When you submit your act for a show, make sure your Show Reel offers the viewer the best possible perspective of your act. Whether it is to an Agent, Venue Booker, Promoter, Bride, Private Customer - make sure the three to four song snippets reflect your style and range while showcasing your skills and talents - providing an accurate lens of the value that your act offers.
When the Reel is sub par, more often than not, you will receive radio silence. But if you are lucky you will receive negative feedback. And you want that. You want to know how to improve the quality of your act as that leads to more gig bookings.
Statistics from an Australian Events Industry November 2023 survey shows that 90% of gig cancellations are due to vocals that - and I am now quoting from several Pub Managers - “cracks glass, is a crime against music or were like a surprise dental appointment that no one wants to hear.”
Brutal…..
Several agents that I interviewed declared that they often receive demo reels featuring seriously pitchy vocals with very little nuanced or tonal control and where the melody is merely a suggestion.
That same survey noted that second to sub standard vocals was “an influx of basic musicians playing incorrect parts, wrong chords, foreign progressions, and featuring solos that are a weak interpretation of the original at best and a cat in its death throes at worst”. Oh and there is a collective head shaking WTF with a decidely common place lack of vocal harmonies across the board. (It seems that the majority of respondents to this survey were super bummed with the lack of decent vocal harmonies.)
If the listener cannot identify the song within a few bars they will switch off and shout “NEXT!”
It takes years to develop and perfect a high level of musicianship and vocal delivery and a professional standard of entertainment. Hard work and practice. And you need to be honest with yourself about your blind spots.
That’s where negative feedback can be one of the best assets your act can have.
Listen and then try something different to achieve a better musicianship baseline.
One of the best ways to begin is to stop.
Strip it all back.
Less is more.
Turn everything off and sing and play unplugged. Connect with the rhythm. Find the light and shade in each instrument and each part. Listen to each other. Find the flow. Allow the music to come through you. Don’t force your voice. Choose songs that sparkle in your natural range. Use your breathing and posture to create a vocal sound that connects with the music. Create your something special in this space.
How does that feel?
How does that sound?
Listen to the original song and practice – over and over and over again until you have perfected your part.
Now record your Show Reel again.
What may seem like fun and sound great when you all jam at a party with your friends will not cut through the noise in a professional situation where venues and promoters and audiences alike, expect a high standard of musicianship, entertainment chops and professional show delivery.
Especially when compared to other acts out there who ARE delivering a higher level of musicianship and entertainment.
That is the baseline. That is where you start. Set goals to increase your baseline and do as many gigs as possible. There are smaller venues out there who are looking for cheap entry level acts who need to develop. Gig at those. Do as many private parties for your family and friends as you can. No one tells you the ugly truth like your family.
Leverage off all the feedback and build a value added sustainable brand of value, that takes chops and plenty of hard work lined with a commitment to delivering a high standard.
You have invested in your Production, Instruments and Tech. Feedback about your Blind Spots will help you recoup on that investment.
You’ve got this! :-)
Written by Nichola Burton. I work in partnership with Agents, Artist Managers and Event Producers, who juggle a diverse range of relationships in the Musoverse, to curate, manage and measure data in systems, experience, creative and content to support the entire Musoverse operation in my enterprise A Little Pitchy Copyright 2024