How to increase the chances of landing your next gig with the perfect booking email

As a musician, you need to have lots of things on the go at the same time to get your music the visibility it needs. In addition to writing, practicing and producing music, playlist pitching to streaming platforms and generating social media content, there are of course still live shows to play. For many musicians, this is the best thing about music. Finally, being with your fans and playing your own music. DIY is very popular here – not every artist is under contract with a booking agency. If you want to convince concert organisers to give you a show, your advert should blow their socks off. For the most part, it is not a case of having a particularly striking message, but an overall picture that says: “I am a professional partner and just the right artist for you”.

What you’ll learn in this article

• How important it is where you start with your booking requests.
• That the first impression in an email can be very decisive.
• What goes into the perfect booking email.
• How important meaningful image and video material is.

Where do you contact first?

When you build up a fan base, you always start in the local area and go out from there to reach more and more potential fans and concert organisers. This way, your reach grows bit by bit.
This step out of the local environment and into the larger region, with the goal of being known nationally or even internationally, is imperative to avoid limiting yourself or your concert options. It makes sense to start with a city/starting point and then look to the surrounding cities and towns near to the venue that you already play in or definitely want to play in. Thus you can manage your tour in such a way that you do not lose time and mileage money, as everything is close together. This will save you time and fuel money. Of course, you can also ask ChatGPT when searching. :)

The decisive first impression

Did you know that the first impression of a person who first contacts you by email, or who you only know from a photo, is often more negative than if you had met them in person?

That is of course a problem – we know that the first impression is important. When communicating via email, what your reader sees and reads first is what stays with them.

Do not send an email from an unprofessional looking address, such as “skydevil666@hotmail.de” or similar. Not only is this unprofessional, it also looks like spam.
We also advise you not to use an email address with “@all” at the end or similar sounding wording. This is because people would not feel as though they were being addressed personally.

How to structure your email

• A personal address.
• Introduce yourself briefly. (1 sentence)
• Explain why you are writing. (1 sentence)
• What does your music sound like? What makes you special? (2 sentences)
• Insert a link to your booking materials/press kit.
• Say goodbye in a friendly way.

So what does a perfect booking email contain?

Set up your own email domain

If possible, do not use an address from the usual providers such as “web.de”, “gmx.de” or “hotmail.com”. A GMX or Web.de address looks amateurish – and you are not an amateur. You offer a premium product: you and your music. Using the standard providers is fine if you have been on stage for years and are well-known.

Use your own email signature

A good signature contains all the important information without being overloaded. Again, keep it short. If it is too long, your reader will not read it and it won’t be effective.

Know the right contacts

In your research, make sure to find out who the right contact person is for what you want. You need to know who the right person is in order to address them by name. By addressing someone personally, you are demonstrating that you have taken enough time to research properly to find out who is responsible for booking gigs at Club XY. Secondly, you are signalling that this is not a mass email to any old club or festival, but you are specifically addressing this person, you work thoroughly and have researched the club or festival in advance. All of this suggests that you value them greatly. Jackpot!

Be brief

A good booking email gets to the point – and does so in a maximum of five sentences. Therefore, make sure to keep your email as short as possible and still keep everything relevant. In terms of content, your primary aim is to offer a teaser about you. You have to pack in all the necessary information about you and your music and be as exciting as possible and thus arouse interest with your recipient. Most people in charge simply lack the time to read rambling novels where they have to pick out the most important facts for themselves. This is especially true when their inboxes blow up and get littered with important, but also completely unimportant, information from all sides.

Finally, you need a clear subject

You can’t go wrong with “Artist Application”. Along with that goes your name or the name of your band and the name of the club or festival you are writing to. If you are an instrumentalist, also mention the instrument.

Good picture and video material

A good EPK is essential. It is your business card. However, a successful booking does not only consist of an appealing booking email, sensibly put together documents with live recordings and pictures or a stunning press release. It’s much more than that. Booking is a communication process between an artist and a concert organiser – and it neither begins nor ends with sending your booking request. Your booking email is just one of many touchpoints between you and the potential concert organiser.

Good luck!