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BOOKED SOLIDVenues × Performers · Wherever you gig
Booked Solid is a two-sided directory built by a working musician. Venues say what music they’re looking for — solo acoustic, blues, bluegrass, gospel & worship, and more — and performers list what they play and where they’ll travel, so each side finds the other. Launching across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia — free to list, free to browse, and it never takes a cut of your gig pay.
Booked Solid gets your pitch in front of more rooms, faster. The gig is yours to win.
No contracts. No ranking for sale. No cut of your pay. Your phone number can be on your page from day one — no credits to say hello, no timer racing you to reply, and no account standing between a room and an act.
Everything on this page, grouped by the job. Tap a button and it takes you straight there. Every tool opens in its own view on this one page, and a big “← Back to all tools” button brings you back — so the page never grows under you and you always know where you are.
This one page is the whole thing — find rooms, find acts, pitch & follow up, the boards, and get listed, all free. The gig-day tools and the reference shelf live at the bottom, under More tools & resources. Tap what you’re here for.
Your privacy, in plain words: no account. Nothing you type into these tools is sent to us — it stays on this phone, in this browser. Anything a tool saves lives on this device only: if you clear your browser data, it goes with it — so use each tool’s download or print button to keep your own copy.
Rooms, acts, and the boards — the directory, both finders, and the open dates, all in one place.
For performers
Rooms that book live music
Tap one to switch what’s below: the rooms listed in the directory, or rooms the map finds around any town you name.
Browse the directory
Filter by the music
Filter the directory by the music. Every venue lists the styles it books — including churches booking gospel & worship, which most directories forget. Tap a style, a room type, or an act size and the list and the map filter together.
The circuit map
Venues on the map
Listed venues, on the map. Western PA, where Booked Solid started — Graham’s own working circuit. Rooms and acts join from anywhere; when a room is listed, tap its pin for what that room books.
The map can't load on this device
No pins lost — every room the map would show is listed right here, and in the cards below with its town, the music it's looking for, and the act sizes that fit.
No rooms match the filters you’ve set — the map would be empty too. No rooms are listed yet, so clearing the filters won’t add any; rooms appear here as venues join.
Pins appear here as venues join the directory. New venues are added by Graham as they join, from anywhere — listings are curated, never auto-posted.
For performers
Venues & what they're looking for
Each card says the room, the styles it books, and the act sizes that fit. See your sound on a card? That’s your pitch list.
All the places found here are flagged as no live music. Turn on Show flagged to see them.
No venue matches that filter yet
That combination isn't listed yet — which is exactly why the directory is growing. Clear a filter, or join below and be the room that books it.
Type your town, say how far you’ll drive — get the rooms around you. Bars, pubs, breweries, wineries, distilleries, and performance rooms — theatres, arts centres, events venues, music venues, nightclubs — from Google’s Places service, fetched live for each search — with the open map data as a backup if Google doesn’t answer — plus any place tagged as live music, and rooms that posted on the Books Open board, labeled so you can pitch them first.
Type a town and state — like “DuBois, PA” — or just your ZIP code.
How far you'll drive — tap one
Open-mic nights are only ever shown when the venue itself told us. With this on, venues whose own listing or board post says they host open mics get their own group on top; every map result stays below it, marked not confirmed.
All the places found here are flagged as no live music. Turn on Show flagged to see them.
Room data from Google’s Places service, fetched live for this search.
Venues can find you too
Get listed free and rooms near you can find you — it takes one email.
Honest note: results come first from Google’s Places service, fetched live for each search; if Google doesn’t answer, the same search falls back to OpenStreetMap — open map data anyone can add to. Either way, coverage varies, and a room the data doesn’t know won’t show — and the Books Open board adds rooms the services miss. The search covers bars, pubs, beer gardens, breweries, wineries, distilleries, theatres, arts centres, events venues, music venues, and nightclubs, plus any place tagged live music (those cards say so). Not every room found books live music; finding out is what the pitch is for. And open-mic status is never guessed: a room is only ever shown as hosting open mics when the venue itself said so on its listing or board post. A search only ever sends the town or ZIP you typed — and the map point it resolves to — to the lookups themselves; your name and details never leave this page.
Tap one to switch what’s below: the acts listed in the directory, with their live clips, or acts around any town you name.
For venues
Performers
Real, working acts — every listing verified by Graham. Watch them, check them out, and contact them direct. No middleman.
Founding performer · Verified
Graham Snyder
Solo acoustic · Troutville / DuBois, PA · Plays within ~60 mi, farther for private events
Listing last checked — October 2026
Americana, country, and classic rock covers — Tom Petty, Jason Isbell, Zach Bryan, The Band and more — on acoustic guitar and harmonica, with his own PA. Three-hour sets. Regular rooms include Charlie's (DuBois), KC's Rustic Inn, Treasure Lake, and Sandfly Brewing. Also books churches, festivals, and private events, and can run/host an open-mic night for rooms starting a music program.
Solo acousticAmericanaCountryClassic rockSinger-songwriterSoloHosts open mics
Own PA ✓30-min setupPlays this circuit since before Booked SolidRegular at Charlie’s, KC’s Rustic Inn & Treasure Lake
Credentials on every listing work the same way: declared by the act, spot-checked by Graham, and date-stamped when a listing joins. Insurance and equipment-test wording follows your country — say what’s true for you when you list.
Local bar set — $4003 hours, own PA included, within about an hour’s drive.
Private event — $6503 hours for weddings and private parties at standard distance; far-drive private events $850.
Open-mic host night — askHe’ll run and host an open mic and provide the PA for rooms starting a music program.
Venue fit — read this in 20 seconds
Best nights: bar and brewery nights, winery afternoons, community and gazebo shows, church and private events.
Crowd: a listening, covers-loving crowd that stays for the songs it knows.
Volume & space: room-friendly volume, one socket, small footprint — PA is his.
Three songs a crowd knows: Tom Petty, Jason Isbell and Zach Bryan favourites, from a 34-song working list.
Booking Graham works the way everything here works: members reach each other through their own Muse setup from the free guide or the Setup Pack — that's the route to his open dates and his rates above.
Leave a kind word
Enjoyed the show? These are the quotes a musician pastes into venue pitches — the way Graham’s own pitches carry named references. Leave yours here — nothing gets quoted anywhere without your say-so. Real kind words from the room will appear on this listing as they come in.
A tip is never required to leave a kind word, and the two are never traded — the honest rules are in the tips guide.
Kind words, the way reviews work here— every review names the venue and the date, so anyone can check it with one phone call. No anonymous stars.
Real kind words from the room will appear on this listing as they come in — use the form above and yours can be one of them, quoted only with your say-so.
Last-minute fill-ins: he carries the board’s last-minute flag — if your act cancels the same day, the Standby list is where same-day cover gets sorted.
Open slot
Your act here — solo, duo, trio, band, or open mic host
Blues, bluegrass, gospel & worship, folk, country — every category is open. Founding performers list free while the directory launches.
Churches are listing here for worship, special services, and events — and almost no other directory has this shelf. If that's your music, this is your room.
Bars, wineries, breweries, distilleries, restaurants, coffeehouses, churches, festivals, farms, and private-event spaces — say what you're looking for and get on the map.
Type your town, say how far out you’ll look — get the acts near you. Directory acts plus acts who posted on the Open Dates and Books Open boards, nearest first, each with a live clip where they have one and a way to reach them direct.
Type a town and state — like “DuBois, PA” — or just your ZIP code.
How far out you'll look — tap one
Honest note: this shows directory acts and acts who posted on the boards — a board post is labeled on its card, with what the act posted. Listing and posting are both free, so results grow as musicians join. A search only ever sends the town or ZIP you typed to the map lookup — your details never leave this page, and you reach acts direct, with Booked Solid nowhere in the middle.
Hear them before you book them. Each card carries a real live clip and the act’s Facebook page. YouTube and Vimeo clips play right on the card; Facebook clips open on Facebook.
Live clip · Founder’s example
Graham Snyder — solo acoustic
Troutville / DuBois, PA
His live demo — shot on a real gig night at Over the Mountain, with almost 10,000 views — is a Facebook video, so it opens on Facebook. His full listing — rates, range, and the kind-words form — lives on his performer card.
Playing rooms like these? Once you’re in the directory, your live video link — YouTube, Vimeo, or Facebook — plus your Facebook page goes on a showcase card of your own, put up by hand, free during launch. Your video stays hosted on your own accounts; this page only links to it or embeds it.
One full song in a real room beats a highlight reel: venues want to hear the act, see the crowd react, and know the setup is painless. A phone video of a real gig is plenty — nobody’s grading the camera work.
New acts get a directory listing first, then a showcase card — both curated by Graham, by hand. The pitch-and-follow-up system behind his own calendar is taught in the free Booked Solid guide — his Muse invite code (P6KBA4) is inside it.
