Bik is the person who books all our live music acts, promotes them and then does the sound engineering on the night (he is a man of many talents and quite tired).

This time of year, we get a flurry of acts asking us to book them and very year, Bik bemoans the lack of good promotional materials online – the things that tell us that a performer is serious about getting audiences along to their shows.

However good a musician is, we can’t book acts on merit alone – we have to be fairly certain that the gig will sell enough tickets to cover the costs of putting on the show in the first place.

Here’s Bik’s thoughts on the matter:

I’ve declared this Be Kind To Venue Owners Day.

On this day, every musician reviews their Press Pack for sending to venues, to make it an easy choice for them to book you.

A well put-together press pack from touring artists is a rare and beautiful thing. So many times I have had to spend the best part of a day cobbling together a biography from multiple sources or changing it from being first person singular to something we can use as our voice, and downloading random snaps from a Google image search.

Here’s some tips every artist could, if they wanted to be kind to venues, follow:

1. Bio: A brief, informative, and well-written bio that highlights your background, experience, and achievements as a musician. (We have another post on how to write a bio here)

2. Press Photos: High-resolution, professional-quality press photos that showcase your image and stage presence.

3. Music: A selection of your latest EP/album or a few songs that best represent your style, sound, and message.

4. Reviews and testimonials: positive feedback from media, critics, fans and venues where you have performed before.

5. Social Media links: links to your website, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube accounts.

6. Press releases: any recent press releases that are relevant to your upcoming tour or new music

7. Tour itinerary: A list of your upcoming tour dates and the venues where you will be performing.