I recently received a call from a jazz vocalist by the name of Andrea Superstein (www.andreasuperstein.com). Andrea is a Jazz artist in Vancouver who has been successful in driving her business and talent forward. She’s going about things the right way.

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Like a lot of other cities, Vancouver has a lot of venues that are booked by 1 or 2 companies and a handful of entertainment programmers. Andrea has been getting great reviews and great feedback from the venues she’s been playing, but with a lot of the venues she was getting the same story, which goes something like this: “We’d love to book you for a night, you just need to get a hold of (insert booker name here) because he books our calendar for us”. So, you can probably guess, Andrea was looking for advice on how to get attention from a specific booker.

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She’s already been trying for several weeks to reach him via email and voicemail. She’s been persistent and has not had any luck with the traditional approach. So what was my advice?

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“Change your approach.” Stop being persistent and start being clever.

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Idea 1: send him a post card, from Vancouver or with some funny image on the front. On the back, she should hand write a very short note that will make him laugh or at the very least chuckle.

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Idea 2: send him flowers, with a note attached. Again, it needs to be done in a clever way. Her goal isn’t to get angry with him. Andrea’s goal is to get him to help her.

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Idea 3: send him a bottle of wine and place a label on the wine bottle that has her photo, name and again a handwritten note.

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What’s more likely to get a response, the email that is in the same inbox with 150 other people, or the bottle of wine that is sitting on his desk when he gets back from lunch?

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When you run into these daily obstacles and you find yourself frustrated and getting nowhere, take a step back and follow these steps:

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1. Figure out what you’re trying to accomplish. Take away the frustration and anger and ask this simple question in order to clearly state your short-term goals. Be very specific.
2. Ask yourself: “ Am I being persistent or am I being clever?
3. Brainstorm with a friend, colleague (or with us) on alternative methods for trying to accomplish the goal. No idea is stupid, the more outside the box, the better. Every problem has a solution.
4. Shortlist 3 possible solutions you’re willing to commit to doing.
5. Do 1 solution at a time leaving enough time in between for a response.
6. Don’t let anything get in the way of accomplishing your goal.

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Persistence has its place, but only to a point. Being clever is always going to produce better results.

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-       Justin Sudds – Gigsmacked.com

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Have you used a clever solution to achieve something in your career? Please share!

I have 1 fan page that I agreed follow on Facebook. I have received 12 emails inviting me to performances from them in the last 7 days. It passed annoying at 3 emails. By 6 emails I was laughing at the absurdity and feeling sorry for them; at 12 emails I’m writing a blog post about a behavior that can ruin a career. 12 emails in one week to your fan base inviting them to a performance is doing damage to your career. This is an extreme example of being clueless about communication, but I think you get the general point.

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Did I miss the seminar at SXSW where they told performers that the way to get attention from the industry was to email them at least once a day making sure to invite them to every appearance, every YouTube posting and every piece of news?? When did this become a good idea? Wait….It didn’t. Please, if you are one of these people, and some of you might be,  please stop. It is seriously hurting your career.

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You need to respect your mailing list. Usually people have opted to join your mailing list or Facebook fan page because they are genuinely interested in your career. They hope that you move forward with your craft and if you respect that about them and don’t annoy them, they can help you reach your goals. Communication with your fans should not be about impressing them with activity, it should be about genuine and meaningful interactions so your audience can feel that they know you better.

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If you have a great piece of news, tell your audience why it is important to you, not why it should be important to them. If you’ve had a great show, send an email explaining what made it great and offer a couple of photos. If you’re pushing out a new video. Don’t make the video self serving, make it endearing or insightful.

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Your fan base will always be your most valuable asset. Treat it with incredible care. If you’re trying to get industry attention, be more clever, not more persistent. I guarantee clever gets noticed and persistence gets annoying.
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- Justin Sudds – GigSmacked.com

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I’ve found over the years that there is a common theme with performers that they feel that they need to have a manager long before they actually require one. In a previous post, I spoke about a bit about what a Manager is looking for, so here I thought I’d provide you with what I see as 3 good signs that you’re ready for a Manager.

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1. You are so busy being the business that you can no longer effectively run the business. A good sign that you fit this category is that you have so many inquiries for gigs that you are spending all your time responding to emails and voice mails and as a result you haven’t had the time to rehearse
2. Many new career opportunities are coming your way and you feel a Manager may be able help make sure you are making the right career choices, getting paid fairly and that your brand has a professional face on it.  Some examples of opportunities would be major media appearances, high profile shows, licensing deals, record deals or sponsorship agreements.
3. You are having great success in one aspect of your performing career, but would like to focus attention on developing a new revenue stream or artistic endeavor (eg. You’re a successful actor and want to build a stage show or you’re a successful musician who wants to try acting). You therefore need to have someone maintain the performing side and help you guide the new revenue stream.

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These are the 3 most common scenarios that I find lead to a successful Artist – Manager relationship. There are of course exceptions to this, but as a previous post points out, be the rule, not the exception.

