How do I book Music By The Bay house concerts?
The concerts take place in my home. All of the proceeds go to the performers and I spend considerable time and money on food, promotion, setup and cleanup. I do the concerts for three reasons:
Therefore I have to be truly excited about presenting the performers I book. Most of them I have been listening to for years (sometimes decades). Two or three per year are recent discoveries who somehow caught my attention (but NEVER by asking for a gig). The vast majority I already know personally, having met them at festivals, concerts, etc. The exceptions are almost exclusively musicians from Ireland, Scotland, England, and the Canadian Maritimes.
Unless you are already a favorite (in which case you probably already know it), there is no chance that I'm going to book you. I have close to 2000 folk CDs, lots of LPs and cassettes, and about 200 hours of concert recordings. We have 24 hour folk radio in the Boston area and there are excellent webcasts that I try to listen to. I have no time or desire to listen to unsolicited CDs from people looking for a gig, and I can't keep up with the recycling.
My tastes are very specific. Look at the list of artists I've presented since 1996. If your music is very similar in style and quality to a dozen or so of them, you might be a good fit. Otherwise look elsewhere for gigs.
Some musicians use a gig inquiry as an opportunity to ask for suggestions of other venues in the area to approach. I might do this from time to time for a close friend, but I don't have time to do it for strangers. There are lists of New England venues available at http://wumb.org and http://www.music-for-robin.org .