The Marketing Musician

Guitarist Greg Chako offers great advice on the need to be both a marketer and musician at the same time. He also provides suggestions for avoiding the pitfalls of inevitable rejection

These days where I live, most bars and (some) restaurants are interested only in hiring artists and bands that can draw a new crowd that their venues don’t already have! Sometimes, the venue doesn’t have enough of its own loyal clientele, so there’s an expectation for the musicians to draw the audience in for them.

In these cases, they’re actually hiring marketers, not musicians, because: 

A marketer’s job is to promote. 

A musician’s job is to entertain. 

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Musicians can and should provide the perfect ambient music, and an animated, engaging performance that keeps folks in their seats for as long as possible, ordering more and more drinks and food; then later telling their friends (who may have never even HEARD of that particular venue) that they witnessed the BEST band performance they’d seen all year at such-and-such a place! 

Here’s the good news for bar owners about the best musicians: those customers referenced above may well promote the venue solely because of the musicians they heard there, and in some cases, do so DESPITE the poor service they may have received while there. In other words, a good musical performance can make customers overlook the inadequacies of the venue. 

I can’t tell you how often the following scenario has happened to me: I invite a good friend to come and see me play at ‘ABC’ restaurant bar for the first time. Much to my surprise, my friend brings a whole table of 10 people to have drinks and dinner that night! The next time I see this guy I thank him for coming and ask how his guests liked it. He says, “They loved the music! But they had to wait SO long for their dinner, and when it arrived, the orders were wrong and had to be sent back!” I’m not making this up. Those people may come to hear me again elsewhere, but they’ll never come back to patronize that place again! IMO:

A bar or restaurant never lives or dies solely on the quality of the music – it lives or dies on the quality of the service!

Many bar owners don’t know the first thing about music, don’t care how good you are, or how nice you are, where all over the world you’ve played, or how many of your records are now streaming worldwide and charting on radio stations nationally . . . 

They care only about one thing: how many people come in the door and spend money on the night that you play. 

Never mind that your hometown Bengals are playing against the Buffalo Bills that night for a playoff berth, or that Carlos Santana is playing for free along the riverfront that night just a few blocks away, or that it’s the coldest night of the past three years! Whatever it is . . . if not enough people spend not enough money in their bar that night, YOUR’RE (the musician) going to be blamed! 

Conversely, the bar might have a truly mediocre band playing, but a group of 30 people happen to come in and order drinks because they have nowhere else to go to get drunk! In that case, the bar can make money even if the band didn’t actually attract even one person! 

Some of us have worked so hard for so many years to ‘get good,’ but playing well in and of itself is not enough to develop and maintain a regular gig. Sometimes, the turn-out on any given night boils down to having either good or bad luck! 

Here’s another life-like scenario: 

You get an offer to perform at a brand-new place. You personally draw over 30 people on your first night who also wanted drinks and food. After the gig, the owner comes up to you and says, “All these people came to see YOU!” You’re affectionately dubbed the “house band!” You play there twice a month for the next 7 months or so before the owners start “ghosting” you, not returning calls or emails, not giving you the advance schedule like they used to, etc. You’re informed by a few of your 1st-night VIP guests that they didn’t like either the food or the service at this place. The bulk of those friends of yours who came your first night never come back to hear you there again. You carry on, playing your best, mixing it up occasionally with special guests sitting in, and advertising regularly and as profusely as you can. You have some good nights moving forward, and some nights in which the place is not nearly full enough. 

Meanwhile, the venue experiences its own personnel difficulties, i.e. new manager, new bartender, new waitresses, etc. The owners finally figured out that they had some problems of their own which had nothing to do with you or your music. Your friends who live in the same neighborhood of this place say that they never see any ads for your music except for the ones you send yourself! What does the venue do to advertise YOU? Whose fault is it that you can’t continually draw 30+ people every single night(!) you play there? Well, it doesn’t really matter anymore because for whatever reason, you lost that gig.

There’s not much you can do to alter the scenarios above. You can’t expect the same people to come to every show you do, particularly if you’re playing every week, or they believe that the service or food is sub-par at the venue you’re performing at, they already have all your albums, and perhaps because they refuse to pay a $12 cover when they can see you at a bar down the street for nothing! Whatever it is, if you want to continue playing in places like these, you have to accept the reality of the situation: you cannot simply be a good musician, you have to be a thick-skinned, good marketer, and you need more friends to invite to your performances! 

The ability to get and keep gigs like that rely just as much on who you know and how well you promote their venue(!) as it does on anything else. I have written articles on the importance of networking before, (please see: https://jazzguitartoday.com/2024/05/how-to-network-for-success/). It’s simple math – the more people you know, the more people know you – the more friends you have, the more people you can invite out to hear you. As for promoting the venue, we’ve already established that that’s not a musician’s job, but nonetheless, to get and keep gigs it’s necessary to promote yourself as much as possible by any means available to you: having your own website, utilizing FaceBook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and a wide range of other social media venues, and by networking as best you can within your local community.