Performers post the dates they’re free; venues browse who’s open. Post yours with the form in this section and it goes up on the shared board right away, so what’s here is real and current.
Founder's example
Graham Snyder — solo acoustic
Listing last checked — October 2026
The founder's own open-dates post points at his one full listing — styles, sizes, range, and his last-minute fill-in flag all live on his performer card.
The board is new and the next cards are first-come. Post yours with the form right below — your name, town, the dates you're free, your act type and styles, and how a venue reaches you. It goes up on the shared board right away, free during launch.
Before you call a date open — check it against your own list
Pick the date you're about to post as open. If it's already on your Booked / Held list, you'll get a plain warning right here before you promise a night twice.
Post your open dates to the board
This goes up on the shared board right away, where venues and the Act Finder can see it — the same post, no second step. Only post dates you are actually free.
Need a second player, or a sub for one night — or free to be one? Duo partners cancel and players get sick; this is the scramble, organized. Need a player or a sub for one night? That’s an open slot — post it on the Fill-Ins board. Free to be one? Post your dates on the Open Dates board. Both boards are live, and both are free.
Need a player
Need a second player?
Your duo partner just bailed, or a room wants two voices and you're one. Post the date, the town, and the instrument or role you need covered.
Sick the week of a booked night? Post the date and the gig, and let a nearby player save it. Healthy and willing? Post yourself as available — subbing is how a lot of players get in front of rooms they’ve never played.
Your act cancelled? Post the open slot and a nearby act can claim it. Acts can post their own gig here too, with the room’s blessing. If the cancellation is today, skip the board — go straight to a last-minute-flag act below.
Open slot
No cancellations posted right now
When a gig opens up, its slot lands here with the date, the town, the kind of act it needs, and the pay if it's stated. Check back — or better, be the act venues already know when it happens.
Post it with the form right below — the venue name, town, the date and time that's open, the act you need (styles and size), the pay if you're stating it, and how acts reach you. It goes up on the shared board right away.
Life happens — you're sick, the car's dead, you double-booked yourself. Put your own gig up for grabs here instead of just calling in a cancellation. The venue still has to confirm the replacement — it’s their room and their crowd, so the handoff needs the room’s blessing — but here’s the culture this board is building: the act who cancels and finds the room a replacement is the act rooms remember when the next date opens. Any act can claim the slot through the venue contact you post.
Board posts go up the moment they're posted — but a same-day scramble still moves fastest by phone. Acts carrying the last-minute fill-in flag are the ones who've said call me first — reaching them fast is what their listing is for. Flagged acts right now:
Graham Snyder — solo acoustic, Troutville / DuBois area — see his listing
Acts: want the flag on your listing or open-dates post? Say so when you join or post your dates, with the number to show — it’s shown for this purpose only.
Thinking of claiming a slot? Check the date first
Enter the date of the open slot before you raise your hand for it. If that night is already on your Booked / Held list, you'll see a warning here — claiming a fill-in on a night you're already playing helps nobody.
Post an open slot to the board
Rooms and acts: post the slot here and it goes up on the shared board right away, where nearby acts can see it and reach you direct.
Rooms announce here when their books open for a season — and when they close. Pitch inside the window and your email lands the week it can actually be read.
Booking windows
No windows posted right now
When a room opens its books, the announcement lands here with the window dates and the styles and act sizes it's booking. Pitch inside the window and you're on time; pitch outside it and you're a spring email in October.
Send in your venue name, town, the window dates, what you book (styles and act sizes), whether you host open mic nights (which nights, and whether a PA is provided — optional), and how acts reach you — through your own setup. Filling one specific night? Add the date you need, your budget, the kind of act you want, and whether a PA is provided — those go right on your post, so acts can pitch the opening in one tap. Graham posts it — and the acts who follow this board pitch inside your window instead of pestering you all year.
No music program yet? An open mic night is the simplest way to start one — a host with a PA, a signup sheet, and a regular night on the calendar. Post here that you're looking for a host, and the hosts listed in the directory can find you.
The big sites answer a cancellation with a refund. This circuit answers it with music. These acts have said, in writing, that they’ll step in for a same-week cancellation inside their area at their normal package price. Each act on it says, right on their listing, how to reach them fast — on a Friday afternoon, you don’t need a claims process, you need a person. It’s a best-effort list, not a guarantee: if the first name can’t make it, keep working down the list.
Can step in · DuBois / Troutville, PA
Graham Snyder — solo acoustic
Listing last checked — October 2026
Available for last-minute cover in his normal local area at his normal local package price — the $400 local bar set. Carries the boards’ last-minute fill-in flag too.
Cover work is how acts get in front of rooms they’ve never played — and rooms remember the act who saved the night. Send Graham your act name, town, the area you’ll cover, and the phone number to show — through your own setup — and you’ll be added by hand.
Before any directory, the map listing is how a room gets found. Search Google for “Google Business Profile,” claim or verify your room’s listing, and keep the hours and music nights current — it costs nothing, and it’s the listing every other listing points back to. Graham will walk the first room in a town through it on request.
Your spot in the directory — keep your listing and your dates fresh, and the calls keep coming.
THE FREE GUIDE
Booked Solid — the guide
How Graham set up an AI agent as his booking agent: the pitches, the week-later follow-ups that actually get replies, the reply watch, and the day-before reminders with drive time. Free — his Muse invite code (P6KBA4) is inside and helps him out if you sign up. The system works wherever you gig; the directory launches in the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia.
Step-by-step setup, written by a working solo act
Nothing sends without your approval — it drafts, you decide
The follow-up system that keeps his pitches from going cold
Listings are added by hand so every card here is real. Send your details and you'll be on the list and the map. Free during launch. Launch countries: the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia — and if you're somewhere else, list anyway: the tools work wherever you gig.
Performers: name, town, styles, act size, where you'll travel, whether you host open mics — plus two optional extras for Gig Swap: the areas you play, and whether you're open to gig-list swaps. Say yes to swaps and your card carries an “Open to gig swaps” badge, so a musician in another area can find you and offer a trade.
Venues: room name, town, type, styles you're looking for, act sizes — plus your typical budget and cancellation policy, if you want them on your listing, and whether you host open mic nights (which nights, and whether you provide a PA)
Churches welcome — gospel & worship is a first-class category
Phone numbers, plainly: business or booking numbers only, and a number goes on your public page only when you say, in the message you send in, “put this number on the public page” — anyone can see it and ring it. No home addresses: acts list by town and area; venues list at their public business address. Listings are for performers 18 and over, and a performer’s own number is never published for anyone under 18. Changed your mind? Say the word through your own setup and your listing comes down within 2 working days.
One more free thing that helps: set up a Google Business Profile. When a venue searches Google for a musician near them, that's what comes up. Set it up as a service-area business so your home address stays private, pick Musician as your category, and put your Booked Solid listing as the website link. Google will ask you to record a short verification video of you and your gear — takes a few minutes, costs nothing. It doesn't change your Booked Solid listing — it just gives venues one more way to find you.
If the verification video won't record
The camera part trips up a lot of people. Work down this list — most folks get through on one of these.
Make sure the browser is allowed to use your camera and microphone (in the browser's site settings AND your phone's app permissions).
Restart your phone, then try the recorder again. Sounds dumb. Fixes it more often than anything.
Try a different browser (for example Firefox) and sign in there.
Forgot your password? Don't guess — guessing can lock your account. Look it up where your browser saved it (Chrome: Settings → Password Manager), or use "Forgot password?" once, carefully.
Use a second phone: sign into YOUR Google account on a family member's phone, open the same verification link, and record there. They hold the phone and film — you do the talking and show your gear.
Still stuck? Go to Google Business Profile support (search "Google Business Profile support contact"), explain the recorder won't load your camera, and ask if you can verify by a live video call instead.
The expanded guide plus the working kit behind it: pitch and follow-up templates, the rate worksheet, call scripts, gig books, and booking confirmation templates — everything you need to build the setup yourself. $39, sold through Gumroad.
Nobody can sell you a membership today, and this page won’t pretend otherwise. When membership opens, founding members pay $69 per 3 months or $179 per year — half the price of the big booking sites’ pro plans — and founding members lock that rate for good. The founding list is collecting names now: join it through your own setup, get first word when membership opens, and pay nothing until it does. The paid pieces that already exist today are the $39 Full Setup Pack and $100/hr setup calls. The fuller membership explanation is in More tools & resources.
The every-gig kit — tuner, metronome, poster maker, your dates, and the set list.
