Acts Who Want Gigs But Wont Showcase!
Please understand, this is not to everyone, but countless times do we receive emails from some singers, Bands and acts requesting work, gigs and services from our agency. Countless times do we request to see the act perform before working with them! And countless times do we either not have response or receive an email stating quite firmly,
“I have been in this business for years, I have NEVER had to audition or showcase for any agents that I work with and all of the social clubs and pubs that I work with re-book me constantly. I have no need to showcase my act and never will!” Believe it or not, that was a real email reply! Believe it or not, this is one of many similar replies.
Furthermore, many of the acts who send their publicity to Franklin James never include video footage of themselves performing or a demo or up to date material to market themselves, making it impossible for us to get a feel for what they do without actually seeing them perform. This also makes it impossible to promote and sell them to the clients that we work with.
Is it such an insult to want to see an act perform before we put them forward to the clients and venue owners we work so hard to keep?
Brad Pitt auditions for roles in Movies! Famous singers audition for labels and other roles! What makes this process so different? (Is it the statement above?) I have NEVER had to audition or showcase for any agents that I work with before…….really? Why?
Franklin James don’t want to see acts to make sure they are good or for our amusement, its not one of those tv talent show auditions! We want to see acts so that we know who we are promoting, so that we know which venues and clients they will suit best and to establish a long term relationship, put a face to a name.
We want the best for the acts we work with and the acts who have outstanding publicity, the acts who are pro-active and positive often get the gigs!
When I was a professional singer, I showcased all the time, some I had to pay for, some were free, but I always prepared for them and took advantage of every opportunity. Not all of them went well, but many did and work was always gained from them. Not necessarily right at the time, but over the coming weeks and months, bookings from these auditions and showcases came.
If you’re looking for bookings, if you’re looking to join a reputable entertainment agency, expect that they will want to see you perform. It should be a standard thing from any reputable company. Be proud that they want to see you and find out what you do, what you like and who you are!
Good luck guys, If you would like some recommendations of agencies who are auditioning or prestigious showcases that agents and companies attend, do get in touch and we can point you in the right direction. 01494 682800 or info@franklin-James.co.uk
Hi
I take your point but a showcase is asking an act to drive to a venue to appear for maybe 10 minutes alongside a whole load of other acts – none of whom will be getting paid. How about going along yourself to see them doing their show in their own environment? That would be a true showcase. You get to see how they shape a set, interact with an audience, what their equipment is like, how well they’re received and generally how professional they are. A showcase doesn’t do any of that, it benefits those who have maybe 3 good songs but a lousy show and is lazy on the part of the agent. I’ve watched a few showcases and seen great acts disappear in the grinding mechanics of it. Horrible.
Hi Suzi Woods, thanks for your reply.
We do see hundreds of acts yearly, we travel to see them, some travel to see us, either way we see the acts as often as we can.
However, my point from the article I wrote firstly, was about the acts who send us their details, who don’t have publicity for us to promote them with and secondly when we invite them to audition for us, they don’t think they should attend because they say they have been doing it for years? So how can we 1. ever promote the acts without good quality publicity and 2. when we are holding audition nights within their areas if they are free, why not come along to see if we the agent and they the act would like to start a mutual relationship to gain additional work/bookings? I mean that’s why they contacted us in the first place isn’t it? If acts cant attend audition nights, especially when its a live band, we do travel to view them if they have sent us some publicity to view before hand.
With regards to showcases, perhaps you have had some very bad experiences at showcases, as many of the acts we speak to have had. However, the showcases we run are so very successful for the acts that perform for 15-20 mins each, that we hold two a year. Our clients love them, the venue owners love them an more importantly the acts who perform at our showcases have always messaged or called us with amazing feedback from the successful nights. These nights cost us a fair amount of money, so we just wouldn’t put them on if it wasn’t profitable for us and the acts of course. We never charge for acts to perform at our showcase events either, so apart from petrol and time travelling on a weeknight, generally there is nothing to lose, only gigs and networking to obtain. Between 200 and 300 of our clients and venue owners attend our showcase events. For the clients who cant attend on the night for whatever reason, we send video footage of all of the acts from the night for them to view. I have never known an act not take at least one booking from the showcases they have performed at with us. It may have not been on the night, it may have been weeks/months later. However for the one performance of 15-20 minutes, we have been able to see the acts we love perform again, we all have a great time chatting and networking and have built some fantastic and strong relationships with acts, venues and clients from these nights.
I agree with what your saying about great acts sometimes disappearing on the night and its a real shame this happens. However, with well organised nights, with acts performing who are not just “numbers” but acts that appeal to the people and clients attending, this should not happen.
We love live entertainment here, after all, its what we do. We hope it continues to thrive and keep up with the changing times.
x
I’m up for showcasing!