A Borrowed Idea

I'm in the process of reading a series of books by Joe Taylor, Jr., who has been a radio DJ. Artist Consultant, and Talent Buyer in the secular music field. I highly recommend this book to anyone in any genre of music. It's aimed at small bands who play bars and felstivals, but the working principles apply to booking churches and Gospel concerts too.
The name of the book is "Grow Your Band's Audience". You can find more information about this book at http://www.spinme.com . OK, enough for the commercial that I didn't get any money for. LOL

There are a ton of ideas in these books, but one that really struck me was one about trading bookings. The idea is that you get several established groups, about on your level to work woth you in trading bookings in each of your local areas. The reason I say "about your level" is that you don't want to have a concert where you get 200 people there and you reciprical concert only has fifty, because the artist you traded with has only been singing for a few months. A little common sense goes a long way. Now, the idea is that when you trade concerts, you agree to pay, oh say, $100.00 towards the guest groups expenses, and then they are working for CD sales. You are then responsible for getting the crowd there, advertising the concert, and all the other things that go along with making a concert successful. I would probably sell a booklet to help pay for the concert. At the end of all this, you make any profit that was made from the concert. The responsibility of this concert is all yours, but you want to make sure that you have a good crowd for your trading partner to sing to. Conversely, the group or artist that you have traded with will have you in for a concert, pay you $100.00, do all the work for promoting the concert for the concert in his area.

OK, so you're wondering what benefit is trading two concerts between several concerts with artists at your level, right? Nothing overnight, but what you are doing is building a fan base. The concert goers attending these concerts are not starry eyes fans looking at the "big guys" in the industry. They are loyal Southern Gospel fans who love the music, and are very open to liking your music. Make sure you have your mailing list pad on the table and don't be afraid to ask people to sign it. You will also have opened up your possibilities of getting booking in a new area. Many concerts are scheduled because church members go to their Pastors telling them about a great group they heard last night at a singing. It's your chance to "sell" your talent to another area. Building a fan base is the MOST important thing you can do to increase your ministry. By trading a concert with another group you are getting into a new area and know that you are not going to lose your shirt, remember you have agreed with the other group on a minimal price to meet your nneds of getting there and back, which you will recipricate that same amount when they come to your city.

I really like this idea, so I am looking for a few groups to trade with. Let me know what you think.