For performers
String tuner
For the night the tuner pedal stays home. Leave it on Auto and just play — or tap a string to aim at that one. Play one string at a time, close to the phone, and watch the big note: flat, sharp, or home. The mic is only half the tool: every string button also plays that string’s true note out loud, so if the mic ever won’t cooperate you can always tune by ear. Honest limits, stated up front: a phone mic in a noisy bar has limits. This is a get-out-of-jail tuner, not a replacement for a pedal tuner on a loud stage.
Auto — play any string
READY
—
—
Start the mic and play a string — or tap a string below and tune by ear.
♭♯
Mic level — play a string and this bar should jump. If it never moves, the mic isn’t hearing your guitar: get the phone closer, or tune by ear with the string buttons.
—Status
—Cents off
—Frequency
Flat means tune the string up; sharp means ease it down. Small turns — a string that’s 40 cents out is nearly a quarter-tone, and it did not get that way by itself. Check the tuning peg you think you’re turning. Ask any guitarist how we know.
The mic only listens while the tuner runs — nothing is recorded or sent anywhere.
More tuner options
Matching a piano, an orchestra, or an old recording? Slide the reference and every target — strings and chromatic alike — moves with it. It stays where you left it on this device.
For performers
Metronome
A steady beat to practice to. Set the speed with the slider — or use Tap tempo, tap along with the song in your head, and it finds the speed for you. The strong beat lands on the one.
Tap tempo a few times in rhythm and the tempo follows your taps. Your last tempo is remembered on this device.
Tempo
120 BPM
4/4 · stopped
Beat 1 of the measure clicks higher and pulses green — that's your downbeat. The click is scheduled ahead on the audio clock, so the tempo holds steady instead of drifting with the screen.
Fill in the fields — you’ve got a poster. Your act, the room, the night, and the start and finish times: ready to download as an image and send to the venue, or print and hang yourself. One layout, on purpose — the one that works.
Give the poster both times — a start and a finish — and it prints the whole range, like 7–10 PM (a set that runs past midnight prints like 8 PM–12 AM). The start time alone works too: leave the finish blank and the poster shows just the start.
No photo — the poster works fine without one.
Live music
The Example Act
The Sample Room
Pick a date · 7:00 PM
Or screenshot / print the preview above — either way, it's yours and it lives on your device.
Add a date the moment it’s booked — keep every date you’re Booked and every date you’re Holding in one list. Check a date on the boards or in the Leave-By Calculator and this page warns you if it collides — before you promise a night twice.
Tap Add a date, pick the day, say whether it's Booked or Held, add the start time if you know it — it rides into the calendar event with the date, so the gig lands on your calendar timed, not just dated — and tap Add date to my list. That's the whole job.
Back up your dates and your flagged venues. One backup file covers both your saved dates (the list below) and every venue you’ve flagged as no live music. A backup protects them if this browser’s saved data is ever cleared, or you move to a new phone: keep the file somewhere safe — email it to yourself, or keep it with your other files — then come back here, tap Import backup, pick that file, and everything comes back.
Add to Calendar hands a date to your own phone's calendar — Google, Apple, whichever you run. On Android it opens Google Calendar in your browser with the gig already typed in: set the reminder to the day before, then tap Save. (It opens in the browser on purpose — the Calendar app itself throws the filled-in details away and just shows the month.) If your phone still lands you on a plain calendar page with nothing filled in, come back and tap Calendar file instead under the date — that hands over a calendar file with the gig and a day-before reminder already in it. Everywhere else gets that same file straight away — tap Add when your calendar asks. If nothing seems to happen, look in your downloads for the file and tap it there.
Where this list lives: in your browser, on this device only. It is never sent anywhere — not to Booked Solid, not to anybody. Clear your browser's site data and the list clears with it, so for a long season it pays to keep your real calendar somewhere too. This list is the quick double-check, not the master book.
Gig Swap — trade gig listsSwapping gig lists with a musician in another area? The Gig Swap tool builds your shareable list from the dates above — dates and venues only, never pay.
Musicians helping musicians get into new rooms. Swap your gig list with a musician who plays another area — your rooms for theirs — so each of you walks into new territory with real rooms to pitch instead of starting cold, and each of you picks up the other’s crowd along the way. Share it two ways: post it to the shared Gig Swap board at the bottom of this section, where every musician here can see it — or send it the way musicians already talk, Messenger, text, or email. This tool does the jobs around both: it prepares your list, drafts the ask, files what comes back, and posts to the board when you tell it to.
1 — Your shareable list
One tap builds your list from My Dates. The list carries dates and venues only — never pay, rates, or fees. It lands in the box below so you can trim any line you don’t want to share, or fix anything that’s off, before it goes anywhere. Check it before you send it — then copy it or download it and send it the way you and the other musician already talk.
Nothing to share yet — your list is built from the dates saved in My Dates, and there are none there yet. Add your dates in My Dates first, then come back and build the list.
2 — Ask for the swap
Fill in the two lines and the message below writes itself with them. It stays editable — change anything in the box before you copy it, and paste your list under it when you send.
3 — Lists sent to me
When another musician sends you their list, paste it here and file it under their name and their area. Six months from now, when you’re ready to play their side of the map, it’s still here.
No lists saved yet — when a musician sends you theirs, paste it above and it files here, by name and area.
Where these lists live: in your browser, on this device only — the same as My Dates. Nothing you paste here is sent anywhere. Looking for somebody to swap with? Acts whose listings carry the Open to gig swaps badge in the Act Finder have already said yes.
4 — The shared Gig Swap board
New: you can also post the list you built in step 1 to the shared board, where any musician visiting this page can read it — and read theirs the same way. This is separate from the boxes above: only the built list is posted, only when you tap Share, and it carries dates and venues only — never pay, exactly as built. Post under your act name so a swap partner can find you through your listing.
No lists on the shared board yet — yours could be the first.
Pick your pattern, tap your regular acts into the slots, print the roster. The circuit platforms that do this want an account and their app. This one lives on your phone, in this visit only: build it, print it or download it, and it’s yours. Nothing is saved on this page — refresh and it clears, so take the printout or the download before you close it.
Build your slots, tap an act into each one, and the roster writes itself here.
That roster is the whole product the circuit platforms charge for — a calendar that fills itself and re-books the acts that worked. Here it’s a printout for the office wall and a list on your phone. When a night goes well, the post-gig log below remembers it for next month.
What’s On — this month’s music, as a poster and a post
One tap turns the month into the two things a room actually needs: a poster for the window and a ready-to-paste post for your Facebook page. A UK circuit platform charges venues for a version of this. Here it’s free — and every poster carries Booked Solid’s name into the next pub window and the next venue’s feed, which is how a directory with no ad budget grows.
Your Room
Live music · This month
Your month’s nights will show here.
Booked through Booked Solid · bookedsolidmusic.com
Separate from the single-gig Poster maker in More tools — that one is one act, one night. This one is the whole month on one sheet. The poster image is drawn on your device from the preview above; nothing is uploaded anywhere.
Build the night’s list here. Every song with its key, capo, and your own cue note — plus a link out to the chart where you found it. Links and your own cues only: never lyrics, never the charts themselves. A working night runs about 10 songs a set.
No songs on the list yet.
Your set list is empty
Add your opener up top — title, key, capo, your cue, and the link to the chart where you learned it. Build it set by set, about ten songs to a set, and by Set 3 you'll have the whole night on one sheet.
Straight talk about saving: your list saves itself on this device only, in this browser — nothing is sent anywhere. The CSV and the printable sheet are your backup, and your copy for the guitar case. The links point out to the chart sites — nothing here copies their charts or anyone’s lyrics.
Half the room doesn’t carry cash anymore — a payment-app tip jar works every gig. Venmo in the US, Interac e-Transfer in Canada, PayPal in the UK and Australia. The steps below walk you through setting up your own — do it once, at the kitchen table, and it works every gig after.
1
Get the app & sign up
Download the Venmo app and sign up with your email address and phone number. Venmo texts you a code — type it in to prove the phone is really yours. That's the whole signup.
2
Pick a name fans can find
Choose a professional @username — your performer name, the name on your posters, the name fans will search for in the room. Add a profile photo of you performing, so a fan searching the room knows they've got the right person.
3
Link your bank
Connect a bank account so your tips can actually cash out to you. When Venmo asks you to verify your identity, do it — you need it done to hold a balance in the app and to raise your sending and receiving limits.
4
Set payments to private
In Venmo's privacy settings, set your payments to private. Out of the box, Venmo likes to broadcast who paid whom in a public feed — your fans' tips are nobody's business but theirs and yours.
5
Get your QR code on a sign
Open your profile — the “Me” tab — and find your personal QR code. Save a screenshot of it, then print it on a tip sign for the stage: “Tips — @YourName,” with the QR big enough to scan from a few feet away. A phone camera across a table beats a fan typing your name in the dark.
6
Test it with a dollar
Before your first gig with it, have a friend send you $1. Watch it land, then cash it out to your bank. You want your first tip-app surprise to happen at your kitchen table, not on stage between sets.
