In this episode, Jared discusses a major mistake he encountered in an email from a musician seeking collaboration. He highlights the careless use of placeholder words and lack of personalization, indicating a mass email approach. He emphasizes the importance of researching the recipients and tailoring emails to their specific needs. He stresses the need to focus on the benefits for the recipient, rather than simply highlighting the artist's features. He advises against making careless mistakes and encourages listeners to take the time to craft personalized and curated emails, even when using AI-generated assistance like ChatGPT. He concludes by reminding everyone to proofread their emails before sending them.

"Even if you use AI-generated assistance like ChatGPT, you really have to proofread it. It is not a perfect final draft when it spits out what it spits out. You gotta go through it, shorten it because ChatGPT runs on forever."

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What's up gigging pros! It's Jared Judge welcome to another episode of The Gigging Musician Podcast.

It is early Monday morning, the birds are chirping, I'm still in Wisconsin. And it is beautiful. But I just got an email from a musician that has probably one of the biggest mistakes I've ever seen an email and I get tons of emails from musicians.

So I'm not going to read the entire email. Because I don't know if this musician listens to this podcast, probably not simply because of the style of email that they've written. But the subject line is exciting opportunity for collaboration with artists name.

And then inside this email, it is it starts with dear parenthesis, booking agents, and parentheses. So you can already see a huge red flag with that they didn't take the time to customize it or personalize it. It's just clearly a mass email.

And then it starts with, I hope this message finds you well. My name is blank blank, like I'm writing to you on behalf of an incredibly talented artists blank. I recently came across your exceptional work as a booking agent.

And I was truly impressed by your track record of securing remarkable opportunities for your clients. And then it's like another 10 paragraph long email. And then it ends.

We truly believe with your guidance and expertise, comma, parenthesis, artists name, and parentheses can reach new heights and captivate audiences around the world. So tons of red flags feels like a football game here.

But the idea is, this is clearly written with chat GPT, which I don't have a problem with that. But what I do have a problem with is how carelessly this one is done to the point where they literally haven't replaced any of the, you know, placeholder words with the actual word.

And then it chatGPT tends to write very long emails unless you tell it to tell it to shorten your words, or write in a specific style.

And so the reason why this is a huge mistake that this musician has made, is that by not replacing any of those fill in words with their own information, it's very clear that they didn't spend any time or effort on this email, they didn't really think about who they were sending it to.

Also, if they did any research, they would know that I'm not a booking agent. So I was the wrong audience to send it to. And I've gotten a lot of emails like this, I feel like I'm on a booking agent list, just because of my help with getting musicians gigs.

But I'm not a booking agent. So they could have done a little bit of research on that. And then just the simple like, you know the rest of the content of the email. I liked that they started to think about what is in it for the booking agent.

And I'm just trying to read through this email real quick to find any any specific benefit. They say enclosed with this message, you will find the artists electronic press kit, which provides comprehensive information about their background achievements and the incredible music they have created.

The EPK showcases their distinctive style, powerful vocals and ability to connect with audiences on a profound level. Thank you. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think anybody who receives this email will know what an EPK is.

So you don't really need to define it for them. And then they say, By collaborating with artists name, you will have the opportunity to work with a truly exceptional artist who's ready to take the world by storm.

Their EPK highlights their past successes, blah, blah, blah. So that is another big issue I'm seeing with this email is that there is no benefit to the booking agent. Like they just highlight all the features of this artist, but no benefit to the booking agent.

A better email would be to showcase what can this artists do for the booking agent. Right? Like you have to really paint it out.

Paint the picture that if you work with this artist, you will maximize the revenue and profits, you will elevate the name of your agency and all these different things that this this email did not highlight the what's in it for the booking agent.

So I just thought that was interesting. If you send out mass emails, Look, I get it. I do too. Right? That's kind of the game that a lot of us play. However, I take the time to personalize each one so that I don't make careless mistakes like leaving in the brackets with the insert artists name here.

And then I also in my email I'm very clear about what's the benefit to the person reading it. So hopefully, this helps some of you, when you're writing emails, and mass emails, like, I don't have a problem with those if you don't make these careless mistake, and you know, I understand this artists, it's might be their first time doing it.

Or if it's not their first time doing it, and they're playing a numbers game. To me, that's kind of careless and thoughtless. I think there should be some strategy behind it. Even if it's like, you know, you don't want to piss off the booking agents by doing this.

But obviously, you get a better result if you don't make these mistakes. So if even if you just want to get a better result for yourself, take the time to write a more personalized and curated email.

You can use chatGPT, but you really have to proofread it. It is not a perfect final draft. When it spits out what it spits out. You gotta go through it, shorten it because ChatGPT runs on forever. And then in in Fulltime Music Academy.

There's this running joke now, that ChatGPT always starts every single email that it writes with. I hope this email finds you well, or I hope this email finds you in good health and spirits.

So when you see something like that it's an instant red flag. This was written by chatGPT I'm not sure everybody's caught on to that yet. But if you use it enough, you absolutely will. Alright, hope that was helpful.

Don't make those mistakes, personalize your emails. And yeah, read proofread your emails before you send them. Alright, take care everybody.

Thanks for listening and I'll see you on the next episode of The Gigging Musician Podcast.