Gigsalad/Gigmasters
Should I use Gigmasters, Gigsalad or directly book an artist? Lets look at the platforms to see what the best choice would be for your upcoming event.
Gigmasters:
Over 25,000 people every day use Gigmasters to book entertainment. It is one of the largest platforms for finding entertainment on all of the internet. It is very highly lauded by most event planners and people hosting private parties and events. There is not only entertainment, but pretty much every type of event professional imaginable: musicians, jugglers, clowns, impersonators, bartenders, caterers, sommeliers, planners, florists, photographers, make up artists, limos, party bus rentals, speakers, magicians…you get the idea. However, there is a catch.
The issue with gigmasters is this: when you, the client, submits their event info, a bunch of entertainers are notified and then are locked into a bidding war in order to get the gig. This may seem like a great thing for you, the buyer, and it can be, because you will can get very low rate options on your performers. However, this style of choosing entertainment creates the idea that a performer is a commodity and as some planners have found out the hard way, you will sometimes get a very disappointing performance from a non-professional or a performer who is a poor fit who was willing to give a better deal than their competitors. It is better and a much safer choice to pay a little extra for someone with a long track record and has lots of client testimonials then to try and get a dirt cheap performance, which is very likely to happen on a platform that encourages performers to underbid one another to get to play your event.
Pros:
- huge online platform
- entertainment and event professionals of all kinds
- widely known brand
- great customer service
- fast way to book entertainment
- usually can get very low cost performers
Cons:
- Risk chance of non-professional entertainers who offer low rates
- Bidding war style contact, sometimes encourages entertainers who aren’t the right fit to respond
- charges highly visible performers a gross of roughly 25-45% in fees so sometimes can lead to overinflated booking rates
Gigsalad:
A very similar platform to Gigmasters, but tends to be a little more streamlined and simple to use. There is generally less bidding on Gigsalad and you can navigate to the artist you want without getting a swarm of quotes from may artists who won’t be the right fit for your event. There have been some complaints about a sometimes hard to reach customer service, however I personally have never had this problem as a vendor, they have always been easy to reach, reliable and friendly. Gig salad is very easy to target specific areas so you get very relevant and close by performers.
Pros:
- More streamlined platform
- Allows direct contact between buyer and vendor prior to booking
- Decent selection of vendors and high quality entertainers
Cons:
- less than stellar customer service
- much smaller platform
- many non-professionals on the site
Direct Website of an Artist:
This will take a little more time, but if you do your research you can almost always find a great performer who is perfectly suited for your event. With a little time on google, browsing at websites on the first 1-2 pages of your desired keywords “los angeles acoustic entertainment”, “singing guitarist”, etc. you can decide yourself and go to each performers website. Any serious performer will have a professionally laid out site with client testimonials, a performance description or set list, professional photographs, video/audio, and a contact page. It’s sometimes a good idea to check and see if the performer has a frequently asked questions page and see what answers they have for you. You won’t have to worry about any third party platform skimming a portion of your payment, contact between you and the performer will be direct from start to finish and you can personally determine the way they carry themselves apart from a large well known platform. This is generally a little more time consuming but is the best way to find the most suitable performer and can even lead to establishing a long term professional relationship for future events.
Pros:
- No underbidding sales pitches
- No entertainers who are completely unrelated to what you're looking for bidding on your event
- No booking fees going to a third party platform
- Very easy to determine level of professionalism
- Much easier to communicate
- Easier to determine if performer is the right fit for your event
Cons:
- Takes more time
Dylan Galvin (Dylan like “Bob Dylan”, Galvin like “Calvin and Hobbes” with a “G”) is a singer/songwriter and live performer in Los Angeles, CA. Follow him on Instagram, Youtube and Facebook.