[Dixielandjazz] Fwd: You wouldn't wanna buy a Jazz band would you? Oh didn't think so sorry!

[Larry Walton Entertainment - St. Louis]

You didn't say what area this band is from.  There are many places where 
nothing much happens during the week and bands have to hustle.  Let's face 
it this band and just about every one else's on this site is dated and you 
have to work harder at it to make people want to hire you.

Personally I don't know if they are good or bad.  You could be great in some 
rink dink town and only work Saturdays.  When I was in college I traveled a 
200 mile radius every week and I would have taken less if I could have 
played locally but there wasn't anything happening in that town except C&W. 
Heck I would even have liked a steady Saturday night in town.

On the other hand if this band is in the middle of LA, Chicago or New York 
then I might think otherwise.

Marketing is difficult for bands.  If these guys are trying to break out of 
a Saturday night rut then they might try some other marketing strategy 
rather than just working cheaper.  This guy says he has a web site, maybe he 
should be pushing people that way.  Is the web site any good? Do they have a 
Demo?  What do they look like and how do they present themselves?

I don't know a whole lot of things about this band and their situation.  On 
the surface it sounds wrong but there may be other factors too.

It sounds to me like the leader could just be a poor business man because no 
one should advertise prices.  He might do better by offering multiple 
booking discounts or Senior discounts from his regular, hopefully higher, 
prices.

It could work like this.  You are booking at $100 per man for the first hour 
and $50 for the second hour You could throw in the third hour free as a 
discount.  That way you get $150 and they think they got a bargain when you 
would have booked it for $150 in the first place.  If you book two more 
dates from the first one then knock off a little on the second and third 
gig. but they don't get both discounts.  This way you don't lose anything 
and you get multiple bookings and they think they got a great deal.
Larry
St. Louis
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <tcashwigg at aol.com>
To: <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Monday, October 02, 2006 5:20 PM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Fwd: You wouldn't wanna buy a Jazz band would you? 
Oh didn't think so sorry!


> Hey folks:
>
> This add recently appeared on a classified Board for Musicians in the
> San Francisco market:
>
> This is a classic example of how not to market Jazz, and if this was
> posted by one of this list members shame on you, or maybe you simply
> know what your band is worth.  Inexpensive,  why not just advertise to
> play for Free.
>
> It is musicians who post ads like this in public places that have
> deteriorated the live music scene all over this country and lost almost
> all respect for musicians.   I know you'll just sell it to them for
> $1.00 over cost.  So you get many calls away from all those "EXPENSIVE
> JAZZ BANDS"   Well those folks will get what they pay for when they buy
> this act, you can bet on it.
>
> I took out the contact number to save you embarrassment in case it is
> one of our less esteemed colleagues on this list.
>
> Tom Wiggins
>
>
>
> Subject: You wouldn't wanna buy a Jazz band would you?  Oh didn't think
> so sorry!
>
>     Inexpensive Jazz Trio for Hire
>
>
>
>  Date: 2006-09-30, 6:22AM PDT
>
>
>  I'm a smokey jazz singer with an amazing pianist and upright bass
> player who perform regularly in the bay area...hire us for your party
> and we'll cut you a deal if it's not on a Saturday! We perform Billie,
> Ella, Sarah, Louis, and alot of the old 30's swing and blues...if
> you're interested email me with a possible date and I'll direct you to
> my website.....
>
>
>
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