Primary Blog/Gigging Musician Podcast/Episode 272 - Making 2025 Your Year of High-End Gigs: Reflect, Refocus, and Rise

Episode 272 - Making 2025 Your Year of High-End Gigs: Reflect, Refocus, and Rise

Monday, January 20, 2025

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Episode Recap

In this episode, Jared reflects on his 2024 gigging experiences—the wins, the lessons, and the challenges—and shares practical tips for setting meaningful goals for 2025. He guides listeners through evaluating the quantity and quality of their gigs, understanding the importance of boundaries, and making the necessary shifts to ensure a successful year. Whether you're looking to book more high-end gigs, increase your income, or simply find more fulfillment in your music career, this episode is packed with actionable advice to inspire your next steps.

Best Quote

"Nobody else can guarantee your success. I can show you the door, but you have to be the one to walk through it."

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Transcript

What's up, renegade musicians? It's Jared Judge. Welcome back to another episode of The Gigging Musician Podcast. And it is currently December 31, 2024.

By the time you're listening to this, it will probably be 2025. So happy new Year. I hope that your New Year's Eve was great.

If you've had New Year's Eve gigs, hope you knock those out of the park. Being that this is the New Year's Eve episode, I would love to kind of chat about goals.

And you know, I'm not going to talk about New Year's resolutions because I don't know, I feel like everybody says that they set New Year's resolutions and then I don't know if you're anything like me, you kind of forget about them a couple months in.

So I don't know, I feel like New Year's resolutions are a little overrated. However, setting goals for yourself and evaluating, you know, where you're at and where you want to be on a constant ongoing basis is a bit more productive. And we're going to do a bit of both.

A little New Year's Eve resolution setting and a little bit more evaluation. So how was your 2024 from a gigging perspective?

Was it where you were hoping to be? You know, did you book the amount of gigs that you wanted and were the quality of those gigs where you wanted? Like, did you feel appreciated as a, as an artist? Did you feel financially valued for your contributions?

And I hope the answer to that question is yes. You know, thinking about my 2024, it was great from a gigging perspective.

I, I played probably more gigs than I want to actually be playing. So the quantity was definitely there. A big quantity.

I don't know the exact number. I'll have to go and check that, which is good to do. We always want to know our numbers, but right now I don't know our numbers.

And quality was also mostly there too. Reflecting on it, I played a lot of high end gigs. I played at the Four Seasons for some governors.

I played some really high caliber like festivals here in the area. One gig paid me $3,000 and flew me down to Austin and Neiman Marcus hired me many, many times and I was all compensated very well for that. There were a couple gigs that the quality was not exactly what I'm looking for.

And those are the bar and restaurant gigs that I also have, which is one at the, the Slate Hotel. I play there twice a month and that pays me, I think 250 each night, which is not bad. But I don't know, it's.

It's not a high end gig in my opinion. And it's twice a month. I do get a nice, you know, meal out of it and they have really, really good food there and you know, I can have a couple drinks afterwards if I want.

But, but in general it's just, it didn't quite scratch the itch. I felt like I was putting in a bit more time than I wanted to for those gigs and effort. And then you know, the other one that the quality isn't quite there is that tea room that I, I play once a month.

It's like both of those venues are very nice, they're very clean, they're upscale, but the pay is not awesome. So it does feel like a lot of work for, you know, medium compensation. And I am actually considering giving those gigs up.

Initially when I booked those gigs I was thinking like I would advertise them as showcase events for people considering me for their private event gigs. But as it turns out, like marketing and getting people to your showcase gigs is pretty heavy, heavy lift. And it's not necessarily something that I want to do.

Right. I don't want to be in the business of getting people to my shows. That's.

I don't know, I'm not interested in that. So that's kind of, you know, something to consider for me going forward with 2025. Um, currently I still have those gigs booked for January, but we'll see.

Yeah. And I was also offered some other interesting gigs. There was somebody who reached out to me for a gig in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, which is a three hour drive each way.

And they, they have a store, it's like, what do you call it? They, they sell clothes, a clothing store. And so they wanted me to play for their, their guests as they were shopping and they would do two days in a row. And I don't know, I kind of got the sense that it wouldn't necessarily be a high end gig and it would be a lot of driving, which drive time.

In my opinion, it's more work than play. Like I'm having so much fun playing that the driving part is a lot of work that I don't know if it's, it's worth the drive to do these things, especially if it's three hours each way. But you know, everybody gets to decide what their standard is.

So that's something that I haven't been persistent on following up with that Steamboat Springs gig just because I don't really know if I want it that much. And so, you know, now I flip the spotlight to you. You know, think about the gigs that you played in 2024.

