In this episode, Jared Judge shares his recent experience at the Destination Colorado Holiday Showcase, where he sponsored the event with his live electric violin performance. Jared dives into the strategic reasons behind his participation, aiming to captivate corporate planners and destination representatives with his music, much like a tantalizing sample at Costco. He discusses the importance of networking, the power of a well-curated playlist, and the technical setup that amplified his performance throughout the event. Jared also delves into a four-step framework for musicians to elevate their careers, from honing their craft to leveraging online platforms and building a robust personal network. This episode is a blend of practical advice, personal insights, and the joy of connecting through music.

"I always call it the gig vault. I just made a bunch of deposits into my gig vault."

- BookLive: Everything you need to start marketing and booking your act online (without having to hire or rely on a tech team!)​
- Your First Gig: Everything you need to book your first high-paying gig.
- Fulltime Music Masterclass: The Secret To an Unlimited Stream of High-Paying Private Event Gigs …Without Spending a Fortune on Online Advertising or Having Any Connections!
- Fulltime Music Academy (Gig Vault): 24,665 High-End Venues + Event Planners: Use this directory to book your highest-paid gig to-date.

What's up, gigging pros? It's Jared Judge. Welcome back to another episode of The Gigging Musician Podcast. It's been a while since I recorded an episode.

I apologize about that. But here we are. We're recording one and I'm actually on my way back from a showcase event called the Destination Colorado Holiday Showcase. That is an event that I sponsored with my live electric violin.

And basically what it was was a giant expo with tables and booths featuring a lot of different corporate event planning resources in the Denver area targeted at getting corporate planners to go to various parts of Colorado and host their corporate event in Bale or Aspen or Pueblo or Aurora, all these different towns in Colorado, which was awesome to be able to play.

And so the reason I played, obviously, is because I want both the different destinations that we're showcasing and the corporate planners who were browsing and networking.

I wanted them to hear my music. Kind of know when you go to Costco and you sample some of those delicious chocolate covered pretzels, then you're going to want to buy them. You want to buy them as gifts.

It's a holiday season. You're going to want to get them for everybody because it tastes so damn good. Oops.

I hope that d doesn't turn this into an explicit podcast. Sorry about that. I'm just so excited.

I had a ton of fun. So the showcase was awesome. I met tons of people.

One of the people that was there, in fact, they provided a light up LED dance floor that I was on. It was about ten foot by ten foot. It was checkered with mirrors and led lights with a couple colored bars behind me.

Got some cool photos of that. This guy, he runs a DJ company in Colorado that we have worked together. We played a wedding together at Winter Park Resort and he was there providing the dance floor.

And that was literally right next to where I was playing on the dance floor. He had a booth right next to me and so it was really cool to hang out with him. And then he's like, dude, that was amazing.

I reused a playlist. It's a good playlist. I've used it probably about four events now that it's just a nice mix.

It's got a bunch of Taylor Swift in it because the eras tour means tons of people have Taylor on their minds. It has despacito on it. It's got, man, what are the songs on it? It's got a little bit of Sam Smith.

It even has some hosier which I talked about on a previous episode. And it's just an all around good mix, varied energy level, a little bit of EDM, danceable music just to bring the energy up at some points. But yeah, it's a solid playlist that I'm happy to reuse.

And then they plugged me. I had my mixer. I plugged my electric violin into the mixer and my iPad into the mixer as well, which was playing my backing tracks.

And then that mixer was going into their house PA system. And yeah, they pumped me through the entire event. The event was amazing.

The interior, I don't know how many square feet things are, but the entire interior, like the walls were all projector screens and they had projectors going all around it with themed, like holiday themed things that included the sponsors logos, which my logo was on there, which is pretty awesome.

And yeah, when I finished setting up and sound checking, then I did go to a couple of different tables and just introduce myself. And then importantly, afterwards I went to all of the tables, unfortunately, as everybody was breaking down, so they were kind of busy.

But I did make it a point to give everybody my card and just the amount of compliments that I got, it was unreal. It was pretty awesome. So I don't know.

I've been debating should I do a podcast on how to play with djs and backing tracks, but I might save that just to tie a bow around this one, which is, again, the power of networking and sponsoring events.

I was thinking about it and I'm going to be doing the upcoming wedding gig challenge. But this framework that I'm about to share applies to all kinds of gigs, which is how to level up and get the highest paying types of gigs and level zero.