7
Give the tip sign a second line
Under the QR code on your stage sign, add one more line: “Enjoyed the show? Leave a kind word:” — followed by the link to your Booked Solid listing, where the kind-words form lives. Ask in the room, while the goodwill is warm: those quotes are what you paste into your next venue pitch, the way Graham's pitches carry named references. A tip jar asks for money; the second line asks for the words that go into your next pitch.
Kind words — the honest rules
A tip is never required to leave a review, and the two are never traded — no “tip me and say something nice,” ever. Only use a quote with the person's permission, in their own words, with their name as they gave it. Never buy reviews, and never write your own. Venues can smell a fake — and the whole value of the quote is that it's real.
The money notes
On Venmo, receiving tips is free, and moving money to your bank the standard way — one to three business days — is free too; the instant transfer costs a small fee, so only pay it when you actually need the money tonight. Every app has its own version of those terms — check yours once, at setup. And the part nobody tells you, true in every country: tips are income. Log them with your gig pay for tax time, same as cash out of the jar — a quiet app balance is still money you earned playing.
Tip Screen — your phone is the sign
Forgot to print the tip sign before you left the house? Pick your payment app, type your handle, tap the button, and prop the phone up on stage — or just pull it up fast when somebody asks “can I tip you?” The screen shows your own payment QR and link, big, with your handle under it and the kind-words line — both jobs the printed sign does, and nothing else on screen to tap by accident. Venmo and PayPal.Me handles become a scannable link; for Interac e-Transfer, the screen shows the email or phone your fans send to, big enough to read across a table. Your app pick and your handle are saved on this device only — nothing is sent anywhere — so next gig you just tap the button and prop the phone up.
The zero-app backup: your payment app’s own QR code lives in its profile tab. Screenshot it into your photos — or set it as your lock screen — before the gig, and it works with no signal and no website at all. Print, phone, screenshot: any one of the three and you’re never without a tip jar.
Run it at the door, out loud if you have to. Everything on this list has been forgotten by somebody, twenty minutes before showtime — the capo, the mic stand, the gas. Tick things off as they go in the car.
Honest note: your ticks — and any items you add yourself — are saved on this device only. Nothing is sent anywhere, and the list is right where you left it next gig. Packed? Now check your leave time. And the car check on this list is the one that matters at 2 AM — the ride-home backup is right below it.
Do it in the car, before you drive home. What the room paid, the distance you drove, what landed in the tip jar, and whether this room gets asked for another date — twenty seconds tonight, clean books all year.
Tonight, all in
$0
Pay + tips, once you've typed them in.
$0Pay received
$0Tips
0 miMileage driven
Good night? Tick the rebook box up top and the summary will carry the reminder — two weeks out is the sweet spot for asking, and the Follow-Up Generator has the rebook nudge written for you.
Save it to your phone or print it for the gig folder before you close this page — it isn't kept here.
Start time, minus the drive, minus your setup time — that’s when you leave. The same math behind Graham’s day-before gig reminders.
Leave by
4:15 PM
Out the door at 4:15 PM gets you there with time to set up right, not fast.
5:15 PMAt the room by
6:00 PMShow starts
1 hr 45 minDrive + setup buffer
The 45-minute buffer is Graham's standard: PA up, guitar tuned, one breath before the first song. Running a bigger rig? Raise the buffer, not your blood pressure.
One workflow: write the pitch, set the price, track every room, and send the follow-up.
For performers
Pitch builder
Fill in your details — this writes your pitch two ways. A short one for a Facebook message, a fuller one for email, on the same structure Graham’s own pitches use: who you are, what you play, proof you can play it, what it costs, and how easy you are to host.
Nothing is pre-filled with anyone else's details — the words come out as yours.
The rules baked into both versions: sets are priced as full sets — never let a room nibble the fee down with drink comps — and far rooms hear “travel fees may apply for longer distances” up front, so distance is priced honestly instead of apologized for. Edit anything before you send; the pitch should sound like you on your best day. The full system behind this pitch — follow-ups, reply watch, reminders — is in the free Booked Solid guide (invite code P6KBA4 inside).
The first pitch gets ignored by busy people; the second touch gets the answer. Pick your situation and this writes the follow-up — brief, plain about the rate, and easy to say yes or no to.
Honest words only — nothing here promises anybody a booking.
Send this the day after the gig, while the night is still fresh.
Send one follow-up, then put the room on your tracker with a books-open or check-back date and let it rest. Chasing past the second touch doesn't book gigs — it just makes the third room you pitch hear about it. The full follow-up rhythm is in the free Booked Solid guide (invite code P6KBA4 inside).
Every room you pitch goes on this sheet. How you reached them, what you quoted, where it stands — and when their books open again. It sorts by that date, so seasonal rooms resurface right when they’re bookable.
No venues on your sheet yet.
Your check-back list is empty
Add the first room you've pitched — or the one that told you “not right now.” Those are the venues this sheet exists for: “not right now” with a date attached is a pitch with a second chance coming.
Straight talk about saving: your sheet saves itself on this device only, in this browser — nothing is sent anywhere. The CSV and the printable sheet are your copy to keep elsewhere. The full system in the free guide goes further — it watches the books-open dates for you and reminds you when a room is bookable again (invite code P6KBA4 inside).
Paper that makes a booking real — the confirmation, the deposit, and the cancellation terms in writing, before the date. Four short tools, each writing clean text you copy and send from your own email or messages. This page sends nothing and handles no money — any deposit is paid directly to the act, by whatever method the two of you agree on.
1 · The booking confirmation
Fill in what the two of you agreed. This writes a booking confirmation — a record of what you agreed, in plain words. It is not a contract written by a lawyer, and it isn’t legal advice. Blank optional lines — the deposit, the outdoor plan — simply stay out of the paper.
Plain words, one page — read it before you send it.
2 · Cancellation policy
The terms, in plain words, before anybody needs them. Set your windows and how a deposit is handled, and send this with the confirmation.
Four short parts — your cancels, their cancels, weather, rescheduling.
3 · The deposit ask
The exact message to send once a date is agreed. The deposit goes directly to you, by your own method — Booked Solid never touches it. The short “if they ask why” answer is included at the bottom.
Short, warm, and plain about where the money goes: to the act, direct.
4 · The booking summary
Once the confirmation is written, send the room this short version so both sides hold the same details. It’s built from the confirmation fields in part 1 — fill those in first.
Uses the confirmation details above — nothing new to type.
These are plain-words templates written for working musicians and rooms — they put what you agreed in writing, which is most of the job. The confirmation is a record of what you agreed, not legal advice, and laws differ by state, province, and country; for a big-money or unusual date, a local lawyer can review your version once and you’ll own it for good.
Distance is the silent pay cut — this does the math. Enter the drive and the kind of gig; it quotes off your rate card and shows what’s actually left after the drive.
Somewhere else? Pick the closest unit system — the numbers are all yours to edit. The starter card below is Graham's, in US dollars; make it yours.
hrmin
All rates are for a 3-hour set. Quotes are a floor, not a ceiling — a room that wants you bad can always pay more.
Don’t know your MPG? Tap your rig above. Those figures are EPA combined — they vary by year and engine, so type yours in the field if you know it. Look up any vehicle exactly — fueleconomy.gov ↗
$
The fuel price starts from an example — $4.48 a gallon in the US view — and each country keeps its own number: set your local price by typing in what your station charges. Straight talk: this page can’t pull today’s pump price on its own, so that number is just a starting example, and the field is there so you can type the real price where you are. Check today’s prices at AAA ↗
Want it figured out for you? With the Booked Solid agent setup from the free guide, you can just send your booking agent a photo of your vehicle — the agent names it and sets your MPG for you. This web page can’t recognize photos; that part is the agent’s job. Graham’s Muse invite code (P6KBA4) is inside the guide.
$
$
$
$
$
$
Quote this gig at
$400
Regular set · local (about an hour or less each way) · 3-hour set
90 miRound-trip drive (est.)
$63Travel cost at the mileage rate (est.)
$337Left of the fee after travel
Fuel alone for this trip: $16.8090 mi · 3.75 gal × $4.48/gal
Gas is only part of what a mile costs — tires, oil, and wear are real too. The per-distance rate up top is the fuller cost: set it to your own running cost, or the mileage rate your tax authority allows where you are, if you claim one. That’s why the “left of the fee” line uses it, with the fuel-only figure shown alongside so you can see both. Distance is an estimate — figured at average road speeds when it comes from drive time.
Quoting a far room? Print this sheet and send it with the quote — the venue sees exactly what the drive costs you.
Two rules baked into this card: drink comps don't count as pay — a free beer is not a discount on your fee — and the fee never drops because a room tips well. Tips are extra, always. Quote the rate, play the show, and let the tip jar be gravy.