First off, you know, if you didn't have any gigs, how did that feel that you, you know, how did it feel when you went on Facebook or Instagram and saw your peers playing, having a good time on stage and you were at home or you were in the audience there?

You know, did it make you feel a little bit like you wanted to be on stage there? Did it hurt a little bit? I get that. Or if you did play gigs this year, was the quantity there?

Did you play enough where you felt like, hey, I'm actually an in demand performer and if the quantity wasn't quite there, you know, how, how did that impact you? Did it make you feel again like you wanted to be on stage a bit more, that you wanted to be a bit more in demand?

Then, you know, how about the quality of those gigs? And you know, when I say quality, a lot of it is financial. It's not a hundred percent just financial, but that is a lot of it.

Like if the money is there, then typically the rest of the game is gonna have a high standard. You know, it's going to be a clean venue, people are going to be dressed kind of nice. So was the quality there for you?

And if not, you know, how did that impact things? You know, did that affect your income? Did that affect your ability to purchase new gear?

Did it make things a little uncomfortable with rent, mortgage payments, bill payments, that kind of thing? Did it make you have to, you know, stay, stay in your current job or have a couple extra side hustles? And if that's the case, I feel you right.

You know, as a musician, the goal is to play music and have fun and get paid while doing it. But the actual execution of that is very difficult and it takes a lot of work, a lot of sustained effort. Right? You can't just show up once and hope that it continues happening for you.

You have to put in that effort over time. Although the nice thing about preferred vendor lists is that once you do get on a list with one of those high end venues, you will continue to get recommendations for the like until you retire from music.

But you still are doing a lot of, a lot of work, you know, marketing yourself and replying to leads and then maintaining your high prices.

Because that's another thing is it's easy to get taken advantage of. People will, if you, if you don't establish and maintain your boundaries, people will try to take advantage of your. Your art because they know you want to play music.

So, yeah, if the quality wasn't there, you know, how are you going to change that for 2025? What tweaks or what radical shifts are you going to make in 2025 to guarantee your success? Right?

Nobody else can guarantee your success. Listening to my podcast is great, but, like, I can't reach out to you through your AirPods or your car speaker and book the gigs for you. You have to be the one to do it.

It's a quote from the Matrix. You know, I can only show you the door. You have to be the one to walk through it.

And 2025 is a great time to do that. So, you know, January's here. If you're listening to this podcast, it's going to be in January.

And now is really the time to double down on your. Your musicianship. Right? And it's not just about getting better at music.

In fact, I think most musicians have what it takes to make a living doing this. But, you know, that's. Musicianship won't get you there.

You have to combine your musicianship with music business to make that happen. So if what I'm talking about resonates with you and you're feeling that, that pain, that desire, that motivation, that fire in your belly where you want to make 2025 your year of music, I'd love to help you out with that.

So I'm offering some free strategy sessions on Zoom, one on one, you and me, and we'll chat, I'll ask you a bunch of questions, see where you are at with your gigging, what your goals are, and then help you out.

So to book your free chat, go to fulltimemusicacademy.com/call, and let's make it happen. Alrighty.

That's all I got for y'all today. Hope you have a wonderful New Year's, and remember, "Your music will not market itself!". Take care, everybody.

Have a great 2025.

Episode 272 - Making 2025 Your Year of High-End Gigs: Reflect, Refocus, and Rise

Episode 271 - From Fear to Flourishing: Breaking Out of Your Comfort Zone to Book More Gigs

Episode 270 - Scam Alert: How to Spot and Avoid Fake Gig Inquiries

Episode 269 - The Power of Strategic Free Gigs: Unlocking High-End Opportunities

Episode 268 - Revolutionizing Strings: Mark Wood on Innovation, Business, and Breaking Boundaries

Episode 266 - From Bass to Solo Act: Steve Lyon’s Journey to High-End Gigs

Episode 265 - How Jenny Peters Built Chicago Elegant Piano and Booked Her First Gig

Episode 264 - How to Book High-End Gigs Through Venue Tours and Strategic Sponsorships

Episode 263 - Getting Paid What You’re Worth: Booking High-End Gigs and Smart Relationship Building

Episode 262 - 5 Gigs, One Weekend: Booking High-End Events and Building Relationships in the Music Industry

Episode 261 - Why Most Musicians Struggle to Make Real Money (And How to Break the Cycle)

Episode 260 - Get Featured on The Gigging Musician Podcast: Share Your Story & Amplify Your Reach!

Episode 259 - Landing High-Paying Gigs: Breaking $3K Solo Performances & Booking Holiday Shows

Episode 258 - Navigating Gig Challenges and Maximizing Opportunities at High-End Events

Episode 257 - New Gear, Big Gigs, and Building Corporate Event Connections

Episode 256 - Building Relationships and Delivering Excellence at High-End Gigs

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