Tag: magic business

Video Showcasing…

I’m home now from a booking conference I was at earlier in the week. One of the things that happens at these are video showcases. These are up to three minute videos that play usually in between the live act showcases. There were a couple of good video showcases and a lot of bad ones.

The number one thing about a video showcase is to use still images sparingly and use them with purpose. One of the showcases I watched was of a musician who does a roving act and he does a lot of audience engagement and pulls around a wagon that looks really cool. His video was all still images with him singing a song played over. It didn’t really give any context to what he does or how a buyer would use it.

The next worst thing is to play a video of you playing a gig. One person played a video him that had bits of several songs, but they were all at the same venue. It was visually boring. At least have several venues…and record them from the soundboard, they audio will turn out much nicer and easier to listen to.

Another thing is that news footage is great…but trim out all the stuff that’s not you! One act had a nice news clip, but they kept in the intro of the two newscasters bantering about the weather or whatever at the beginning, essentially wasting the buyers time for 15 seconds. Then they left in the extro of the two newscasters banters about what was coming up next, once again wasting the buyers time.

The final thing is you don’t need to use the full 3 minutes (or whatever the max is) for your video. If you can tell the buyers what you need in 75 seconds, great…you don’t need to bore them with redundant info for the remaining time. Trimming out the fat is key!

Those are some tips if you are putting together a video showcase or making a sizzle reel!

-Louie

Gig To Gig…

When I was first starting out performing full time, I would have to hustle every gig individually. That’s a lot of work. One way my business has changed is that I book the majority of my gigs at showcases and trade shows and this is my preferred way to book. If you don’t know what … Continue reading “Gig To Gig…”

When I was first starting out performing full time, I would have to hustle every gig individually. That’s a lot of work. One way my business has changed is that I book the majority of my gigs at showcases and trade shows and this is my preferred way to book.


If you don’t know what a showcase is, it’s where you do a short bit of your show for people who can book you. The goal is after they see your show, they’ll book you. The nice thing about the booker actually seeing your show is that they will have a better idea of whether or not your show will be right for their event.


The other way I love booking shows in trade shows. What I like is that I can talk about their event, but also do a short demo if needed. Also there’s a ton of people that can book, and you book a lot of shows in a short amount of time. Another bonus of booking this way is that you can do all of the office work (contracts, etc) in one sitting, instead of spread out over time.


I want to be clear that I do book single shows that come in, however the majority of what I book are at showcases or trade shows. Having multiple ways that shows come in is a good thing.