Strive for consistent quality

Consistency of quality is important in keeping your business too, whether we’re talking about a food menu or a music menu. I worked many steady gigs when I lived in Asia. In my heyday, I was working over 300 gigs a year, including holding down a 6-night-a-week steady residency at Raffles Hotel Bar & Billiard Room for 5 years. Admittedly, I have never experienced anything like that here in the USA, but I do know that it is near impossible to BUILD a loyal following without a consistent and predictable schedule of quality. When someone compliments your performance and asks, “When are you playing here again?” you don’t want to have to say, “I don’t know,” because the owner doesn’t have a long-term plan, or just because you had a couple of low-turnout nights, the owner’s reluctant to book you again.

In my opinion, you don’t change your venue’s menu every week – one-night great entertainment by proven professionals, and the next night total amateur hobbyists; one night a jazz guitar, bass, & drums trio playing blues and standards, and the next night a contemporary string quintet playing avant-garde originals. Once I find the guys or gals I want to work with, I stick with them, because I’ve found what works for me and there’s no good reason to change – the fact is, the more you play with the same people, the better a group you become. Each of my groups has a particular style and repertoire so that when that particular group is hired, the client knows just what they’re getting.

Every successful bar or restaurant has an identifiable “vibe.” Customers go there because they know what to expect. Places that switch up too much with their entertainment (or food) menu run a risk of failing to define their own unique identity. Here in Cincinnati, when you dine at Mortons of Chicago, a premier Internationally-known steak house, customers know exactly what to expect in terms of quality and service. The value of consistency cannot be understated, but we musicians have to be realistic by recognizing that not all venue owners are quite there yet, some are still struggling to find the right personnel, the right chef, bartender, etc. Ideally, musicians and music venues are equal partners with mutual respect: musicians are responsible for providing great music and the venue is responsible for providing the best service. Both the musician and venue have to develop a loyal following. A consistent quality music schedule should be established first, because: Before we can exceed expectations, one must first meet them!

Strive to maintain a positive attitude

For serious artists like me, it’s important to realize that our own self-worth and emotional balance cannot and should not be a slave to negative scenarios like the ones described above. Our circumstances do not determine our happiness and success, but our inner reactions to them may. Despite what happens (or not) for me in terms of local bar-restaurant gigs, I am always happy to perform at my best in front of a live audience, and so are all my musical partners. 

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But there are a variety of things that psychologically buffer me from the heartaches of this music business and enable me to achieve some semblance of emotional stability:                                                          

1. Have a positive performance attitude (have fun!)                        

2. Relish the positive feedback received from the audience              

3. Teach(!) music                                                                             

4. Continually compose, or invent and lead new recording projects                    

5. Gratefully embrace and cherish friendships with like-minded people

6. Recognize and humbly accept whatever acclaim you can get

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Private/Corporate Gigs

The two unfortunate scenarios shared above are one reason I prefer not to rely too heavily on, or to chase too much after those gigs in which I am expected to be the venues’ promoter, and as the musician, am held solely responsible for all the attendance at the venue. I prefer seeking and playing private and corporate events in which I am not held solely responsible for drawing attendees but am accountable for just being an exceptional musician and entertainer who provides the perfect music for any occasion. Here are some pictures from a fun-loving and appreciative crowd at a private birthday party celebration at Morton’s of Chicago, the aforementioned steak restaurant in downtown Cincinnati: 

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There were no disappointed guests that night; there was no last-minute re-negotiation for our fee due to a low turn-out; there were generous and unsolicited tips above and beyond the pre-agreed fee; the musicians ate the same food the guests did; and instead of accusatory silent scowls, there were smiles and nods of sincere appreciation across-the-board by everyone. Now, those are my kind of gigs! Not surprisingly to my musician friends, gigs like this pay double, triple, or more(!), than what we typically get at the bars, and all we have to do is play and look the part. 

I hope this article helps to inspire, inform, or validate; to summarize some of its main points: 

1. Playing well in and of itself is not enough to develop and maintain a regular gig
2. Marketing & Networking is key to increasing your fan base
3. Strive for your own consistent quality brand; seek out venues that do the same, and be aware of their expectations of you
4. There will be rejection, but don’t dwell on it: Look Forward! Focus on the next song, record, the next new friend, student or gig  
5. Play the bars and restaurants with relentless joy and perseverance, but don’t neglect the private gig market in which you’re paid to do just what you do best: being an excellent musician

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Check out Greg Chako’s latest! “David & the HeartStrings” out everywhere on Fri. Aug. 16th

David & the HeartStrings is the brainchild of Jazz Guitarist Greg Chako and Vocal & Harmonica Blues specialist and songwriter David S. Burk. Upright string-bassist David “D’Lloyd” Lloyd joins Greg as Mr. Burks’ “HeartStrings” core backing duo; and when their drummer, Michael Meloy joins the unit, the group is a complete quartet with their “HeartBeat” present!

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