The Perfect Pitch

How to get anything you want in the music business

“I have a proposal,” I said to her.

“You need good players for your live shows and I know you’re not making much money on these local gigs - if anything at all.”

She smiled.

“I’m new to town and I need to get more exposure so I can get more work. I love your music and it’s totally in my wheelhouse, so how about I do you a reduced rate for in-town Nashville shows for a while to help us both out?

When you get those big money gigs in the future you can pay me the normal rate”.

“Yes! That would be amazing!” she said.

Getting anything you want in the music industry basically comes down to two words, active empathy.

Active: participating or engaging in an activity in a positive or spontaneous rather than a passive way.

Empathy: the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.

Practicing active empathy means proactively figuring out what is necessary and important to the other person in a situation. What they will need to happen to make them feel like it was a really worthwhile deal. Then, when you start your pitch by demonstrating clearly how you can create that for them, you’re able to reverse engineer the result you want by making it super easy for them to say “yes” to your request.

They get what they want and you get what you want - the perfect pitch *chef’s kiss*.

The perfect pitch lies at the intersection of these three things:

• What the other person wants

• What you want

• What you have to offer

What the other person wants in most business scenarios is usually financially based. Whether it’s ticket or drink sales, the social value of an endorsement or association, the promotion of a product, or to save some money, most people in the position to “give a yes” will have some kind of monetary or publicity motivation you need to figure out.

What you want probably seems obvious, but sometimes you need to do a little digging to really figure out what is your primary goal. So you’re trying to get a gig.. are you primarily interested in making money, nurturing a fanbase, or building social value by having proximity to a cool venue or headlining band? Identifying what your core motivation is before you pitch, ensures you’re shooting for an outcome that will make you happy in the long run.

What you have to offer can’t be just “my great band” or “a new album”, but rather it needs to link back to what the other person wants. Make sure you have a clear idea of the kinds of numbers you can generate - whether it’s in audience members, sales, or online eyeballs.

The perfect pitch happens when you nail all three elements, but what happens when one of the three things is missing?

Sure, you will still sometimes get a yes out of the kindness of someone’s heart - but it’s much harder.

For example, if you’re trying to get a gig at a music venue, here is what it looks like when one of the three aspects isn’t covered.

When what they want is missing from the pitch, they’ll simply say no. If you’re genuinely not hitting on what it is they want, then it probably wasn’t the right place to pitch and you should try something else. But if you can give them what they want, it’s important to make it clear in your pitch. Don’t leave it up to them to guess! Think through all the possible reasons they might say no (music style, audience numbers, size of the band, etc), and mitigate that concern in your pitch.

What you want is missing, you might get a yes, but it’s likely the outcome will disappoint you. That’s why it’s so important to figure out what is your primary goal before you make the pitch. Really wanting a listening room but you’ve got a yes from a party bar? That’s a “yes” that will probably become a frustrating experience.

When what you have to offer is missing, you might get the first “yes”, but when it becomes obvious you don’t actually have the thing you said you did (the audience numbers, for example), you won’t get another “yes” from them and it will spread around pretty quickly that you lie to get what you want and then don’t deliver.

Now we’ve covered the three elements needed in a perfect pitch, let’s look at some examples of music industry scenarios and how you would pitch for them:

Gig at a music venue

Situation: A small ticketed music venue where you want to perform.

What they want: Ticket sales and bands aligned with their taste and audience.

What you want: A gig at a venue with a sit-down listening crowd who appreciates your style of music.

What you have to offer: A great live show that fits in with their recent roster of performers and social media analytics to demonstrate a good fanbase in that city.

The pitch:

“Hi Sarah,

I’m from the electronic pop trio Pom Pom and we’re interested in performing at [insert venue name] on the weekend of [insert date].

Our sound is similar to [insert band name] & [insert band name] you recently booked and our live show is alike in energy and vibe.

Our social media and Spotify analytics show regular audience interaction in [insert city] averaging 150 per week and with planned targeted ads for the show we are confident we can bring a crowd of 30+ people.

Please let us know what openings you have that weekend and if you’d be interested in booking us.”

Potential snag: They might already have bookings or holds for that weekend, in which case you can find an alternate date or circle back next time.

Gig opening for a band

Situation: A popular indie band is playing in your town soon and you want to open the show.

What they want: A local band who can bring extra people to the show and increase numbers without causing too much disruption to their show or setup.

What you want: To open for a larger band’s crowd and the social value of proximity to a successful band.

What you have to offer: A local following and the ability to spread the word on the ground.

The pitch:

“Hi Sarah,

I’m from the electronic pop trio Pom Pom and we’re interested in opening for [insert band name] at [insert venue] on [insert date].

Our music is similar to yours in style and we have a strong local following, so we are confident we can draw around 80 people. Our drummer is also a host on the college radio station, and she would be happy to interview you on the day of the show to help boost numbers.

