Cover Band Confidential's Podcast (Music Business, Gigging Tips & Making Money as a Musician)

When somebody asks for your services on not-nearly-enough notice and has weirdly specific conditions to your participation in their event, what do you do??

This episode's special guest is Mike Schulte of The Pork Tornadoes! Filling in for an anniversary-vacationing Adam Johnson! What it feels like when something is new--the small wins start piling in and the whole thing starts feeding on itself in a virtuous circle of success! A discussion of the operating states of a project, and what it feels like when the state is Momentum!

Ever had a time when suddenly all the attention was on you? Today's episode deals with two cover/tribute acts who suddenly found themselves in the limelight, and what each of them did about it.  We apologize for the presence of the phrase "The Pee Band" in this episode.

Among the topics we touched on this week: What it's like when you don't feel like you can trust your rig. (Hint: It's not great.) Plus, now is the time to spend your year's earnings with "tax purposes" as the excuse, so let 'er rip.

This week our first Patreon supporter Adam Runnels co-hosts the podcast and we discuss how to handle a gig where nothing goes right, and how much rehearsal is TOO much rehearsal. Thank you so much for tuning in!  If you want to help us be sure to like, subscribe and share us with your friends!   Follow us on social media  Facebook.com/coverbandconfidential Instagram @coverbandconfidential Twitter...

A very zen episode from your boys. First, a story about changing leadership at venues, and how we have to not let that throw us. Then new songs for 2021! Then two contrasting gear stories, one with a happy ending, one less so.

A big old catch-up-fest for a couple podcast pals who haven't seen each other in a couple weeks. Then: Dan unveils the branding and thinking behind his new project, named The.... well listen and find out.

This week Adam interviews his drummer,  Nathan Weaver, about how he got into the band, and something that COMPLETELY changed how he approaches gigs in the past year.  You can follow Nathan  on IG at @natethedrummer81 or subscribe to his YouTube channel! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC77fEQ7fVYGpBMf94qTKofA Thank you so much for tuning in!  If you want to help us be sure to like, subscribe and s...

What documentation do you need to do this job professionally? What do you need to sit down at your computer and just  create ? This week we talk about the documentation, materials, and collateral that your band needs to represent itself well, protect its interests, and communicate with marketers, venues, and technicians!

This week we are pulling an episode previously only available on Patreon for you guys!  Ben Ivey is a full-time audio engineer who has worked with Members Only as well as national touring acts all over the country.  This episode is all about how you as a musician should approach sound checks as well as how musicians can do this kind of work themselves for their own bands. Thank you so much for tun...

Scared to have a straightforward pricing conversation with your customers? Does the thought of designing price tiers give you nightmares? Do you shiver at the thought of losing business to cheaper competitors, or charging so little it's not worth your while? Well this is the episode for you because we deal with pricing and then we deal with scary material for this season! Shouted-out particulars y...

What is there to deal with while getting your sound right for a particular space? Is the group of humans there your audience already? How should you deal with them? These questions and more on this week's episode!

How to know when it's time to confront one of your people about their performance, their impact on your brand, or any other reason. If you're going to be the band leader, that means you have to be be the grown-up. Here's our thoughts on how to deal with that!

We all experience it--the inevitable negative review, Internet hater, or snarky jealous musician. How do you handle it? Go into a spiral? Brush off your shoulder? Take the feedback and improve? This episode with special guest Mike Schulte (who's gotten some Internet hate in his time) talk about what that feels like and what to do with it. Also Disney, Halloween, and RIP Norm MacDonald.

We're putting our foot down. If you're a musician there are a few things you just have to stop doing. And in this episode we will tell you them. Also Adam preps karaoke and Dan preps Disney. All around a preppy, prohibit-y episode.

No matter how you slice it, having a cover band means dealing with personnel. Tonight Adam and Dan discuss their current challenges, opportunities, and complexities of working with that Most Dangerous Game: Man. (And women. theoretically. But statistically: man.)

The boys are starting to get their feet back under them, gig-wise, and exploring these newfangled 10 year old things that the pandemic brought front and center: QR Codes. Adam's talked about them. Dan's experimented with them. Today's ep is a deep dive into how they can be used to get your content in front of audience members. Also: A rubber duck, a weird crackle, a fishing child, and maybe they'r...

We're a LITTLE unfocused in this episode, friends. We'll be the first to admit it. Adam covers the first outing of his new project, Dan talks about his guitar needing to get to the shop and how he's getting around since then, we discuss band names and branding, and various other short topics.

Tonight we're joined by Adam's fine co-frontperson (and co-spousal-unit) Amber! The topic of setlist flow and interstitial mid-show chat came up on Facebook, and she had Things to Say! So we brought 'er on to say them. Minor topics include how to get through a show in the face of catastrophic equipment failure, doggy "day care", and whether silent rehearsals really are.

How do you become a stage-presence monster if your whole gigging life has been about focusing on quality playing? Is it even worth it? How can you make the trip from here to there? These are the questions Adam and Dan focus on this week. Also PLEASE support Steve Witschel who remains hospitalized with Covid-19. He's meant a lot to all of us, and even though his immediate outlook is improving, it l...

After a general gigging update (and a VERY mysterious tease about a VERY mysterious Zoom call), we get right down to it: There's a magic word. If you know it's magic, and LIVE like it's magic, it'll transform everything about your band and music career, relationships, career, and life in general. So listen up.

Welcome to Cover Band Confi-DAN-tial! Adam's at the beach, and Dan's just got a couple thoughts to drop.  First: Momentum. Getting the proverbial ball rolling, and then what to do with it once it is. Second: From a listener question, should your marketing and market approach target venues? Should your social content and ad spend target restaurant owners and other kinds of bookers? (And is Dan actu...

In this fine episode, Dan drops some thoughts about how to cancel a gig and leave everyone happy (by being a solution, not a problem). Then Adam shares how his cucumber-cool approach may have created an awesome new relationship and set of opportunities (by being a solution, not a problem). Short version of this episode: read the title. This episode's outro bumper is brought to us by show patron Ad...

This week Adam shares what it was like when his band got together for the first time in a year and a half (spoilers: there's work to do). Then Dan talks about his strategy for building his email list, and the simple trick that's grown his list by 25% in the last two weeks. So should you!

The world is opening up, and it feels like the demand for live entertainment has never been higher! There are two new things to keep in mind: The effort to maintain and nurture and grow relationships and opportunities, and the desire to expand into this new environment wisely and steadily and with an eye on work/life balance.  Today we talk about both of those things, along with, of course, Velvet...