Practical Tips for Touring and Booking

Practical Tips for Touring and Booking 

by Lydia Walker Athey

CSMI IMPACT Conference 2015, Gatlinburg, TN

Planning - Keep a calendar, map out your goal. When do you want to book? Where? Keep track of your mileage for tax deductions.

Booking:

• Make a list of venues or contacts

• Write a short script of what you want to say.

• Place the call or email. Sometimes calling can be terrifying, but keep your goal in mind.

• Ask for the booking, ask about the payment, write down all the details.

• If they say no, ask them to refer you to others or recommend someone else to call who might be a better fit.  Give them something to say yes to.

Confirm - Call back ahead of time, confirm details, ask any questions, send flyer or info to promote.

Promote! Make it your goal to be the first person to come to mind when they need a musician. Create Facebook event pages and invite your friends (send reminders with interesting content like videos or links to your music). Send out your schedule to your email list. Print flyers and put them up around town on community boards. Text individuals in area and personally invite them.

Prepare - practice songs, make setlist, send lyrics or videos for projection, plan what to say between songs, remember to mention merch. Spontaneity will flow out of your preparation, and will give you more confidence. Remember to make a plan for travel, food and rest!

Show Up! (On Time = Early) Sound check is important to assure a quality experience. Play the gig, do your best, give 100%. Be confident, smile, be kind. Be respectful. Even if you’re not the most talented musician, people will appreciate a good attitude.

Make contacts- meet people, give out business cards. Say, “Can I give you a card?” or “This is for you”. (If you have a blank back on your cards, you can use it to write extra information and even offer for others to write on the back of your card and keep it.) Encourage the ones who are excited to refer you to their business, friends, family or organization with your card. This is the time when ministry can happen when you can ask about their story.  They will remember you positively if the conversation is not all about you :)

Thank the host /contact /sound guy. Smile, make eye contact, say “thank you”. It’s important to let them know that they are appreciated.

Repeat business - they will call you back if you do a good job, communicate well, and show up on time. They will also refer you to others. Feel free to ask them to keep you in mind for future events, and to refer you to others who are booking music. You can also ask people for a review or reference that you can use on your website, press kit, etc. 

After the gig,-report to fans how it went. Post highlight photos or video to social media. Use it to expand your audience and start promoting the next gig.

Resources:

CDBaby.com - Disc Manufacturing and Digital Distribution

MailChimp.com - Email lists made simple and easy

IndieOnTheMove.com - Venues and Booking Contacts organized by location and genre

Find more about Lydia at www.lydiawalkermusic.com

Her new worship album, Communion, is now available for download on iTunes!

Supporting / Partnering with Missions

There are many organizations and ministries to choose from to make an impact for good in the world. I wanted to share about my experience giving and some of the people that I support. A little effort can make a big difference. A few people united for one cause can change the course of history.

I'm a 22 year old full time musician, and I believe that I should give to people who are doing Kingdom work. God has provided for my needs through people who are willing to partner with me and who believe in my ministry. I believe that giving is a revolving door of sharing what God has given each of us. If I can do something like this, anyone can! We all can make a difference.

I've been so blessed by supporting several missionaries. I love hearing their stories of building relationships, sharing the gospel, and going wherever the Lord calls them. I know them each personally and I have seen their dedication to their faith. Most of them have been interviewed on my radio show to share their testimony with my listeners. I also support a 10 year old boy named Jason through Compassion. I have not regretted it! It's important to know what you're giving to. Let me share with you about people that I support, to inspire you and give you some examples of how you can give:

 

Jason, a child from Nicaragua sponsored through Compassion International
Sponsor a child here: http://www.compassion.com/

Lydia Grider, Every Nation, Youth Leader at Bethel Community Church
Go to https://admin.everynation.org/giving/, select "give to individual" and find Lydia's name

Heather Theilacker, Every Nation, Ministry to Students at Austin Peay
Go to https://admin.everynation.org/giving/, select "give to individual" and find Heather's name

Gregory Hayes, Long term mission trip to Africa through Operation Mobilization
Type in Greg's name to sponsor him: https://my.omusa.org/OM-Missionary-Search 

Maggie Norfleet, Missionary to Central Asia
Partner with Maggie - Enter code 44073 at https://antiochcenter.webconnex.com/support

Gathering In Oz - Missionaries to Australia
Donate to the Chapmans: http://web.nazarene.org/goto/ChapmansinAustralia
Donate to the Tarrants: http://web.nazarene.org/goto/Tarrantsgatheringinoz

Those are a few examples of ways to give towards building the Kingdom of God. Each person has a story and a specific calling. I'd like to give you an opportunity to have the blessing of giving to any of these missionaries, and also to share an opportunity to partner with me this year.

