Well Played
Image Courtesy of YuriArcursPeopleImages
The COVID lockdowns cost musicians almost two years of gig opportunities. Between March 2020 and April 2022, this industry was subject to ongoing lockdowns and mandates that decimated the industry financially, mentally and emotionally.
17 December 2021, borders opened and pubs and clubs began their slow crawl back to normal operations along with the Faccination mandates. That was the date of the true pandemic for us as what followed was an unprecedented level of illness that has never been seen before in this market. Myocarditis, heart attacks, strokes, cancers and of course, for the gigging musicians who followed the mandates, a relentless cycle of infection and reinfection now commonly known as Long Covid.
Winter 2023 had the highest rate of gig cancellation in the 32 year of our agency. The wellness baseline for the artists that we worked with fell by at least 75%. The winter of our discontent indeed. It was one long tough gig for musicians, industry peeps and hospo workers.
Problem
Low Immune System
Catching everything going around
No Energy
Super Stressed
Regular loss of voice
Can’t back up in residency or on tour
Cancelling Shows
Accident Prone - Dangerous at Gigs
Losing Market Credibility for regular show cancellations
Venues losing advertising dollars with short range cancellations
So basically its a shit show.
Cover Yourself
These days, most venues are managed by Corporate Hospitality groups. Compliance and Risk Management is their number one priority. The present requirements are as following:
$10 million Public Liability Insurance SWMS available if required
Tag and Test Certificate every six months for your leads
Many artists ask us: “It’s just a covers gig. Why would we bother?”
Well, I can tell you the story of the young fellow who only last year got electrocuted at a gig on the Sunshine Coast. It fried his entire PA, the circuitry of the venue and went through his body and affected his heart. With no insurance he was stuck with all the bills and subsequently lost his house as a result of working through the financial maze in the after math.
Go to your gig right now in your head and see all the potential risks. There are countless. You and the venue are jointly responsible for Public Liability when you are gigging. The venue has a Workplace Health and Safety officer, Public Liability Insurance and Risk Management policies that govern their bar staff and security.
When you enter into their workplace, it is your responsibility to demonstrate that you will manage your own risks and have a proven method of controlling how you do everything at your gig. This is YOUR responsibility.
What happens if one of your speakers falls on someone in the audience and you have no insurance? The person in the audience will take legal action against both the venue and the artist. The Venue has its compliances in place so the burden will rest on you the Artist. What happens if you trip over something on stage, hurt your knee and face thousands of dollars of medical interventions as a result? Could that have been mitigated by a Risk Management Plan, SWMS and strict Stage Plot?
So take the stress out of your Gig life and get yourself covered with a decent Health & Equipment Insurance.
Train your band and your crew and delegate someone in your team to be the Workplace Health and Safety officer who makes sure that every gig is managed in accordance with your own Work Method Statement.
(Of course if you are a Solo Artist then you handle everything.)
When you arrive at each gig, make sure your WHSO introduces themselves to the manager on duty to check in for induction into the venue and what they expect in Risk Management.
If you work there regularly you will soon know what to do.
Renew your Public Liability insurance annually and always keep a copy of your Certificate of Currency on your phone in case you need it.
You’re The Voice
Let’s be frank here. You don’t need to be the world’s greatest vocalist to cut it in the music business. But you need to be consistent, in tune and to be able to deliver your sound at every performance. What does your band sound like without the lead singer? 90% of our gig cancellations are due to vocalist’s losing their voices. So this is the most important consideration in being Gig Fit. Ever lost your voice after you belted it out in the last song of the first set and you have three more sets and three more gigs that weekend? Here are our Top Suggestions to mitigate the risks of losing your voice: Get Singing Lessons
Pace yourself. Don’t give away the farm – take it easy – learn how to manage your voice and get the most out of it. Stay away from sugar as it just annoys your vocal chords and totally irritates them.
When you lose your voice try these – suck on American Ginseng root, Take Entertainers Secret or Propolis (buy it online), Swedish Bitters, Steam yourself in Tea Tree Oil, Get Regular Acupuncture. Learn how to move your body – bend your knees, keep your neck straight, use your diaphragm Don’t forget your whisper days in between gigs – shut up – don’t speak – give those chords a well-deserved holiday. Jack Daniels may not be the best long term sustainable solution for your voice – it may give you an extra verse – tops.
If your vision is to work in the music business in the future then you and your vocals need a sustainable long term strategy.
Get out of your head and into your core. When singing, you need to be in the moment. Be in that note. Be in that melody. Be in that chord.
Without that voice of yours, you are nothing more than elevator music.
Get Physical
You have a lot to do when you are gigging and this takes much physical energy. You have to rehearse weekly and this may entail loading gear in and out of a rehearsal studio.
Then there’s the gigs. You load out of your house and into your car – out of your car and into the venue and onto the stage. Then you load off the stage, out of the venue, into your car, out of your car and back into your house or wherever you store your gear. Gig three times and rehearse once a week and that’s 34 Loads. This isn’t even taking into consideration the gig itself – four hours of high energy performance!
Wow! You seriously need to be fit to do this every single week.
