How To Hire A Children's Musician

You have a great event and you want to hire a children's musician. Where do you find children's musicians? Well, here for starters! How do you hire a children's musician? Here are some things you should do to hire a children's musician:

1) Ask friends, coworkers, venues and other musicians for recommendations.
2) Visit the musician's website.
a) Listen to sound clips and/or videos on the website, if available.
b) Read reviews.
c) View program offerings.
d) Review performance history.
e) Check for awards.
f) View the musician's calendar for availablity and a list of venues who have already hired the musician.
3) A musician's website should give you all the information you need to make a hiring decision. If not, you can ask for a promotional packet and demo audio or video.
4) Attend a concert by the musician.
5) Contact the musician via email or phone, or both.

To make the hiring process easy, here are some things musicians will need to know when you contact them. This information will help them determine an accurate fee for your event.

1) The date of the event.
2) The time of the event.
3) The budget for the event. Remember, when hiring a musician, the performance fee may also include mileage, per diem, lodging and airfare.
4) The location of the event; actual address, the actual space or room the performance will take place in, and if the event is indoors or outdoors.
5) The size of the audience.
6) The age of the audience.
7) If a professional sound system is provided or if the musician needs to provide their own equipment.
8) Your contact information including name, organization name, address, phone, fax, cell phone, email and website (if any).
9) Theme of the event, if any. Many children's musicians have various programs to offer and can often tailor their performance to suit your theme.
10) Map or directions to the event.

Once you have booked the musician, here is what you should expect to receive from them to confirm the event:

1) Booking Confirmation letter and/or contract.
2) Invoice.
3) W9 Form for taxes
4) Publicity pieces (photos, flyers, press release, etc.). Some of these promotional pieces may be downloadable from the musician's website already.

I hope this information is useful to help you and the musician you hire have a pleasant booking experience so that the performance for your venue can be outstanding!

- Johnette Downing