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This is worth discussion for the simple fact that a lot of performers feel that because they aren’t good at negotiating for themselves, because they can’t seem to find gigs, or they haven’t been able to draw attention from a record label, that a manager will be their magic solution to all this.

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Here’s the reality. All those things I just mentioned are HUGE red flags for me that you are not ready for a Manager and possibly that you aren’t taking your career as a performer seriously enough. If you can’t find yourself shows, to me, this is a sign that you’re either not good enough yet, or that you’re not pushing hard enough on your own.  Honestly, as a Manager, these are things that I’m looking at and the rules are the same whether you’re an indie rock band, a stand up or a ballet dancer.

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Prove to the industry and more importantly yourself that you can accomplish a lot on your own. The industry will take notice of successes, especially those generated without help. In fact, finding those scenarios are what every Manager is looking for!

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-       Justin Sudds – Gigsmacked.com

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We’d love to hear your thoughts so leave a comment or drop us an email.

My wife and I had a date night a couple of weeks ago and since she got to choose the movie, we ended watching “He’s Just Not That Into You”. Okay…admittedly, this movie made me laugh enough that I have to say I enjoyed it, but more importantly, it had a very great message that applies perfectly to entertainers:

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BE THE RULE, NOT THE EXCEPTION

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The rags to riches story of overnight fame and success are poison to entertainers. I won’t dwell on this cliché and don’t get me wrong I am a huge believer in dreaming big. The problem is just that the dreaming (or goal setting) needs to be follow up by intense work in order to make your dreams reality. No short cuts. No right place, right time. Don’t try to be the exception.  Be the rule – What’s the rule you ask? 3 words:

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Do – The – Work

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The rule is that if you’re better than everyone else at what you do, you’ll succeed. In order to be the best – do the work. Once you’re the best at your craft, be the best at getting followers on Twitter – do the work. Once you’ve got that, be the best at branding – do the work. After that, be the best at booking your own gigs – do the work.

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Don’t book a gig hoping that the right person will be in the room that night who can take your career to new heights. That is a very frustrating trap you’re creating. Book a gig thinking it is another opportunity for you to get better at your craft. If you do the work and become the best, the right person will find you. It’s a rule.

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Focused, passionate, hard work brings success. Be the rule.

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-       Justin Sudds – Gigsmacked.com

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We’d be grateful if you followed us or shared this post. We’d also love to hear your comments or stories.

As a performer it kills me to see my fellow actors and performers getting duped. It’s usually by the same kinds of people every time. You know the ones. ‘Do you want to be the next Hannah Montana or Ashton Kutcher? Then you need to come down to the SnakeNavel Convention Center and audition for our top agents and managers this Saturday from 10am to blahblahblah.’  Ads in the paper or on a website promising casting info or introductions to casting directors, agents or producers for a fee.   This is a multi-BILLION dollar criminal industry.

Like a slimy used car salesman they’ll promise you the stars and deliver zero.

Question: How do you know if you’re being taken advantage of?
Answer:  Below are the most common scams and how to spot them. (thanks to the Better Business Bureau for their help on this)

Beware of any person, company or organization who:

1. Asks for up-front money, which may be called “registration,” “consultation,” or “administrative” fees. Legitimate agents work on a commission. They don’t get any money until you get paid for doing the work they have obtained for you.
2. Pressures you to leave a check or cash deposit or sign a contract immediately. (I’ve been repped by William Morris and ICM and never had to sign a contract.) The agent may insist that you take acting lessons at a particular school or from a particular teacher; or may try to get you to buy expensive photographs, audition tapes, or other services or materials sold by someone he or she suggests. An agent’s time should be spent finding work for his or her client, not selling products and services. One of the biggest complaints from casting people? Actors spend WAY too much money on photos that don’t even look like the person who walks in the door. Money doesn’t make you photogenic.
3. Displays pictures of famous models or celebrities on the walls to make you believe they are represented by that agency, although they’re not.

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4. Uses names which sound similar to well-known agencies. Fraudulent companies will sometimes do this to give the incorrect impression that they are connected to a legitimate entity.

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5. Places phony ads in the help wanted section of newspapers that say something like, “new faces wanted” for commercials, movies or modeling or claim that “no experience is necessary.”

6. Charges you money to speak with agents over the phone. There are several websites who do this. Agents and managers are busy people but they won’t charge you to speak to them. They may not return your calls right away but that’s part of the game. No one should charge you on their behalf.

Problems or complaints about an agent or an agency may be referred to the Better Business Bureau, state Department of Licensing and Regulation or consumer protection agency in the city where the company is located. To obtain helpful consumer information on a particular agency, you will need to contact the local BBB that serves that particular city.

There is no magic formula for success. Following your heart will take you to greater heights than following your wallet.   If it sounds too good to be true…well, you know the rest.  Here’s to your success!

-Kahlil at GigSmacked dot com

We want to hear from you on this.  I’ve snuck into a few of these ‘conventions’ and ‘agencies’.  The dishonest business practices are shocking. Share this with your friends, family and colleagues and let us know what you think.