We are a trio so are quick to get on and off stage, and we’d also be happy to share our backline with you depending on what you’re traveling with.”

Potential snag: A lot of opening spots are filled by labels, booking agents, or artist management, so sometimes no matter how good your pitch is the spot will go to someone who already has an in with the management team.

Gig at a non-traditional music venue (cafe, restaurant)

Situation: You’ve found a local cafe, restaurant, or bar that doesn’t usually have music and you’d like to try starting a music night there.

What they want: To sell more drinks and meals.

What you want: A local gig to grow your audience and to make some regular $$.

What you have to offer: A simple setup, a setlist of great cover songs, and a small local following of fans.

The pitch: Ideally, you do this in person at the venue, talking to the manager/owner at a time when they’re not busy.

“Hey, I’m from a local music duo and we’d like to discuss starting a new music night here playing acoustic covers and some originals. I’ve noticed that you’re not very busy on Thursday nights, so this could be a good way to boost your sales that day.

We have a small local following and will take care of advertising the gigs and promoting them in the local groups and gig guides.

I’d like to suggest a trial period of two weeks where you pay us 50% of our standard rate plus meals, and after those two performances, you can decide if it’s working and if you’d like to continue.”

Then you promote the hell out of the gigs, make sure to get your rent-a-crowd along to jump-start it and make it look successful, and then build it from there.

If you’re able to boost customer numbers for them so they sell more drinks and food, they’ll be more than happy to continue.

Potential snag: If they’re a really hard sell but you believe it could be truly successful, you could offer to play just for a meal for 1 or 2 weeks to make it an easier yes for them, after ensuring it will be your normal rate from then on and when it’s clearly a success.

Gig as a freelance player

Situation: You are a live performance freelancer and you want more gigs with new artists.

What they want: Original artists want great players for their shows and want to spend as little as possible (because they’re often losing money on local shows).

What you want: To be hired to play with great artists, build your network, and make money.

What you have to offer: Your time, skills, and experience.

The pitch: Find artists who you are a good musical fit with and who seem to hire a rotating cast of players to be in their band. Tell them how much you enjoy their music and demonstrate your experience and compatibility by mentioning other artists/bands you’ve played for in the past. Acknowledge that you are aware they are probably losing money whenever they have to hire a full band and that you’d like to offer them a reduced-rate deal as a hired gun for them because you’re trying to grow your own network. Make it clear that this is a short-term offer, and that if the gigs start paying well you’d expect to be paid your full rate.

Potential snag: This works best when the person knows you and already trusts your skill level from previous gigs, but you can also build a rapport with a stranger via social media, and once you’ve nurtured an online relationship, reach out with this offer.

Endorsement

Situation: You want a free piece of equipment from a gear company.

What they want: Exposure for their newest lines of gear by having them played by experienced musicians to large audiences who might become inspired to buy the equipment themselves.

What you want: Free gear and the social value of proximity to a company you love.

What you have to offer: Your skill at the instrument and the visibility you have online and/or at gigs.

The pitch: A relationship with a gear company takes time to build and a cold email out of the blue asking for freebies usually won’t work. Try to get an introduction to the rep from another musician and start building a relationship with them demonstrating how you already love and play their gear on a regular basis. When it comes time to ask for something, remember these key things:

• companies will typically only give away gear they are newly promoting, so don’t ask for vintage or custom equipment, or gear that is no longer in its promo cycle.

• you need to have an obvious way to uphold your end of the bargain, so only ask when you have a high-profile gig or online appearance coming up, or a plan to promote the equipment to a strong, engaged online audience.

• you need to be genuinely interested in promoting this particular company’s gear, so don’t send out generic requests to all the companies you can think of. Endorsement deals happen when it’s obvious the player truly loves the gear and believes in the company. Fishing for freebies in any gear pond you can find will just see you sniffed out as a greedy opportunist and denied.

Potential snag: The company might not think you’re at a level yet to warrant an endorsement or they might have already allocated the endorsement budget for that line of gear. Don’t worry though, you’re still building a relationship with them that will likely lead to something in the future.

Hopefully, by now, you’re noticing the common thread in all these examples.

It doesn’t matter what the situation is, practicing active empathy allows you to pitch in a way that makes it super easy for the person to give you the answer you’re looking for - yes.

Before every pitch you make, take some time to think through the three main elements:

• What the other person wants

• What you want

• What you have to offer

Once you’ve figured that out, all you need to do is clearly demonstrate it in your pitch, mitigating as many of their likely concerns or questions as possible.

Humans aren’t all inherently selfish, and sometimes people will say yes to your pitch out of altruism.

But when you figure out what it is the other person wants and demonstrate how you are genuinely able to give it to them, you make “yesses” a lot easier to come by, a lot more often.