Advanced — are you booking enough gigs?Tap to open — the density checker: the pace check on your month, part of the Pitch & Follow Up workflow.
For performers
Are you booking enough gigs?
No pep talk, just the ledger. Enter what you’ve booked this month and what you average per gig — see the month you’re on pace for, and how many gigs your full-time target takes at your fee.
This month, at your numbers
$1,400
4 gigs × $350 average fee
$1,600 shortAgainst the low end of target
9 gigsA month reaches the low end
12 gigsA month reaches the high end
That's the whole instrument panel. If the gigs-needed number looks big, there are only two levers and both are honest ones: more rooms on the calendar, or a higher average fee — which is what the rate calculator and the tracker above are for.
The money, up front — the way the platforms that convert browsers into bookers do it. This guide is built from the listed prices on this page — Graham’s published card for a 3-hour set, PA included, the same numbers the Gig Rate Calculator quotes from. As more acts list with packages, their prices join this table. Graham updates it as the listings change.
Local bar set — about an hour or less each way, 3 hours$400
The fair-fee floor for this circuit: a full 3-hour bar set from a working act with its own PA starts at $400 locally. Rooms that quote under the floor aren’t saving money — they’re booking whoever is left. Acts: if a room’s budget is genuinely smaller, that’s a shorter set or an off-night conversation, not the same night for less.
First time budgeting for music? Read What a fair fee looks like alongside this — it explains what the number is made of, and why drink comps aren’t pay.
Tech Mode for your Muse and the pedal troubleshooter — set it up once, then it’s just gigs.
For performers
Pedalboard troubleshooter
Something wrong with your sound at the gig? Pick what’s happening and walk the checklist for that problem, most likely and cheapest first. Below the checklists, a Tech Mode prompt turns your own Muse into your pedal tech.
The Troubleshooter is a checklist of common checks, not repair advice. Your pedal's manual is the final word on power and specs. You work on your own gear at your own risk, and Booked Solid isn't responsible for equipment damage.
Part 1
Guided gig-night checks
Pick the problem. Every check runs most likely and cheapest first — the order you'd work it at soundcheck while the room fills up. All you need is one spare cable you trust.
1No signal at all
Check the easy silences first: amp or powered speaker is on, its volume is up, and nothing is muted. A tuner pedal sitting in mute mode can silence a whole rig.
Work the chain in order, from the guitar out: guitar → instrument cable → each pedal in turn → output cable → amp or PA input.
At each step, swap in a known-good cable — one cable at a time, so you know which one was the bad one.
Bypass the pedals one by one: switch each off, or plug straight past it, until the signal comes back.
If the signal dies only when one pedal is engaged, suspect that pedal's power — that's the next check down this list.
Last in line: the amp or PA input itself. Try a different input if the amp or speaker has one.
Still stuck? Set up Tech Mode in Part 2 and walk it through with your Muse live.
2One pedal dead — or the signal dies when it's switched on
Suspect power before you suspect the pedal.
Current draw: find the pedal's draw in milliamps (its manual, or the label by its power jack) and compare it to the rating of the exact supply output it's plugged into. A starved pedal can pass signal while bypassed and die the moment it's engaged.
Voltage: 9V means 9V. Never plug an 18V output into a pedal whose manual says 9V only.
Polarity: center-negative is the pedal standard. A center-positive supply won't power a standard pedal.
On a daisy chain, add up the draw of every pedal on the chain and compare it with the chain's total rating — one hungry pedal starves the rest.
Test the pedal alone on a known-good supply before you decide the pedal itself is dead.
Still stuck? Set up Tech Mode in Part 2 and walk it through with your Muse live.
3Vocal dead or far too quiet on a mixerless rig
For the rig with no mixer: mic → preamp pedal → powered speakers.
Check the input-mode switch first. On a combo-jack preamp, a mic plugged in while the switch sits on INST (instrument) instead of XLR/mic mode is the classic cause — the mic is connected, but the preamp is listening for a guitar-level signal, so the vocal comes through faint or not at all.
Real case: this exact switch once silenced a vocal mid-gig — and got blamed on the power supply for days before the real cause turned up. Check the switch before you blame the power.
Pad off for a dynamic mic. A pad is there for loud sources; on a vocal it just throws level away.
Gain order: set the preamp's input gain first, then its master or output level, then the speaker volume. If the first stage is barely open, cranking the master later just amplifies the problem.
Swap the mic cable for a known-good XLR. A damaged cable can cost most of your level.
Condenser mic? It needs phantom power (+48V) switched on at the preamp or speaker input. A dynamic mic doesn't care either way.
Still stuck? Set up Tech Mode in Part 2 and walk it through with your Muse live.
4Hum or buzz
Tell the two hums apart first. Ground-loop hum changes — usually gets quieter — when you touch the strings or other metal, and it's worse with two amps or gear plugged into two different outlets. Single-coil hum comes and goes as you turn with the guitar; that's just the pickups doing what single coils do, and no power trick fixes it.
Run the whole rig — pedalboard, amp, PA — from one outlet or one power strip.
Use isolated outputs on the pedal power supply. A shared daisy-chain ground carries noise from pedal to pedal.
Keep audio cables away from power bricks and wall warts. If an audio cable has to cross a power cable, cross it at a right angle.
Still humming? Unplug inputs one at a time until the hum stops — the last thing you removed is where the loop lives.
Still stuck? Set up Tech Mode in Part 2 and walk it through with your Muse live.
5Tap tempo won't sync two pedals
Know what the jack reads: an external tap jack reads a plain switch closure on the tip of the plug. It's a simple contact, not a data signal.
Use TS (mono) cables. On many pedals, a TRS cable tells the jack it's doing expression duty instead of tap — and tap quietly stops working.
Feed two pedals from one tap source in parallel: a Y-split out of the source pedal's remote/tap jack, one leg to each pedal. Never chain tap through a pedal — tap doesn't pass through.
Tap; don't hold. Holding the tap switch usually triggers a different function — infinite hold on many delays — not more taps.
Example: one delay pedal running as tap master for a second — the tap comes out of the source pedal's remote/tap jack on a TS cable, and if another pedal joins, it Y-splits in parallel rather than chaining through the second pedal.
Still stuck? Set up Tech Mode in Part 2 and walk it through with your Muse live.
6A pedal wants more current than the supply gives
Do the math out loud: each pedal's draw in milliamps, added up, against the rating of the exact supply output it will use — not the supply's total across all its outputs.
High-draw digital pedals need a high-current output, or their own maker-recommended supply. A starved digital pedal misbehaves quietly: noise, dropouts, modes that won't engage.
Example: a pedal that needs 500mA minimum gets its own standard supply — for one real case, a Boss PSA-120S 9V supply is the maker's recommended fix.
Be skeptical of current-doubler cables as a fix for an under-spec output. If the draw doesn't add up on paper, it won't add up on stage.
Still stuck? Set up Tech Mode in Part 2 and walk it through with your Muse live.
7Feedback with a PA, no mixer
Set the speaker preset to Flat. Smiley-face EQ presets boost exactly the frequencies that feed back first.
Turn feedback suppression (AFS) on, and reset its filters at each new setup — yesterday's filters are aimed at yesterday's room.
Keep the mic behind the speakers' line and off-axis. The mic should never "see" the front of a speaker.
High-pass the vocal — on the preamp pedal or the speaker — so low-end rumble isn't eating your headroom and ringing the room.
Turn down before you reposition anything. Moving a hot mic around a live speaker finds every feedback frequency the loud way.
Still stuck? Set up Tech Mode in Part 2 and walk it through with your Muse live.
8A looper or secondary mode won't engage
Secondary modes hide behind gestures: double-taps, holds, and knob presses. If a mode won't engage, the first suspect is the gesture, not the pedal.
Check the manual for the exact entry gesture before you decide the pedal is broken. "Press and hold" and "double-tap" are specific instructions — close doesn't count.
Example: a delay pedal whose looper mode hides behind a double-tap of its feedback knob — double-tap to enter looper mode, then tap Bypass to record and play.
While you're in the manual, check the mode's limits too — loop time, mono or stereo — so the next surprise isn't one.
Still stuck? Set up Tech Mode in Part 2 and walk it through with your Muse live.
Old pedals, new pedals — versions differ
Every flow above works on pedals old and new alike — the current lineups and the early hand-built ones — because the flows are method checks (power, signal path, switch positions), not model trivia.
Some makers have built the same pedal for over twenty years, and versions differ — current draw, features, even jack layout can change between an early version and a later one. The flows don't care which version you own. The specs do. Before you trust any number, pull the manual for YOUR version from the Manual Library and check the plate on your pedal.
