Thank You for responding to artist inquiries. There are many of you!
As for those who aren’t so attentive about their replies to booking inquiries, we really do need your help. Some CIYH artists tell us that the reply rate feels very thin. And this makes artists feel like they’re invisible to you, or that your series has shut down.
Part of the problem resides with the how some artists communicate. And we’re working hard on that with our artists.
But the rest of the problem resides with the many non-responders among us.
When I talk this over with hosts, I learned that we non-responders consist of five groups:
1. we no longer offer concerts, but we haven’t yet asked to have our CIYH profile removed
2. we are not booking at this time, but we didn’t update our CIYH profile to say so (changing our booking light to red)
3. we choose to ignore artist inquiries as a matter of philosophy…”Isn’t it obvious? Silence = No. Hello?”
4. we don’t have the heart to say “No”
5. we don’t have the time to keep up with the inquiries.
Any of these sound familiar? Happily, there’s a solution to each.
If you’re not in a position to do anything productive with artist inquiries at this particular time, change your booking light from yellow or green to red (I can help you). And be sure to change it right back when you resume booking.
If you don’t have time to keep up with inquiries, you might pull together simple template responses that signal No or Maybe. There are several easy/effective ways to say “No Thanks” to an artist. Here’s one that is firm but not offensive.
“Thanks for your interest in [YOUR SERIES NAME]. We’ve reviewed your [MP3, VIDEO, EPK]. Nice [MATERIAL, SONGS, STUFF] but we feel that our audience is not a good fit for your music. We wish you well with your touring. Take care.”
Or here’s an even shorter one.
“Thanks for reaching out. I don't think our crowd is the best match for your tunes, so we'll have to pass. Best..."
The important thing is to reply with a Yes or No or Maybe in some form.
Host silence is poison to artists. Artists are thick skinned, but they aren’t mind readers. “No” is valuable information that they need and want to hear from you. Really. For artists, No always beats Silence. As some will tell you, No is their 2nd favorite response.
Now, on the other hand, if you get an impersonal email blast from an artist, or if the artist doesn’t follow your artist instructions, or doesn’t dovetail with your stated genre preference, all bets are off. The artist hasn’t done their homework and it’s OK to ignore their inquiry. Otherwise, we want to reply to each artist inquiry within one week. Fran and I feel this is a reasonable expectation of hosts who accept inquiries from artists.
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