Week In Review - 5 December 2014

Most of this week has been spent planning for 2015 and there are some really exciting things developing for next year. More on that latter ...

On Monday, I joined Martin Bargent of Brown Sugar Events on ExpressFM to discuss The All Woman Christmas Shopping & Indulgence Show being held on Sunday at The Norton Park Hotel in Winchester. We had a lovely chat with Phil Russell on the morning show discussing the event and the charity it benefits, The Katie Piper Foundation. I will be one of several exhibitors, and will also be perform a few holiday favourites and more during the course of the day. For more information or to purchase tickets, click here!

Phil, Glo & Martin!

On Tuesday, I met with Helen at Creative Click to discuss my new website. I got a little peak at it and its looking very cool! I built my current website, and the new one will have a similar feel, but will be much more high tech because the professionals know how to do sooooooo much more than I do! It was very difficult letting go of the website, but after two years in business I thought this would be a good time to launch a new site. Watch this space!

One of the exciting developments for 2015 is that I will be presenting a weekly radio show on ExpressFM starting in January. I currently do a monthly internet show called Glo's Music for the Soul, which I will now turn into a weekly format focusing on an eclectic mix of music that soothes the soul! On Thursday I met with Rob at the station to discuss the show and next week I'm going in to learn the equipment and do some test recording. I have to admit, I am quite nervous about this weekly show ... but I'm equally as excited! This is like a dream come true! Doing a monthly show is challenging, and I know the weekly one will be even more so, but I am up for it and will give it my all!

I'm working on the December edition of the internet show next week and have a great show planned with soulful Holiday classics, and a bit of Funk, R&B and Jazz too!  Click here to listen to November's show!

Today I am gearing up for a three-gig weekend, with the first one tonight at The Phoenix in Crookhorn where I will be performing Simply, Tina Turner! On Saturday I am in Reading at Wokefield Park performing with The Midnight Soul Sisters. Then on Sunday, I will head to Winchester for the All Woman Show. I am looking forward to a busy weekend of performing.
Finally, I've got a couple of my top acts booked out this weekend. Tonight, Damiain Lodrick will be performing solo at The Piranha Bar and on Saturday, GME's artist of the month, Everyday Sunshine, will be performing at the same venue!  If you're looking for something to do this weekend, why not come to one of these shows! I guarantee you'll have a great time!

Damiain Lodrick

Remember, Gloria Miller Entertainment is a full-service entertainment agency and we provide premium entertainment at affordable prices for Weddings, Events, Venues, Festivals and Cruise Ships offering Solo Performers up to 8-piece Bands, Tribute and Variety Acts. Contact us at 02392 280829 today to discuss your entertainment needs for 2015.

That's it for now! Have a wonderful weekend.

SPECIAL OFFER: Need Holiday Entertainment?

Are you still looking for Holiday music for a special Christmas event at your venue, for a private Christmas party in your home or a hired space, or for your work Christmas do? Then contact GME today and take advantage of our Christmas Season special offer.

Offer:

Book a GME Solo Act for £180 for 2 45-minute sets of festive music. 










Book a GME Duo Act for £250 for 2 45-minute sets of festive music.




Our solo and duo acts perform all genres of music including Christmas music and other favourites from the 50's through today!

Call me today at 07504 611 173 to discuss your event and to book a fantastic solo or duo act to help you and your guests celebrate this Holiday Season!

www.gloriamillerentertainment.com

This offer expires 30 December 2013 and cannot be used for a New Year's Eve booking.

Elevator Pitch

Here's my elevator pitch:

Hi, my name is Gloria my company is Gloria Miller Entertainment and we believe that any event can benefit from a bit of glitz and glamour, and we provide this for corporate & private events, venues and festivals. We represent solo performers up to 10-piece bands covering all genres of music from the 30’s through today. We also offer interactive entertainment that is perfect for corporate training and team building. Gloria Miller Entertainment, have we got an ACT for you!

Share your pitch with me by including it in the comments section or uploading your YouTube video. Would love to compare notes.

Also, here's a great website to help you put your pitch together:

http://www.15secondpitch.com/

Contact Information - Vol. 3

Alright, I’ve been to your website, I’ve clicked on your ‘Kick-ass’ song because you don’t have it set to autoplay, and your kick-ass song has wowed me and I now want to contact you …

I cannot tell you the frustration of wanting to contact an act once they’ve got me pumped about their music, and then having to search for their phone number or email address. Yes, it’s great to have the typical ‘contact’ page on your website, but I encourage you to have your phone number and email address prominently featured on every page of your website, and on all your social media pages. Don’t make the person who is ready to work with you have to hunt for your contact details.