From our own board — verified tech notes
Tap sync: one delay on our board reads an external tap through its expression jack with a plain TS cable, and our other delay can master-tap it — demonstrated on our own board. A third pedal joins in parallel with a Y-split, never chained through.
Looper mode: on our board's delay, double-tap the feedback knob to enter looper mode (from the manual).
One drive pedal on our board needs a minimum of 500mA. The fix: its own standard 9V supply — a Boss PSA-120S (about $30) does the job. The tempting shortcut is a current-doubler cable — we don't trust them on a gigging board, and neither should you.
Our compressor/drive pedal: a TRS insert jack sits between its compressor and drive sections, so the two halves can be split with an insert cable.
Draws from our board's power plan: our two delays ≈160mA and ≈146mA; our reverb and modulation pedals 150mA each. Planning figures only — your version's manual is the final word.
The live, real-time help happens in your own Muse chat — this block turns your Muse into your pedal tech, and it takes one paste to set up.
Works for discontinued and earlier-version pedals too: tell your Muse the exact model and version you own, and it will work from that version's manual.
Be my pedalboard and effects tech. Follow these rules every time:
1. Use the manufacturer's manual as the baseline — but cross-check demos and real-world reports too. If my hands-on result differs from the manual, don't dismiss it; help me figure out why.
2. Give exact control names, clock positions, and settings. Never vague words like "moderate."
3. Label every claim: Confirmed (in the manual or the maker's own source), Strongly inferred, or Possible. Never invent a feature, a voltage, a current draw, or MIDI behavior — if you don't know, say so and tell me how to check.
4. Before saying a multi-effect pedal can't be split or routed a certain way, check the manual for TRS insert jacks, FX loops, and other routing options.
5. Ask which amp or PA I'm running before giving EQ or gain settings — settings don't transfer blind.
6. For power questions, do the math out loud: each pedal's draw against the exact supply output it will use, and flag anything over-spec.
7. When something's wrong, give me an ordered checklist — most likely, cheapest check first — one step at a time.
Then start a new Muse chat, paste it in as your first message, and describe the problem — the gear, what's plugged into what, and what changed. Don't have Muse yet? The free guide walks through setting it up.
Booking a band for your bar — the 10 practical answers
First-time bookers don’t fear the price — they fear the practicalities. The good agencies answer these on the listing page itself. Here they are in plain English; print the sheet and keep it by the till.
1 · How much space does an act need?
A solo or duo act works in a corner — roughly 6 by 6 feet. A full band wants 12 by 10 or more, plus somewhere to stack cases that isn’t a fire exit.
2 · What power do they need?
One ordinary wall socket on its own circuit covers most solo and duo rigs. Bands may ask for two. If the act brings the PA, that’s usually the whole ask.
3 · How long is a set?
The circuit standard here is a 3-hour night, usually three 45-minute sets with two short breaks — agreed in the booking confirmation before the date.
4 · What about breaks?
Breaks are part of the night, not time off the clock — voices and hands are instruments too. House music or the jukebox covers them.
5 · How loud will it be?
Ask before you book, and put it on the act’s Venue Fit card: a good act plays the room, and turns down when asked. If your room has a sound limiter, say so up front.
6 · Do we feed the act?
A meal is a kindness rooms are remembered for, and it’s cheap goodwill on a 3-hour night. It’s on top of the fee — never instead of it.
7 · Where do they load in and park?
Say it in the confirmation: which door, where the car goes, and how early they can get in. Thirty minutes of setup is normal for a solo rig.
8 · What time do they finish?
Agree the end time and any curfew before the date, and write it down. Nobody argues about a finish time that’s already on paper.
9 · What if the act cancels?
The confirmation names the terms — and the directory names the backup: the standby list below is acts who’ll step in. A refund doesn’t put music on at 7 PM; a cover act’s phone number does.
10 · What should it cost?
Start with the local rate guide: $400 for a local 3-hour bar set is this circuit’s floor, and distance moves it up honestly. Pay the fair rate and you get first pick of the good dates.
The agencies charge for a coordinator. Booked Solid has a founder who plays this circuit. Picks are earned by being heard, never bought — and for the first rooms in each town, Graham will help you build the first roster himself.
Founder-picked · DuBois circuit
Graham Snyder
Fills a Friday, reads a room, never too loud — the founder’s own act, and the first pick because he’s the one act on this page he’s heard from the stage side of every room listed.
Three picks per town is the standard — each one an act Graham has actually heard, with one line on why. No act buys a pick, and no pick goes up unheard. When your town’s acts join and he hears them, their lines appear here.
First rooms in a town: Graham builds your first roster with you
New to booking music? Graham will phone or walk in, help you pick the pattern, fill the first month in the Rotation Builder, and print your first What’s On poster. That’s the coordinator the big agencies sell — done by hand, by the founder, for the first rooms in each town.
Stuck? Your own setup is the way to Graham — setting up, listing, or filling a Friday. A real person, in big type, on purpose.
After the gig — the 3-tap log
The circuit platforms keep venues with a feedback loop: how was the night? Answer three taps while it’s fresh and this log — kept in this visit only, so copy or download it before you close the page — tells you who to rebook when you build next month’s rotation.
One place for the paperwork behind each gig. The venue, the date, the fee you agreed, the cancellation terms, and the link to the signed contract. Booked Solid stores no files: keep the signed copy in your own cloud drive, set it to share by link, and paste the link here. Entries save in this browser, on this device only.
No contracts saved yet
When a room books you, add the gig here: the fee, the cancellation terms, and the link to the signed copy in your own drive. Future you — standing in a parking lot the night of the show, wondering exactly what was agreed — says thanks.
Rooms: book off a standard contract? Share its link with the acts you book, and their copy lives here next to the gig — see For venues & bookers. New to cancellation terms? The fair-pay guide covers what a fair window looks like from both sides of the bar.
Build the list an insurance claim runs on. What you own, what it would cost to replace, the serial numbers, and photos. A gifted piece counts too — price paid can be $0, because replacement value is what insurance cares about.
No photo yet — the item still saves without one, but the photo is half the proof.
No gear listed yet.
Your inventory is empty
Start with the guitar and work down the pedalboard, the PA, the mics. Twenty minutes with your phone now is the whole difference later.
1
Serials and photos do the proving
An insurance claim — and a police report after a robbery — runs on serial numbers and photos. A list that just says “guitar, $800” gets argued with. A serial number and a photo of the plate get paid.
2
Keep a copy off your property
Straight talk: your inventory saves itself on this device only — nothing is sent anywhere — but a list that burns with the gear helps nobody. Download or print the sheet, then email it to yourself, drop it in a cloud folder, or leave a copy at a family member's house.
3
Update it like an expense
Gear bought, sold, or gifted changes the sheet the same day — same habit as snapping a receipt and logging it. A two-year-old inventory is a story; a current one is evidence.
The record-keeping habit behind this — receipts snapped, expenses logged, gear listed — is the back-office half of the system in the free Booked Solid guide. Graham's Muse invite code (P6KBA4) is inside it, and using it helps him out.
Snap the receipt the second it’s in your hand. Label it and save the labeled copy to your phone — that habit is the difference between a shoebox of faded paper and an easy tax season.
Honest about how this works: the labeled photo is made right here on your phone and saved to your device only. Nothing is uploaded to Booked Solid, and nothing is stored by this app — your tax folder lives with you, where it belongs.
1
Snap it at the register
Thermal receipts fade to blank in a year. The photo doesn't. Gear, gas, strings, a hotel on a far-drive gig — if it might be a write-off, it gets snapped before it leaves your hand.
2
Send it to your agent
This is Graham's own workflow: he sends the receipt photo to his AI agent, and it reads off the vendor, the date, and the amount and logs them in his gig books — no typing, no shoebox, no end-of-year archaeology.
3
Hand your CPA a clean file
At tax time the books and the labeled photos go to the CPA together. The category you pick here is a working label, not tax advice — what's deductible and how it gets filed is your CPA's call to confirm.
Want the agent half of this workflow? It's the same system taught in the free Booked Solid guide — Graham's Muse invite code (P6KBA4) is inside it, and using it helps him out.
Manual libraryTap to open — links straight to the makers’ own manual and support pages.
Reference
Manual library
Check the manufacturer’s manual before you believe a forum post. These links go straight to the makers’ own manual and support pages — Booked Solid doesn’t host or copy any manuals.
Two habits that save the gig: check the shop's hours before you route your drive around it, and call ahead — independent shops keep musician hours, and the good ones will have your strings sitting at the counter when you walk in. And keep two numbers saved in your phone: your regular shop, and your backup shop for the nights the regular one's closed.
Write it down the night you notice it. What you need, how many, and by when — then it’s a two-minute stop, not a morning-of scramble.
Nothing on the list — the case is full and the spares are stocked.
