ABB (“Always Be Booking”) Is Great Advice for Working Artists

I subscribe to a silly little acronym that powers me throughout the year. I call it ABB (“Always Be Booking”), and it doesn't exactly mean what you think it means.

That might sound like I'm advising bands and artists to be playing as many live gigs as humanly possible. While that actually might be good advice for some artists in certain stages of their career — riding the momentum of an album release or trying to accumulate fan and mailing list numbers in advance of a new label signing for example — it could be devastating to overwork yourself like that, too.

Touring is hard work. It's hard on the body and the mind, and too much of it can lead to exhaustion. I know, I wrote an entire course on tour booking.

What I mean when I say ABB is that independent artists should be constantly starting and carrying on conversations with promoters, organizers, curators, talent buyers, booking agents, and fellow artists, about setting up live events. If you're savvy and smart, you can group opportunities together into small or long tours, weekend runs and conveniently timed engagements around announcements, if and when confirmations happen around setting up a concert.

But the main takeaway here is that just having these conversations is one of the best things you as an independent artist can do to build a sustainable future through meaningful networking. There's one big problem that ABB solves, and a host of reasons I share below as to why this is a worthwhile activity (after all, it's just sending a bunch of emails!).

Let's say you're putting a tour together to support your next album, and your route will take you through Cincinnati. You draft some proposals for local organizers and venues, but that weekend is Cincinnati's centennial anniversary and every venue is booked full. Well, no worries, you can go to Columbus instead, but the problem is that your conversation with those Cincinnati contacts just ends if no further action is possible. And with it, the potential relationship you could be building with someone interested in your music.

What if you carried that booking conversation forward? "How about next spring?" "Got any festivals or events coming up that we might fit onto?" "How about we start planning an event one year from now?"

If you're always booking, you're always opening a door for opportunities, and you're always on your contacts' minds. Here's what else ABB can do for you.

1. Building Momentum, Not Just Schedules

The biggest misconception about booking is that it’s about securing individual gigs. It’s not; it’s about stacking opportunities to maximize return and minimize costs. Every show creates ripple effects, such as: new fans, new content for social platforms, new data about where your audience actually is, and more time-on-stage to develop your craft.

Every booking conversation creates: new relationships with promoters and venues, new potential puzzle-like booking fits for your band, constant dialogue, and accumulating momentum.

2. Live Music Is Still the Most Reliable Revenue — If You’re Strategic

A decade ago, the math was simple: play shows, make money. That’s still mostly true, but it’s gotten more complicated. Touring costs have risen. Guarantees are less predictable. And a $100 show isn’t always profitable once you factor in travel, time, and promotion.

That means ABB can’t just mean “say yes to everything,” but it might lead to earning a livable wage through performance opportunities. And then it's up to you to maximize merch sales and social media content creation every time you get in front of an audience.

3. An Abundance Mindset Goes a Long Way

One of the most valuable (and underrated) benefits of always booking is psychological. When you have nothing on your calendar, every opportunity feels like life or death. You overthink, over-negotiate, freak out, and often accept situations you shouldn’t. But when you’re consistently booking ahead, you stop treating gigs as scarce resources and start seeing them as part of a larger system. That mindset alone can change how you present yourself, how you exude confidence, and how others perceive your value.

Saying "yes" often also teaches you how and when to say "no."

Not all gigs are good gigs. One of the most important evolutions in the “Always Be Booking” mindset is knowing when not to book. Bad shows can drain your time and energy, put you in front of the wrong audiences or in the wrong spaces, and damage the momentum you're trying to build. But it's something you can't know until you experience it firsthand.

**4. You Get Better — Not Just at Booking, But at Being an Artist**

Booking is a skill. The more you do it, the faster and more efficient you become, but the real benefit isn’t just better communication skills, it's that you start to live the daily activities of an artist's life. And that's powerful.

Playing shows consistently also helps you sharpen your live performance attributes, it helps to reveal what actually connects with audiences, and forces you to both tighten your setup and expand your capacity to suit a multitude of environments.

5. At the End of the Day, You're Building a Support Network

Ten years ago, booking was largely a numbers game: send enough emails and something will stick. That’s still part of it — but the artists who grow fastest today treat booking as relationship-building. Promoters, venues, other bands, even repeat audiences — these are all part of your ecosystem. Take care of their needs by being open and flexible, and they'll take care of yours.