Don't break the bank by feeding your musicians

Today one of my client's called me to discuss what to feed the musicians that are playing at his wedding. For evening events, I normally recommend that musicians are given a hot meal because it is a long evening for them. However, the venue wanted to charge £35 a head for a pasta meal and soft drinks. Understandably the client wasn't happy at this additional charge.
I was able to get in touch with the venue and discovered they offer a 'suppliers'' meal which consists of a baguette, fruit, cake and soft drinks for considerably less. I agreed with the client that this was a suitable option and I have warned the musicians to eat a substantial meal during the day.
We do recommend that clients feed the musicians; not because it is a jolly for them, but because a 3 hour play session is actually more like 5 hours, and it is unlikely they can buy food there - or the sight of them eating ready prepared food doesn't look good! I heard of one musician (not one of mine) routinely bringing tinned sardines and he would prepare a sardine pasta salad, which produced an awful smell. This would have been avoided if he had been fed!
However, we wish to avoid the situation of clients spending a considerable amount of money on feeding musicians. Here are my tips:

• If the venue allows it, get someone in the party to put together an assortment of ready prepared sandwiches from M&S, with fruit, cake and soft drinks.
• If this isn't allowed, discuss with the venue if they have a 'suppliers'' meal available.
• If they don't; ask how much it would be to produce a simple vegetable pasta bake for the musicians.
  
• As a rule of thumb, afternoon playing, you serve sandwiches, for evenings, a hot meal.

If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to call or email me. Our website is http://www.nsn-productions.com

Tips for musicians

I regularly have enquiries from musicians who wish to be represented by NSN Productions Limited. Of course, we are unable to represent everyone, since we wish to ensure our present, and very good loyal musicians have the best opportunities to have work. However, I've compiled a list of tips if you wish to approach a music management company.

1. Find out about the company before you cold call or approach by email. Refer to some of this information when you approach the company.
2. All of our entertainers - including comedians and speakers to have Public Liability Insurance.
3. Have marketing material, including 'action' photos and .mp3 samples available to email. We are certainly not going to go to your website, or download samples: you must provide them for us.
4. Be prepared to be flexible over fees and also the size of the band. We have 2 bands comprising of 9 musicians AND 2 sound engineers. In these times, fewer clients are in a position to afford large bands when they can book smaller bands for less. No good music management company would send musicians out for a poor fee, but do be flexible.
5. Keep the music management company up to date with new repertoire lists, 'news' stories and new line ups of bands.
6. We occasionally have opportunities for promotions: either on the radio, in magazines, at exhibitions, etc. A good musician will jump at this opportunity and a good management company (such as NSN) will guide and advise to make the most of the opportunity.
7. It might seem tempting to 'double cross' your manager by approaching clients direct at a gig for future work. Most clients do not like this as they've built up a relationship with the manager. Management companies don't like it - or you distributing your own marketing material at their gigs. I assure you, you will have no further work from that manager. Don't promote yourself at a gig arranged by someone else. We have an arrangement that if a client or guest approaches the musicians, they forward the enquiry to me and they receive 10% of the fee if the gig goes ahead as a 'thank you'.
8. Give feedback to the manager, particularly if there was an unforeseen snag at an engagement. I keep a very open dialogue with my musicians to ensure the very highest quality of service is available to the client from start to finish. If there is a snag, I need to know about it to avoid a repeat, and also to discuss it with the client.
9. It goes without saying that punctuality is a must for all gigs. Rather arrive an hour early, than late and in a panic.
10. It also goes to say that you should be sober and have not taken drugs before or during an engagement. Again, if you do, you are unlikely to have repeat business.
11. If you meet an agent or manager at a social occasion, don't do the hard sell. Last week I was at a garden party, and an ex-colleague, who hadn't taken much interest in me, found out what I was doing. I had her following me around, doing the hard sell for 90 minutes: spoiling my afternoon. Her card went in the bin. Had she called or followed up the contact a couple of days later, rather than 'hitting' straight away, I would have been more interested in her.

In the end, I am human and my aim is to provide excellent service to clients, but also to be fair, open and supportive to my musicians and entertainers.

See our website http://www.nsn-productions.com

Expanding our Services

We have recently been in discussions with business people/companies and organisations that are keen for us to increase the range of services we offer to potential clients. Existing clients trust us and are also keen for us to develop our brand further - and also to assist them in increasing their events and activities.
Two of the areas are in Comedy for comedy nights and also Public Speaking. For anyone that has arranged conferences, away days or business meetings, this is sometimes a minefield. Rather like the 'Oh, I wish I'd known about you when I was organising my wedding' is another 'chat up' line at business meetings.
At this stage I am contemplating how to combine our focus on high quality delivery - from customer care to the quality of the 'entertainment, whilst not stifling the creativity of the performers. After all the comedy speakers and public speakers are experts - rather like the saxophone soloist. In the end, my aim is for the client to be very pleased and for their expectation to be surpassed by the quality of service we provide.
I have a couple of options; of course the contracts produced should be as clear as for the musicians: specifying exactly what clients are expecting, but also I need to take real care in who I choose to represent. There is no value in a speaker 'trying out a new speech' because they have a 'booking' - that isn't satisfactory to me!
So.... watch this space. I am sure in a few weeks or months, I will have moved this concept forward, without compromising on the core value of NSN!
Go to http://www.nsn-productions.com