Honest note: your list is saved on this device only — nothing is sent anywhere — so it's still here when you come back. The CSV and printable sheet are there when you want a copy in the case.
Cars quit at the worst hour — usually after the gig, on a dark road. This is the page to open then: big buttons, almost no reading, and your location in numbers a dispatcher can use.
Somewhere unsafe, or anyone hurt? Call 911 first — the tow can wait, you can’t. Tap to call 911
Honest about how this works: those buttons open the official Uber, AAA, and Google Maps services. Booked Solid doesn’t dispatch anything itself, and it never sees your request or your location — the readout above happens in your own browser only.
Set this up before the gig
Install and sign into your rideshare and roadside apps at home — not on the shoulder.
Keep your roadside membership number saved in your phone, somewhere you can find it half asleep.
Keep a charging cable or a power bank in the gig bag.
Tell somebody at home your route and when to expect you.
Music licensing, in plain EnglishTap to open — who you pay, why rooms pay it, and what skipping it risks.
For venues
Music licensing, in plain English
Thinking about live music for your room? Read this first. One rule holds in all four launch countries: the licence follows the venue, not the performer — the room buys the licence, not the musician. Below: who the organisations are in the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia, why rooms pay them, and what skipping it risks.
General information only — not legal advice. This page explains how music licensing generally works so a room owner can walk in informed. What your room owes, and to whom, depends on your room — a licensing organization or a local attorney can tell you exactly, and it's worth the one conversation before you start. Booked Solid doesn’t sell licences, and being listed here doesn’t cover your room — the licence is always the venue’s own arrangement with the organisations below.
The short version · United States
Four names you may hear — in the US
ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC are performing rights organizations — PROs. Songwriters and publishers join them, and the PROs collect money on their behalf whenever their songs get played in public. Between them they represent nearly every song a band is ever going to play in your room — the hits, the standards, the covers everybody requests. A fourth organisation, GMR (Global Music Rights), represents a smaller catalog — a room can hear from any of them, and one licence never covers another’s songs.
Here's the part that surprises room owners: the license follows the room, not the band. It doesn't matter that the musician wrote none of the songs, or that they're only playing covers, or that it's an open mic where anybody can walk up. If copyrighted songs are performed in your business, the business is the one that needs the license.
Canada
Two organisations: SOCAN & Re:Sound
SOCAN collects performance royalties for songwriters and publishers when their songs are played in public. Re:Sound covers the other side of the same song — the neighbouring rights in the recording itself, for the performers and labels who made it.
A room playing live or recorded music generally needs both licences, each priced off the room's own specifics. Same rule as everywhere on this page: the licences are the venue's to hold, never the performer's.
For live music, Entandem — the joint SOCAN & Re:Sound licensing office — publishes Tariff 3A at 3% of what the venue pays its entertainers, with a minimum fee of $89.76. The official tariff: Entandem live-music tariff (PDF).
United Kingdom
PRS for Music & PPL — usually one licence
PRS for Music looks after songwriters and publishers; PPL looks after performers and recording rightsholders. Two sides of the music, two organisations.
Most venues don't deal with them separately: TheMusicLicence, from PPL PRS, bundles both into a single licence for the room, priced off the room's specifics.
APRA AMCOS covers songwriters and publishers; PPCA covers recordings and the performers on them.
Venues are usually covered through OneMusic Australia, the joint licensing scheme the two run together — one arrangement for the room, priced off the room's specifics.
For hotels, pubs, taverns, bars and casinos, OneMusic’s published live-music fee is 2.2% of what the room spends on live performers. The official guide: OneMusic hotels & pubs guide (PDF).
Why rooms pay
What the license actually is
It's called a blanket license: one yearly agreement with a PRO covers every song in that PRO's catalog, played as often as you like, all year. No per-song paperwork, no set lists to file. Most US rooms that host music hold licenses from ASCAP and BMI at minimum, and many carry SESAC too, because any one license only covers its own catalog — and no band can promise every song they play belongs to just one. The blanket idea works the same in Canada, the UK, and Australia — one agreement for each side of the music, and in the UK and Australia usually bundled into a single licence for the room.
It covers more than the stage, too: the jukebox or streaming playlist between sets, the TV over the bar, karaoke night. If music is part of the atmosphere your customers enjoy, it's part of the licensing picture.
The money · US ballparks
Roughly what a small US room pays
These ballparks are US-only — the one country this page puts numbers on. Fees in Canada, the UK, and Australia are set the same way, off your room's specifics; the organisations there quote your room directly, and this page won't guess at prices in another country's currency.
Fees are set by each organization off your room's specifics — seating capacity, how many nights a week music plays, whether there's a cover charge, dancing, or recorded music too. Very general ballpark for a small room hosting live music a night or two a week: a few hundred dollars per organization, per year, with the total across all three commonly landing somewhere in the low thousands a year for a small room. Bigger rooms, more nights, and cover charges push it up; a tiny room with occasional music sits at the low end.
Treat those figures as orientation, not a quote — the only real number is the one each organization gives you for your room. Getting the quote costs nothing, and many rooms are surprised it's closer to a utility bill than a tax bill.
The risk
What skipping it can cost
Playing unlicensed music in a business is copyright infringement, and the organizations do check — they employ reps who visit rooms, and a single letter usually starts a conversation a room would rather have had earlier. A room that keeps playing without licenses can face a lawsuit, and US federal law allows damages per song that run well past what years of licenses would have cost — plus back fees for the time the room was uncovered. Rooms have shut down their music programs entirely over exactly this, which is the worst outcome for everybody: the room, the players, and the town.
The plain takeaway: the license isn't a fine waiting to happen or a shakedown — it's the cost of having music in the room, priced by the year, and it's cheaper than the alternative in every direction. Price it before your first booking, the same way you'd price the PA.
Reading this as a room that's starting from zero? License the room, then find your first act — or an open mic host to get a regular night going — right here in the directory. Reading it as a musician? Send this page to the room that just told you "we'd love music, but the licensing scares us." It's a fair worry, and it has a plain answer.
What acts actually charge, out in the open. Below is one working solo act’s published card for a 3-hour set, PA included — the same numbers the Gig Rate Calculator quotes from, so the fee an act quotes you never feels like it fell out of the sky. Distance and occasion move the fee, and they should.
$400
$600
$800
$650
$850
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Drink comps aren't pay
An act can't put a free beer in the gas tank, and plenty of working players don't drink at all. A comp is a kindness on top of the fee — the moment it's treated as part of the fee, you've quoted the act a pay cut and called it generosity. Tip the band, feed the band, but pay the band.
1st
Fair pay gets first pick
Good acts build their calendars months out, and the rooms that pay the fair rate get first claim on the good dates — the holiday weekends, the festival Saturdays. Rooms that lowball book whoever's left in the last two weeks, and their crowd can hear the difference.
None of this is a lecture — you're the customer, and a room that books music at all is already doing right by live music. It's here so the number an act quotes you never feels like it fell out of the sky: it's drive time, a 3-hour set, and a truck's worth of gear, priced plainly.
One more thing, pointing both ways: acts — when you quote a far room, print your travel cost breakdown from the rate calculator and send it with the quote. Rooms — when an act sends you one, this is what an honest breakdown looks like: the miles, the fuel, the rate, all on paper, nothing padded.
Cancellation terms — fair both ways
Agree the cancellation window and any fee before the gig, in writing — a line in the contract, or in the email that confirms the date. A 48-hour window is a common, fair one: cancel inside it and the fee applies; cancel outside it and nobody owes anybody anything. And the same rule protects the musician when a venue cancels late — a night held open for months can't be rebooked on two days' notice. Written down ahead of time, it's not an argument waiting to happen; it's just the deal both sides already made. Venues can state their policy right on their listing, and acts can keep the agreed terms next to each gig in My Contracts.
Trust on this circuit runs both directions — so reviews here will too. Not a live feature yet: this is the standard they’ll run on, stated now so nobody has to wonder later.
ACTS REVIEW ROOMS ON
The stuff players ask each other anyway
Pay on time — and the amount agreed, in full
The crowd — who actually shows up, and whether the room promotes
Communication — did booking take two messages or twenty
ROOMS REVIEW ACTS ON
The stuff bookers ask each other anyway
On time — loaded in, set up, and started when promised
Volume — right for the room, adjusted when asked
Professionalism — easy to host, sober, kind to staff and crowd
How they'll be published: by Graham, by hand, with permission from both sides — a review names a real match that happened through the directory, and the other side can answer it. No anonymous drive-bys, no star-rating games, and nothing posted before there's a real match to review. Until then, this page shows the standard and nothing else — a directory that invents its testimonials doesn't deserve yours.
The fixed format, already live on act listings: venue name + town + gig date + one line — “Crowd stayed till close — rebooked for June” is the shape. A named local venue is checkable in one phone call, which in a small market is stronger verification than any platform badge. Acts collect theirs with the “ask for a kind word” follow-up in Pitch & Follow Up the day after the gig.
