Music Funding 101
How To Test A Prospective Band Or Sponsor
Since most band members have no commission sales experience, and since most sponsors will have no experience working with bands, both will probably feel more comfortable working with the other if they can first see some kind of indication that there will be a good match. Here are some things which can be looked at before final decisions are made:
Bands can observe how many shows a prospective sponsor goes to, especially shows which are farther away. It's easy to come to local shows, but performances which require an hour drive or more is a good indicator of real interest. If the prospective sponsor actually flies to another city to see a show, then this is a tremendous indicator. Inviting people to performances is natural for bands, so this step should not be that difficult.
How many "associates" a sponsor brings to a show is a good sign; the more the better, especially to repeated shows. If he were not serious about sponsoring, he would not be as anxious to show the band off. But the real indicator is that the associates come to more than one show. And by associates, I mean office mates, suppliers, vendors, etc.; business people that the sponsor works with. He wants to show this group the band is that is going to make him some money!
A great, but difficult indicator is for the band to ask for a non-refundable cash advance to be applied to the total amount of the sponsorship (should the sponsorship be agreed to). $500 or $1000 USD works well. The amount should be contracted and agreed to in advance, and should be acknowledged in the actual sponsorship contract, should it be completed.
For the sponsor, asking the band to do some type of special show (unpaid) is a good starting point. Since the band will need to be doing all sorts of "non regular" shows during an actual sponsorship, checking the band's availability and amenability to doing special request performances tests well the flexibility of the band.
The sponsor could ask the band to do some type of activity "on spec," meaning that the band would make or do something that would be needed during an actual sponsorship, but will do it ahead of time for no charge. This shows the sponsor not only the interest level of the band, but also the talent and ability of the band (if the task chosen is the proper one). Some ideas for spec activities could be creating the layout of the banners, or recording some on-stage announcements of the sponsor's name (during set up when there's no fans there), or doing a special show at an associates wedding, etc.
A good problem for the band or sponsor to have is where there are multiple good matches (too many), and some must be chosen over others. In this case, and depending on the level of the proposed sponsorships, some more serious indicators might need to be looked at. Of course, larger levels of the above mentioned indicators could be used, but some other possibilities might include: The band asking the sponsor to actually start a small sponsorship (maybe just t-shirts and banners) to see early results, or the band asking for radio ads that announce upcoming shows. The sponsor might ask that a custom song be recorded, or that the band dedicate a whole show to a sponsor, to see early results. Caution must be used when doing anything "on spec" however, and another TalentFunding.com article will cover this.
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