Even if you have a form set up on your ‘contact’ page for people to email you through your website, please include your email address too.  I personally never email acts through their website. I’m put off by it and I just move on to the next one. My husband asked me why I do this, and it’s because I use the emails I send as part of my follow-up system and I can’t do that when I’ve had to send an email through a website.

If you use a FB page to promote your music, make sure your phone number, email address and a link to your website is included in the ‘Short Description’ which is that box underneath your photo. Don’t make us have to click on ‘about’ to find your contact details! 

Same goes for Twitter! You need to have all your contact details on your profile, because this is the page people will land on if you have peaked their interest with one of your clever tweets. Again, make it easy for whoever wants to contact you to be able to contact you.

So, after I wrote this I went to my own web pages and realized I wasn’t exactly practicing what I was preaching. So to not be a hypocrite, I have followed my own advice and made it much easier for people to find my contact details. 

Take a look at my pages:

Website:  www.gmmbookingagency.com

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/Gmmbookings

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/GmmBookingAgency

I do hope this information is helpful!  Until next time, happy music making!!

Your Kick A** Song! - Vol. 2

In Volume 1 of this blog, Autoplay, we discussed that autoplay is baaaaaddddd!  I also touched a little bit on making sure that the tracks you choose to represent you on your webpages be your absolute best tracks ... in other words, your 'Kick Ass Tracks!'

Generally, you have about 8 to 15 seconds to impress someone at the initial point of contact.  Go to the main webpage that you use to represent you and really listen to what's happening in the first 8 to 15 seconds of your first track.  Has that time all been taken up with the intro?  Is there a better part of this song that you can edit your track to fade into that has the 'wow' factor?  Is the first song on your site your best song and are you showcasing the best part of your best song?  This applies to originals and covers.

I have been booking entertainment for 5 festivals this year and started the booking process sometime in February.  From that time 'til now, I have received a few 100 artist submissions expressing interest in performing at these events.  It has been this process that has fueled my starting this blog.  About 40% of these submissions never got heard because the first track on the webpage they linked me to was 15+ seconds of intro.  If I haven't heard what you sound like by 15 seconds, I'm no longer interested. 

Your first track on your webpage needs to be your Kick Ass song, and this song needs to represent everything about you and your sound in 15 seconds or less.  If you sing like an angel, or belt like Beyonce or if you're quirky like GaGa, anyone listening should now this by 15 seconds in.  If you have managed to wow the person you are trying to wow in 15 seconds, they will want to know more about you and listen to other tracks, watch video, etc. (this same rule applies to video demos ... you have 15 seconds max to impress).

If you would like help in this area, link me to your 'Kick Ass' song in the comments and I will have a listen and tell you my thoughts. I am here to help!

Happy music making!!

Next blog ... Your 15-Second Elevator Pitch!

Autoplay - Vol. 1

Scenario:

Artist has set up a lovely webpage and has setup their kicka** song to start playing automatically when anyone visits their webpage.

Artist has sent a link to this webpage with their kicka** song setup on autoplay to a very busy Agent who is looking through hundreds of submissions from Artists trying to fill a booking request.

Busy Agent has a few minutes while waiting to go into a meeting and decides to click on said link of Artist with the kicka** song setup on autoplay, and much to the Agents embarrassment, this kicka** song is now playing in the middle of the lobby of an important client, and the Agent can't figure out how to get the kicka** song to stop playing.

I can give you several more scenarios that all lead to this conclusion ... Autoplay ... Noooooooooo!!

GMM Booking Agency is small, but I get almost 100 inquiries a month from artists contacting me to consider them for the agency, or artists responding to my ads looking for bands.  I can only conclude from this that larger agencies are receiving thousands of inquiries a month.  Whenever I have a spare moment or two, I go through my ever-growing list of potential acts and have a nosy around their webpages, etc. When I am ready to listen (which sometimes involves me having to put headphones on) then I find the music link and play a track.  The webpages that autoplay when they load, I instantly close to stop the kicka** song from playing; then I move on to the next artist on my list.  The chance for that artist to be heard by me is lost.

Before becoming an agent, I had songs on autoplay on my webpage.  Now, I don't.  Give yourself a chance to really be heard by not forcing a song on a potential client or agent. Let us control when we hear you once we're on your page.

Next blog ... 'Kicka** Song!'  Tune in next week ...