In 2014, I have the opportunity to go on several trips. The first is a mission trip with Community Life Church to Puerto Rico in June. We will be prayer walking in the areas where other groups will be leading Vacation Bible Schools during the following weeks. Some of us are musicians and will be singing and playing worship music in the different areas, and promoting the Bible Schools.  The cost of the trip is $300, with the rest being covered by the church. If you would like to partner with me and sponsor part of the cost of the trip, please send me a message.  I believe this is a great opportunity and I'm thankful for the chance to go. UPDATE! The trip has been completely paid for! PTL! Please be in prayer for us as we prepare. We will be in Puerto Rico June 11-16.

In October, I have the chance to go to the Hillsong Worship Conference in New York City (www.hillsongconference.org). I was sent last year and absolutely loved it. I got to spend time with friends there who are leaders in Gallery Church, and had great conversations with several people that attended the conference.  As a worship leader, I was refreshed by participating and learning from such great leaders. It was a breakthrough moment for me spiritually and I still am inspired by what I experienced there. As my friends and I are preparing for the trip, I've created a cost breakdown to estimate my expenses:

Registration - $179
Airfare - $250
Hotel - $200
Meals - $150

Total Budget: $779

If you feel led to give towards my trip, please send me an email at lydiawalkermusic@gmail.com.
If you choose to partner with me, I will give you updates on my trip and bring you a souvenir from New York! Thank you for your love and support! I'm excited about how God has provided for each opportunity so far, and I'm grateful for this season in my life to be able to go. God is good, and He gets all of the glory!

Here's a video of me singing in Central Park for a busker (street performer) named Bert.

Passion: Everything's the Same, but I'm Different

It's a crazy feeling to come home and everything's the same, but you're different. 

On January 1st, I boarded a church bus at 6am to ride to Atlanta, Georgia to be a part of the Passion Conference in the Georgia Dome. The conference consisted of worship sessions with writers of songs I have grown up singing, teaching from the Bible by some of the biggest names in the modern Christian circle, and family groups of complete strangers who share their hearts and become good friends.

Being one person in a crowd of 60,000 college age students who are all singing the name of Jesus at the top of their lungs changes your life. Separating yourself from the normal routine, and absorbing the Word of God for 4 days helps you feel the presence of God in a new way. When you take a breather from the stress of life and realize that God has a greater purpose for you than you could ever plan... it opens your eyes.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. -Ephesians 3:20-21

Louie Giglio, founder of Passion and 268generation.com, focused on this verse in Ephesians throughout the conference. He spoke of the valley of dry bones in Ezekiel 37, and compared it to our generation. Louie reminded us that God has the power to bring life, and He wants to replace our heart of stone with a heart of flesh. Can these bones live? Can we reach this generation? If you hear the Word of God, then breath will come into you. God will restore and repair what what broken. You will come to life and know that He is God.

Another thing that Louie said really caught my attention. He talked about the things that we think are impossible, that we wait on and only dream of them happening. When Jesus comes into our hearts and lives, anything is possible. He is alive and powerful. In our own power, we have so many limitations. But with Jesus, those dreams can live!

Francis Chan reminded us that God is the only person you can trust 100%. If we endure, we will reign with Him. If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.

It was my 3rd year at Passion, and I knew that I would get something out of it. I found myself asking, What did I come here for? I think there was a deeper longing that I didn't even know how to express. And in that crowd of 60,000 people, I had a personal, one-on-one connection with God. He started stirring my heart and showing me deep desires that I didn't even know to ask for. I realized I was there because I wanted to hear His voice in a new way - to put myself in a position where I could hear clearly from Him. I wanted to break away from selfish habits that I had allowed in my heart. This was a desperate attempt to feel alive again.

God was waiting for me with open arms. In fact, He's been there for me all along, calling me to Himself. I was afraid that if I gave everything in my life to God, that I couldn't keep my end of the bargain. Knowing that I would mess up, and that I would let Him down kept me from going all in. But that's just the point. The verse that Francis Chan quoted about God remaining faithful because that is His character, really connected the dots for me. He knows we can't measure up to His standard of holiness, yet He loves us anyway and continues to call us to Himself every day.

Starting the new year on a new page with God is so refreshing. He spoke to me through the Word, and through the music, and He placed a desire in my heart to focus more on worship leading and not as much on performance. He also gave me a new desire to prepare to be used in more girls ministry and women's ministry. That's something I hadn't been focused on but now I am starting to see how that may unfold. I'm very excited to see what this new year holds, and what God has planned for me.

On January 4th, around 8pm, I stepped off the church bus with a sleepy grin. My hometown, family, sleeping in my own bed... everything was the same as when I left. But my heart will be forever changed. Praise Jesus!


P.S. Passion raised over $3 million dollars to help end modern day slavery. I am excited to be a part of the movement! Learn how you can help at www.enditmovement.com!




Watch my latest music video for my song, "Butterfly". Share and help us reach 5,000 views!