How to get booked at music festivals

With these four simple tips, you could be playing for hundreds, maybe even thousands, at a music festival. Start using these tips now to set yourself up for success next festival season.

by Fiona Z. from The Musician’s Five Star Assistant

Summer and music festivals go hand in hand. After seeing so many cancel the past two years, it’s wonderful to see musicians and people feeling safe and excited to attend and participate in festivals.

For musicians, getting booked at a festival can be a great way to attract attention to your music. You can reach a new fan base as well as make new connections in the industry. Although the thought of getting booked at a festival seems like a daunting task, with some simple steps you could be securing your spot at the next festival quickly. 

Here are some of my tips:

• Target the right festival. Be selective, do the research and choose the right festivals for you. It’s much better than using the scattergun approach. Location wise, if you’re just starting out, I highly recommend staying local (same city or same state) as festivals might like to promote local bands.
• You will need to have a strong electronic press kit (EPK) and have your links organized. Festivals are going to want to see you are relevant with some sort of fanbase and brand.  A well-maintained website shows that you are serious about making a name for yourself. Have some good photos on your site, links to social media, streaming sites and videos (live and produced).
• Familiarize yourself with each festival’s deadlines and requirements. Some might ask you, “why should we pick you”? My advice is to give an example of a recent gig, a quote from a review of your music, or share some impressive numbers, like your music video hit 100K views in one day.
• Keep yourself organized. I opt to have a spreadsheet to track deadlines, where my client has submitted and when we need to follow up. It makes checking in on the status of each much easier than trying to remember where you are with each submission.

Festivals receive hundreds, if not thousands, of submissions for just a handful of opening slots so if you don’t get picked don’t get discouraged. Learn from it and get ahead of it for next years’ submissions.

Hope you have a great summer festival season.