So we suggest you commence a Cardio and Weights program just twice a week to build your strength and help you find more energy to maintain your gig schedule. There is a high statistic of musicians that need Knee and Back Surgery in their 50s and 60s after decades of gigging and loading in.
Do bend your knees when lifting, strengthen your core, do specific stretches to protect your body for this high repetition and strain. Work with a decent Chiropractor.
Use a trolley wherever possible ***one of your best investments!!! Use gloves when loading in.
Share the load – make sure everyone in the band pitches in.
Get your mind and body and heart in synch and the energy will flow!
Eat Well
If you have a day job or a family and you find yourself running to your Friday night gigs without eating properly, it’s time for you to stop and find a new strategy.
You need to have a good decent meal before the gig – a few hours before – not 10 minutes before you jump on stage. Pack it the night before if you need to. Fresh fruit, handful of nuts, protein bars or shakes – fuel yourself up before the gig to get maximum energy flow.
One big rule of thumb – don’t eat during or after the gig.
Drink plenty of water and eat small snacks like nuts or fruit. But no big meals after you start on stage.
Eating after the gig used to be a South East Queensland ritual. Many of us in local cover bands would meet at a certain service station on the way home from Toowoomba at 2am on a Saturday morning to chow down and get over the big nights together. Trouble was it was horrible food filled with salt, grease and fat. Tasted great but seriously unhealthy!
As it is rare to find an organic health food store open at that time, plan ahead and pack some healthy snacks if you need a little energy to get you home.
Avoid junk food – not just at the gig – but overall. It’s cheaper anyway, better for your long term health, giving you more energy and better sleep. This helps after backing up after 3am gigs on the weekend and then back to your day job on Monday.
Tune into your body and give it what it needs not what your mind craves to sooth you. Implement a new way of eating.
Buy fruit and vegies and healthy snacks to save money and keep you gig fit.
Drink plenty of water – stay hydrated throughout the gig.
Keep a water bottle handy on stage beside you.
Don’t drink from the tap. Drink filtered alkaline water. Otherwise the fluoride in it will turn you into a zombie.
Avoid alcohol and caffeine
Look after your diet with plenty of protein for strength and good carbs for energy.
Tune out and Tune In
Get your mind right and the rest will follow! Holding into worry and stress about things outside of your control just really stuffs you up energy wise. Yoga and Meditation helps to increase your mindfulness and energy and costs you nothing while you reap the energy benefit.
Take the time each week to tune out of the noise of your life and tune into yourself. Revisit the vision you have of your Music Business. What are your goals? What are your dreams? See yourself in your future vision and feel the peace and joy of it. Tune into you and find the soundtrack that you will write. Hear the music of YOU and allow it to unfold and reveal itself to the world.
Find your centre so you can get the most out of your Gigging. Be clear about why you are gigging and stay focused on your end goals. Every tiny step forward is a step closer to that dream. Every rehearsal. Every gig. Every interview. Every song. Every person that you interact with.
One step closer in each breath.
Sleep on it
Take afternoon naps on the weekend.
Get Good Quality Sleep.
Sleep in a room with an even temperature.
Close the curtains, minimise the noise and bliss out Circadian rhythms are physical, mental, and behavioral changes that follow a 24-hour cycle.
These natural processes respond primarily to light and dark and affect most living things.
What a challenge it is to gig late on the weekends and then try to fit into a 9 to 5 schedule during the week. Focus on a healthy organisaction of your life and your sleep patterns.
When properly aligned, a circadian rhythm can promote consistent and restorative sleep.
Reset your sleep back into the weekly rhythm from Monday night by heading to bed early.
Aim for at least 10 hours in a row.
Consider Natural Supplements like Melatonin and Theanine to help you catch more Zs during the week.
Get your circadian rhythm right and watch the rhythm on stage recalibrate!
Backing Up
As well as the hard drive, back up when you do more than two gigs in a row.
Want to be Australia’s Number One?
Get into practice now.
How would you handle after parties, press junkets and a concert run if two gigs a weekend knocks you out? Put a strategy in place to maximize your Gig Fitness so you CAN back up consistently.
Simply get into the habit of forward planning.
Breaks
Breaks can suck so much energy and you can lose your voice just by screaming to be heard. So use this time off stage to rest, recover and recuperate away from the stage area.
Connect with the Crowd on stage or after the show – not your breaks. DONT TALK OVER LOUD MUSIC.
Sit in a quiet spot away from the crowd.
Make this commitment to yourself to maintain Gig Fitness
About Time
One big way to minimize the stress of running your Music Business with Rehearsing, learning your own parts, setting up, pulling down, gear maintenance, car maintenance, gig administration, gig marketing, day job, relationship juggle, family – man, you have a lot of stuff to do when you are gigging! IS to put a Time Management System in place.
Get yourself and your band organised
Delegate tasks
Have weekly meetings at rehearsals to keep everything in check
Manage your band in Google – Docs, Drive, Calendar
Connect your emails to your IPhone
Schedule everything in your Calendar
Set yourself alarms to stay on track
Save all gig contracts to your phone
Set up a system that tracks all gigs, payments and marketing
Set yourself daily, weekly, monthly and yearly goals – schedule everything in your Google calendar.
Image Courtesy of Leila_Milaya
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
