Wedding Musicians with Jonte & Bartosz (herzwispern.de) - Podcast #2

The artist & wedding musician Jonte Friedrichsen and agency owner Bartosz Strezelecki from Hamburg are guests on the mukken podcast. With his agency Herzwispern, Bartosz and his team arrange over 300 musicians, including the already experienced musician & artist Jonte. You can find out what experiences the two had as wedding musicians—and what has gone particularly wrong—in this episode.

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Topic overview & questions for wedding musicians

1. How did you get the idea to start an agency for wedding musicians?
2. How many artists do you currently have on your roster and how do you find new ones?
3. Is it possible to apply as a wedding musician?
4. How long have you been working as a wedding musician?
5. How was your trip to Italy for the Influencer Theresa Casamonti?
6. What criteria do you use to recommend wedding musicians?
7. What kind of repertoire of songs do you need?
8. What is the most annoying wedding song?
9. What is more important: the song selection or the person/performance?
10. What is the process, from booking to performance?
11. How many songs are needed to become a wedding musician?
12. What is the general response after a gig?
13. Are there after-parties where you stay longer than planned?
14. Where do you see yourselves in the next 5 years?
15. Is there a limit / radius to where you travel?
16. What does a wedding musician earn?
17. What has been the most beautiful location so far?
18. What situation went wrong? Were there any mishaps?
19. What are tips for newcomers in the field?

Highlights & Learnings

1. Booking wedding musicians is a full time job.
2. Capable wedding musicians are often scouted by booking agencies. They like to look at social media channels for new talent.
3. Applications for wedding musicians are welcome, but recommendations work even better.
4. When booking musicians, experience, repertoire and performance are the deciding factors.
5. As a wedding musician it is important that you know and master the currently most popular songs in this environment.
6. A wide range of songs and genre diversity is an advantage.
7. In direct comparison, the performance is usually more important than the song selection.
8. A wedding musician is usually booked specifically for the wedding ceremony and not for an entire evening. Whether they'll still be performing at the champagne reception or at the afterparty, is optional.
9. Usually between 2-6 songs are played, depending on requests. Only very rarely will there be more.
10. Divorces, baby showers, and funerals are also a topic where musicians are increasingly sought-after. A fee for a wedding musician in starts at around 400-500 euros, and there isn't really an upper limit.
11. Newcomers should grow with experience, take everything with them, and work on their repertoire.