Getting Booked at Festivals: 5 Techniques from Pro Artists

Each season, programmers receive hundreds of proposals, and they only retain a few. Here's what artists do when they pick up the stage.

1. Impeccable Press Kit (EPK)

The EKK is the artist's business card. It includes a short bio, high definition photos with the photographer's credit, live video, listening links, technical data sheet and direct contact. The programmer must find everything in one click, without looking for anything.

2. Show the scene, not just the studio

A festival buys a show. The best proof is a well-filmed live video where you can see and hear the audience. Pros first build their audience at home: local halls, first parts, small festivals. Each full concert becomes an argument.

3. Aim for the right festival, at the right time

Before writing, we study the festival's artistic line, the size of its scenes and its past programming. calls for applications and we get started early: many festivals are closing down months ahead of time. A targeted mailing is better than a hundred identical emails.

4. Go to the location of the programmers

The markets and professional showcases are the great dates of booking: HOMEX, Babel Music XP, MASA in Abidjan, the RIDEAU Scholarship in Quebec. It is a showcase, there are programmers, agents and bookers. A good agent also opens doors that a single artist finds closed.

5. Being the artist you want to invite back

The message of approach is short, personalized and polite; we re-launch without harassing. Once we book, we arrive on time, we respect the technical sheet, we promote the festival and we thank the team. In this environment, the reputation travels fast, and the good one too.

In the same series: Pro Tips