The big booking sites aren't scams — they do a job. It's just a different job than this one. Here's the plain difference, for players and for rooms.
FOR PLAYERS
Built for the weekly circuit, not the lead mill
The big booking sites sell leads — mostly weddings and one-off private events. Visibility there runs on a Pro membership at $139 per 3 months, they take a 2.5–5% fee out of every booking, and the visibility ends the month your membership lapses. Stop paying, disappear.
Different rooms: bars, wineries, breweries, distilleries, restaurants, coffeehouses, churches, festivals, and farms — the weekly live-music circuit, where a room that likes you books you again and again.
A system, not a slot: Booked Solid teaches and tools the whole booking system — an AI booking agent that never sends without your approval, second-touch follow-ups, a venue tracker with books-open dates, and a rate calculator off a real rate card. What you build stays yours.
No cut of your gig pay. Ever. The fee on the poster is the fee in your pocket.
Priced for working musicians: membership is set at half the price of the big booking sites' pro plans — $69 per 3 months / $179 a year — on purpose, because it was built by one.
Run by a working act: founded by Graham Snyder, a solo acoustic musician in Troutville, PA, who runs this system on his own calendar of real booked shows — not a tech company guessing what gigging is like.
FOR VENUES
Free to list. No middleman. No commission.
Listing your room here is free, and it stays free. Booked Solid takes no commission on anything you book through it — the act's fee is between you and the act, full stop.
You say exactly what you book: the music categories, the act sizes that fit your room, your season and your booking windows. Acts who fit can find you; acts who don't, don't waste your time.
Respect for your season: musicians here are taught follow-up discipline — pitch once, follow up once, and come back when your books open, not blast-pitch your inbox every week of the year.
Direct contact: no platform in the middle slowing it down or skimming it. A church looking for gospel, a bar looking for blues — the act that fits talks straight to you.
Open mic hosts list here too: hosts can list as hosts, and a room with no music program yet can find one and start an open mic night.
Curated, not scraped: listings are added by hand, so the directory is real rooms and real acts — not a database of everybody who ever had a phone number.
One major booking site's own help center says the amount musicians pay in service fees affects how their leads are distributed.
On the big booking sites, paying more gets an act shown more; on Booked Solid nobody can buy a better spot — listings are matched on fit, not on spend.
Where the big sites fall short — and what this page does instead
Many of them charge both sides — and some hide the phone number behind a paid plan or a per-lead credit. Here the number can be on the listing from day one, listing is free, and the cut is zero.
One big marketplace takes 20% and rewards whoever replies fastest. Here there is no timer and no race — the first suitable act who phones gets the night.
Lead sites charge credits just to unlock a phone number — one of them prices a standard US credit at $2.35, and credits expire. Here the introduction is the website itself — no credits, in dollars or any other disguise.
A UK circuit platform charges venues for its calendar and poster tools. Here the Rotation Builder and the What’s On poster are free, on your own phone, with no account.
Wedding directories lock vendors into long pay-to-rank contracts. Here there are no contracts and no ranking for sale — fit decides, spend doesn’t.
Their answer to a cancellation is a refund. Ours is the standby list — a cover act’s phone number, because a refund doesn’t put music on at 7 PM.
They hold deposits to sell trust. Booked Solid never touches money — trust here is paperwork both sides keep (the Book It Right kit), named reviews, and a founder who answers the phone.
The honest part
The big booking sites mainly cover the US and Canada — and if weddings and private-event leads are your living, that's their shelf and they stock it well. Booked Solid is the weekly circuit done right: smaller, curated, musician-priced, and built around the rooms that rebook — wherever those rooms are. And the same two questions are worth asking of any booking platform, including the ones in the UK and Australia: what comes out of each booking, and does paying more buy a better spot? No site can promise you bookings, and this one won't pretend to — what it promises is a better system for finding rooms and pitching them well, priced so a working musician can actually afford it.
One email a month: the new venues and open dates that hit the boards, one booking lesson out of Graham's real system — the follow-up timing, the books-open dates, the rate math — and member news as the directory grows. That's the whole agenda; nobody needs another newsletter, so this one stays worth opening.
Signing up works the same way everything here works: you sign up through your own setup, he adds you by hand — the Letter list is the founding-member waitlist, so signing up also holds your founding rate. No list-selling, no daily drip, unsubscribe any time with one message.
Everything built for rooms and bookers, in one place. Find acts and hear them before you book, fill a cancellation fast, and know the fair numbers before you make an offer — each card below takes you straight to it.
Start here
Venues & what they're looking for
Every room in the directory says the styles it books and the act sizes that fit — and you can see where they all sit on the circuit map.
Every act's listing carries live video, so you can see and hear exactly what you'd be putting on your stage before you book — no guessing from a press kit or a polished studio track.
Put up when your books open for a season and what kind of act you're looking for. Musicians come to you with pitches that answer what you asked for, instead of random cold calls at the wrong time of year.
Cancellations happen. This board shows working musicians who are open that date and ready to step in, so a last-minute hole in your calendar doesn't have to mean a quiet room that night.
Pick your pattern, tap your regular acts into the month’s slots, and print a roster with each act’s phone number beside their date. Free, no account, no cut.
Who the licensing organizations are in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia, why rooms pay them, and what a room risks if it skips it — the plain version, not the scary one.
You can also find an open mic host through Booked Solid — a local musician to run the night, provide the PA, and bring their own crowd, so a room with no music program yet still has a first step. Hosts list in the directory, and rooms looking for one can post on the Books Open board.
LIST YOUR VENUE
Get your room on the list and the map
Listing your room is free during launch, and listings are added by hand — curated, not pay-to-rank, so every listing is there because the act works and nobody can pay to jump to the top. Listings show real contact info, in the open: acts reach you directly, there's no middleman taking a cut of the gig, and no messages locked inside a website.
Publish the practical stuff: you can put your typical budget range and your cancellation policy right on your listing, so acts know the shape of the night before they pitch.
Share your standard contract as a link: if your room books off a standard contract, send its link to the musicians you book — they can keep it next to the gig in their contracts list.
A room lists its type, its town, and the exact styles and act sizes it books — a church after a solo gospel singer is not the same search as a bar after a full blues band.
2
Performers match & pitch
Acts filter the map by their own styles, find the rooms that already want that sound, and reach out direct. No middleman taking a cut of the gig.
3
The agent does the paperwork
Booked Solid started as Graham's own AI booking-agent system — the free guide below shows any musician how to set up the pitching, follow-ups, and gig-day reminders.
Membership — the full version
FOUNDING MEMBER PRICING
Half the price of the big booking sites' pro plans. Locked for good if you're early.
$69per 3 months
$179per year
When membership opens, that's the price: half the price of the big booking sites' pro plans, set there on purpose, because this is built by a working musician for working musicians. Founding members lock that rate for good — it never goes up on the people who got in early, even when it goes up for everybody else.
Not on sale yet, and we won't pretend otherwise: the app launches free — the directory, the boards, and the tools are open while the crowd builds.
The paid pieces today are the ones that already exist: the $39 Full Setup Pack and $100/hr setup calls.
The waitlist is how you hold a founding rate: join through your own setup now, get first word when membership opens, pay nothing until it does.
Cancel anytime — from your account or with one message. No phone call, no cancellation fee, no hard feelings. Your listing, your reviews, and your kind words stay yours — export them and take them with you. Founding members keep the $69 per 3 months / $179 per year rate for as long as they stay members. If these terms ever change, members hear about it at least 30 days ahead. If Booked Solid ever shuts down, members get 60 days' notice and a full export of everything that's theirs.
No account, and nothing you type into these tools is sent to us. The tools that remember things — your contracts list, gear list, checklists, set lists — save them in this browser, on this device only. Clear the browser’s data and they’re gone, so use each tool’s print or download button to keep your own copy of anything that matters.
Listings come down fast
Changed your mind about a listing — yours or your room’s? Say the word through your own setup and it comes down within 2 working days, no forms and no argument. Listings show business and booking numbers only, with the owner’s say-so, and acts list by town, never a home address.
The page aims for big type, big tap targets, and words a person would actually say. If anything here is hard to read, hard to tap, or hard to follow on your phone, tell Graham — that’s a bug, and it gets fixed like one.
And the safety line, once more: Booked Solid will never message you asking for payment or a password. Anything asking for money in this name, anywhere but bookedsolidmusic.com or Gumroad, is a scam.
It's a web app — no app store, no download wait. iPhone: tap Share, then “Add to Home Screen.” Android: tap the three-dot menu, then “Install app” or “Add to Home screen.” It'll sit next to your other apps with the guitar-and-calendar icon.
