[Dixielandjazz] Band Bookings

[TCASHWIGG at aol.com]

I have all of his directories and all of his festival data base and a whole 
lot more , it took me three years to correct all the misinformation and update 
his directories.  You can actually get all the information online by searching 
the festivals Internationally.

Jan has been trying to perfect this for many years, but he is in Poland, and 
it has been a hobby for him, He is a nice man and tries very hard, but the 
ever changing information business is very difficult to keep up with. Especially 
when you are selling printed directories that are  outdated by the time they 
come off the press.   I would reccomend using his online service before buying 
the directories in hardcopy or doing the mass email campaign he offers which I 
don't think would be very effective for most OKOM bands.  The last time I 
spoke with him he did not have a Disc copy of the directories available.   If he 
did and it was in an editable format I would buy it so I could make the 
changes and use it, however my own booking data base is far bigger and expansive 
than his now so I don't really need his.

Getting the information is very time consuming and hard work, but if you 
don't really know what to do with it when you get it you are wasting your time.   
You still have to be VERY GOOD package your self and present yourself in such 
a manner that you stand out above  thousands of others who want to do the same 
thing, and then move in on the festivals sell and close the dates.  That's 
the Hardest part until they have made up their mind that they really want your 
show.

Some of his stuff is good and some of it is useless as in all directories, I 
would not take much stock in his offer for sending out plain text emails to 
these festivals, they generally end up in the spam files.  His information 
averages a 30-40% ERROR RATE and often is not corrected and updated for several 
years which is very frustrating when you try to use it.

A couple of years ago I checked my own information in his database and 
discovered that it had not been updated in five years even though I was buying all 
of his directories annually.

Make no mistake about it.  Creating and maintaining a large data base is very 
time consuming and costly and when you hire others to do the data input and 
they make errors it is very bad because you do not know they made the errors 
and print the books anyway.

I think the online databases work much better and can be changed quickly for 
updates and deletions when festivals and events change or go out of business, 
which they do every year all over the world.

In 2005 I expect to make available a new marketing service for Bands using my 
data base of Festivals, Events, Concert, Promoters, Jazz publications and 
Media reviewers, Radio Stations that will actually play your music, and Clubs 
worldwide, over 3000 colleges in the USA that have concerts all year long.  I do 
have a financial interest in it ( A VERY LARGE ONE) I paid for it and hand 
built it.

I have been putting this data base together and double checking it monthly 
for three years, and will soon be able to break down a booking strategy for 
almost any region or State in the USA and customize it for any Band of any genre 
of Jazz.  I can tell by the venues and event how much money you can expect to 
charge and get from them as well.

That however does not mean that they will necessarily book your band.  They 
have to like what they read see and hear, and you have to understand that on an 
average all the major Jazz Festivals get about 1,500 submissions for every 
year's festival to narrow down to who they actually hire and pay.

As is mentioned on this list by me and Steve and most recently Jon from 
Dallas, you gotta get up and work every day at your day gig which is to book your 
night gigs or Vice versa if you want to play only day gigs.

Cheers,

Tom Wiggins