Or I guess it's like step one is you do have to have good music, right? It doesn't have to be great. I don't think my music is great, but it's good. It fits the purpose of what people need it to do.

So if it's a corporate event, they need me to manage the energy level, provide something unique and entertaining so that people have a great time and can socialize without feeling awkward. And I think my music does a really good job at that. Probably a great job at that.

If it's a wedding that I'm playing, they need my music to fill the role of creating the atmosphere, preparing the guests for the wedding to come, or if it's cocktail hour, once again, entertaining people, providing an interesting backdrop that allows people to chat without feeling awkward. Kind of a similar purpose to corporate events in that way. So that's step one is have good music.

That fills the role that people needed to build. Step two is leverage online platforms to get these gigs right. You can get some pretty good work off of GigSalad, TheBash, WeddingWire, TheKnot, and some of the other ones that crop up Thumbtack.

You can get some pretty good work. It's not going to be consistent work, and then you're going to deal with some headaches, like people who ghost you. And oftentimes people will ghost you because, well, they weren't that serious about hiring you in the first place.

Maybe your music is not good enough. It doesn't fill the role that they're looking for, or especially on these directories, the platforms, they tend to attract lowballing clients, people who expect music for $100, which, if that's your clientele, that's fine, but it's not my clientele. Step three is to build your own platform.

So remember, step one is build your music, make it good, and fit the roles that it's needed for. Step two is leverage online directories, leverage those online platforms. Step three is build your own platform.

And when I say that, I mean build up a great website that actually talks about how you do step one, show a wedding. How do you do a wedding? Show a corporate event. What it's like to hire you for a corporate event and make it easy for them to take the next step.

Part of building your own platform is also social media. Yes. Have an Instagram, have a TikTok, have a Facebook and post to it regularly, which I'm excited that the Dream Team, which is our done for you service at BookLive, has started to manage people's social media for them, which is awesome.

And then step four is, in my opinion, where you want to be in the private events world is to have your network do all of the work of getting you gigs. Right?

Step one, two, and three is you doing all the work. Step four is having other people, having a qualified network of private event planners, venues, industry partners do the work of getting you gigs.

And that is why, my friends, I was exhibiting at the Destination Colorado showcase, because that is how I build my network. I always call it the gig vault. I just made a bunch of deposits into my gig vault.

I put some gold coins in there and Chokan gave my cards out. Got some cards that I need to follow up with because I'm building up my network. And then some of them will remember, hey, remember that electric violinist who played some cool music?

Some Taylor Swift? We got to have him for our next blank. We got to share them with our client. And, of course, some of them won't, right? Some of them will forget.

Some of them just don't think about that. Which is why it is on me. The responsibility is on me, the business owner, to follow up with them and make sure that my network, I lock it in, seal the deal.

So that's how that works. So that's step four. So again, step one is good music that fits the role that people need it for.

Step two is leverage online directories to get you gigs. Step three is build your platform, your website, social media. Step four is have your network find all of the gigs for you.

So through a combination of that, you will be unbeatable, unstoppable. And I've definitely been experiencing that here in Denver. So much fun doing these.

Know, at these events, I don't have to be a great networker. I've become a good one. But the music does speak for itself because I've worked on step one.

And so maybe I might suggest, considering, is your step one good enough, do you need to work on your music? And that might be the case. And that's okay. And then work on the other steps.

So I hope that's helpful. Yeah. I'll let you guys know, of course, what comes out of this Destination Colorado showcase.

And hopefully I get some nice, fun gigs in Vale, Aspen, get to spend the night, get a free lift ticket, go skiing. It'll be fun. Alrighty.

Thanks, my friends. It's been good to chat with you again. If you want to join our free Wedding Gig Challenge, go to WeddingGigChallenge.com and register. It's totally free. And then after you register, you'll be offered a free upgrade to the VIP ticket, which is amazing.

You should totally do it because it gets you a free 30 day trial of BookLive, which inside of BookLive, you will find all of the private event venues and planners in your area.

And there is literally a way to get the contact information for all of them inside of BookLive now, which I'm so excited about because like I said, that's how you build your network and get your network to give you gigs.

So get your free 30 day trial at FulltimeMusicAcademy.com.

Actually, no. Go to weddinggigchallenge.com, upgrade to the VIP, and then I will show you exactly how to use it and build up your network.

All right, thanks for tuning into another episode, episode of The Gigging Musician Podcast. Remember, "your music will not market itself!". Bye, everybody.