The Top 8 Agencies And Listing Sites For Singers and Musicians
Check out some of the best places for you to get yourself listed on to find more work around the UK as a function musician. Just to define the difference between an agency and a listing site. An agency will have you listed for free as part of their agency books and they will handle enquiries for your act. They will then negotiate a fee on your behalf and at the end take either a percentage of your fee or add a fee on top. A listing site costs to be listed and varies depending on what level you get listed. But the enquiries go straight to you and you deal direct with the client meaning you can charge whatever you want without extra fees added to your quote.
Listing Sites
Last Minute Musicians
For me Last Minute Musicians is one of the best listing sites out there. The layout and format of the site allows perspective clients to see very quickly what you’re all about. There’s a wide range of acts that can list on there from singers, bands and DJs to pianists and harpists. You can showcase where you’re willing to travel, add reviews, performance videos, any mp3 audio you want to share as well as a large gallery of your best pictures. On top of that you can be as creative as you want in your bio and description. Personally I have managed to get quite a bit of work from Last Minute Musicians and find their team really helpful. Their fees range from £39.99 for 6 months to £99.99 for 24 months. I think that is incredibly reasonable if you got just one event from being listed.
Hitched
Hitched is another listing site for musicians and is concentrated on the wedding market. It’s login for punters is focused on their wedding date, what they’re looking for on their wedding day and so the types of suppliers on the site mirror what you’d expect to see at a wedding. You’ve got caterers, musicians, venues, make up, photographers etc. But musicians feature heavily on the site and they focus largely on musicians that’ll work for the ceremony, reception, dinner and party. So small solo/duo acts up to full large party bands. With Hitched you’ll get listed your description, location, FAQs, deals, photos, videos, reviews and links to your website and social media. Hitched is dearer and has different bands of fees depending on where you want to sit within a particular region. If you’re spotlighted it may cost you several hundred pounds depending on the area you’re in. And realistically you want to be spotlighted in order to come near the top. So be prepared to spend money with Hitched to see results.
Poptop
Poptop is another listing site where you varying levels of payment and exposure. With your free supplier listing you get minimal visibility but at least you have your listing up on their site and it will be found if potential clients scroll for long enough. With their other packages which range form £74.99 for 6 months to £199.99 for 6 months. You can put as many listings as you want and just like the listing sites before you have a range of elements to your listing including a description, photos, videos, reviews and other basic features. A plus is that you can acquire recommended supplier badges and super supplier status which will drive you up the listing rankings for your area. And you can sync your gigging calendar to the site preventing you from getting unwanted enquiries for dates that are already taken. In my opinion though, the site is hit and miss. I’m not sure about the algorithm they use, how fair it is and if you really get what you put in. But worth trying out.
Agencies
The agencies below are my favourite agencies to work with. They all take a similar cut which is actually to add a percentage on top of your fee rather than take your fee away. They’ve all been around for a number of years, have good communicative backroom staff who send through enquiries regularly. And if you can get yourself listed on these agency books, they’ll definitely be able to get you work as a function musician. Be sure to have the following if you want to join their books — Your act description and bio, hi res photos, videos, mp3s, set up times, testimonials, availabile dates and an act name that doesn’t clash with one you’ve previously used on another agency’s books.
Function Central
Entertainment Nation
www.entertainment-nation.co.uk
Alive Network
Bands For Hire
Tailored Entertainment
www.tailored-entertainment.com
Well that’s it from this week’s blog. I hope it’s been helpful and you manage to get some work from it.