Wineries are beautiful and people love going to them especially in the Spring, Summer, and early Fall. What’s great is that wineries love to offer entertainment to their patrons as part of the whole experience. This offers a great opportunity to bands, singer-songwriters, and solo performers to generate income by performing at these wineries. Most shows are usually three hours and the pay ranges from $100 to $500 depending on the winery and how well you are able to sell merchandise and collect tips. Unfortunately, there are lots and lots of artists trying to get these gigs and there are not enough weekends in the season to accommodate all of the fabulous artists.
However, don’t give up! If you’ve never played a winery gig, you still have a chance to make it happen. All you have to do is find the contacts, reach out to them, follow up with them, and wait. The wait will take a while. Sometimes the wait may be as long as a year, but once you get one winery gig, you can get them all. Here’s how:
- Do a basic search on google for wineries in a certain area. Start with one state and ask google to locate all the wineries in that state. It might be easier to pull up a google map and start identifying wineries from there. Go down the list of wineries that pop up and visit each of their websites.
- Find out if they offer music. While you’re on their website look around and see if you can find a calendar of events or a music series page. You are trying to find out if they offer live entertainment and when. You can use this information to your advantage when you are ready to make contact. For instance, if they offer live entertainment on Sundays at 5:00 June – August, you can say that you are available on Sundays for their Sunday Entertainment Series. It lets them know that you know a little about them and what they offer and makes you seem more credible. Another thing this information will tell you is whether or not you are a good fit for them. Check out the musicians they present. Would your music be a good fit? If not, keep moving and don’t bother contacting them. It’ll be a waste of your time.
- Find out who the contact is. Also, while you are on the website grab phone numbers, names, and e-mail addresses. At this point you are ready to make contact. My preferred form of communication is e-mail so I chose to e-mail them. But if you want to get on the phone and call, it will probably speed the process along. I sent something very quick and general. I kept it short and sweet. Here’s what I sent:
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Subject Line: Live Entertainment Available for Winery Events
Hi there,
My name is Anitra Jay. I’m part of an Acoustic Soul Duo based in Nashville, TN. I sing and play guitar and my husband does percussion on hand drums. We provide a unique interesting upbeat mix of sultry soul and pop. I came across your website and thought I’d reach out about your live entertainment needs. Would you tell me who’s in charge of booking?
I’ve included my information below! Have a great week.
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Thanks,
Anitra Jay
http://www.anitrajay.com/
Quick Facts
• Funky Interracial Husband and Wife Acoustic Soul Duo – performing a sultry combination of Acoustic Soul & Pop
• Upbeat, acoustic-driven music mixed with audience interaction and improv comedy
• Featured in Charlotte’s Creative Loafing Dec 2014
• Nominated for Best Singer-Songwriter of 2013 by Charlotte Music Awards
• Featured in “Pride Magazine” and “Enjoy Life” local Charlotte publications
• For an in-depth bio, music samples, photos, and reviews visit http://www.anitrajay.com/electronic-press-kit
“We all thought you were amazing. You have a beautiful voice! Even my sound man asked where we found you and wanted your business card. Thank you so much for coming.” – Patty Hanson, Johns Creek Arts Festival – Town of Johns Creek
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I also included a great promo shot, a very short bio as well as a link to my online press kit.
This process took about an hour. I sent this e-mail out to about 10 individual wineries. Half of them responded and I ended up getting two offers from this e-mail. The gig was very well paid and I even got a lead on another gig.
Once you start making contact, follow up. If you don’t hear back from them within 2 weeks, reach back out to them. I would reach back out to them every month after that until you hear something. They can either say yes or no. You won’t get what you want unless you ask for it.
