Tag Archive: musician

I hope you are all well and thriving or at the very least surviving the current ever changing times that we are in. Yeah I know it really is challenging but I guess we have to find ways to see what we DO have. For example I have a roof over my head, running clean water, power, food and am safe and I can still afford wine and chocolate on a Friday night which puts me in the top 5% on the planet, so in that context I am thriving :O).  However, if I jump into the context of not being able to travel as easily and the difficulty booking gigs, the decimation of the live music industry, well that’s a whole different story…..it’s not quite the end of the world but it’s getting close 😁. Yeah ok that was a bit dramatic but some days it feels like that so that is when I have to go back to my lucky to be in the top 5% posi. 

Me getting the admin done

After a 6 mths break from doing gigs I have now started booking again. I am keen to get out there playing again, although I say this as the latest reports are showing surges in COVID cases across the country.  Gigs don’t just pop up out of the blue, there is a lot of work to do behind the scenes, unless you are well known of course. For the sea of singer songwriters out there such as myself, there is a lot of chasing up to do and more…… It’s a very competitive area to work and even more so if you are female but I am not going to go there today, because if I use that as my excuse I will never get things happening. I won’t deny that being a woman in this industry has it set backs but I am changing tact today. I am going to look for the benefits and forge my way forwards. It’s important because there aren’t many of us and I have an opportunity to offer something to the up and coming young female musicians. They CAN NOT BE what they CAN NOT SEE.❤️

There is a huge amount that goes on behind the scenes for musicians and artists and the picture above is to show you that I do spend a lot of time on my laptop. Yeah OK it’s not that bad but I was short of photos for this blog post so I felt an up and close of me doing the not so glamorous work would fit the bill 😁.  It’s Monday lunchtime and I am still in my PJs getting all those emails and promo’s done.😁

So what is it that we have to do?

Phone venues to ask for gigs (it’s so hard!), then write emails with our bio, attach links to our work. You have to have examples of live performance to share and your social media pages. We have to keep our social media pages active and updated all the time. I have recently been calling venues in Melbourne to play a few gigs there so I need to make sure that they can see that I do have “something to offer”. It’s not easy to promote yourself and your creative work, most artists are not comfortable with this aspect of life as a creative but we have to do it. I then make contact with radio shows that play my genre of music and send them my latest releases and sometimes I get an interview or get asked to go into the studio to play a few tunes.

I have a long bio and a short bio that I send depending on what’s needed. Just one bio isn’t enough though because there are always variations depending on the venue. Recently I have been applying for Festivals which need to be done at least 6 to 10 months in advance. You have to put your expected fees which could be the make or break of getting the gig. Many musicians who really want to play may undercut themselves which undervalues the work of all musicians. However, I am not going to be too critical of this because I really don’t know what the answer is. Many people will say we love what we do and don’t mind playing for free which is not true of course, yes we love what we do but it doesn’t mean we can afford to not get paid or to be grossly underpaid. The arts is undervalued across the board and the whole culture of this country and of how important art is viewed and received needs to to change.

Anyway how did I get here?

I am supposed to be telling you about my upcoming gigs in Melbourne but first I want to thank Michael Crichton from 94.1 fm 3WBC radio Melbourne for playing my recent releases “Pledge my Soul” and “He’s My Brother” on two of his shows this week. I say recent releases because in these COVID times it has been much more difficult to release tracks due to the lack of opportunities to perform so I am going keep these as “recent” to make up for the lost time. 😁

Upcoming gigs

As stated in the heading of this post I am heading to Melbourne again, just for a couple of weeks but I do have some gigs booked in. The first one is a House Concert on Sunday August 7th. I will be sharing the evening with the lovely Cate Taylor who is an Indi folk singer songwriter, we are going to be doing an intimate concert at a friends house,  Jo & Dave’s, who are wonderful hosts living in Parkville. There are very limited seats s if you would like to join us please email me dawnbarringtonmusic@gmail.com. The tickets are $20 (supper and drinks are provided).

Tuesday 9th I will be playing at Open Studio for a dinner and music evening from 6.30pm – 8.30pm. It is going to be a bonus Tuesday free event, get your tickets from Eventbright to book a spot at this dedicated music venue in Northcote. Here is the facebook event.

Then on Thursday 18th August I will be playing for the Writers Block at the The Lomond Hotel which I am also really looking forward too.

If you would like to purchase any of my tracks please download them from Bandcamp and please also subscribe to my Youtube page where you can be updated on any new videos or play the ones already uploaded. Last but not least you can also follow my music page on Facebook where I will always keep you updated where I am playing or you can go to “Upcoming gigs” on this site.❤️