in something special and creative, that their presence and listening inspired my performance. If that doesn’t result in CD sales and future bookings, I’m playing the wrong game.