Bookings
How to Receive Bookings on bass.fan: A Step-by-Step Setup Guide
Everything you need to configure so that promoters can find you, submit an enquiry, and get responded to — without a single back-and-forth email before you even know if the gig is viable.
By Sophie · · 10 min read
Most DJs are set up to be found. They have social profiles, a SoundCloud, maybe a Linktree. What they're not set up for is being booked. There's a meaningful difference: being found means someone can listen to you; being booked means someone can hire you without needing to hunt for a contact email, send a message into the void, and wait for a reply that may or may not arrive.
bass.fan turns your profile into a live booking operation. When it's configured correctly, a promoter can visit your page, submit a detailed enquiry, and receive an automatic confirmation — all before you've seen the notification. This guide walks through every step of that setup, from enabling the booking feature to the moment your first enquiry lands.
- 3×
- More enquiries when a booking form is present vs. a contact email
- < 15 min
- Time to configure a complete booking setup from scratch
- 67%
- Of promoters abandon a booking attempt if they can't find a clear submission route
- 40–60%
- Fewer time-wasting enquiries when a minimum budget field is enabled
Step 1: Enable Bookings in Your Feature Settings
Bookings are an opt-in feature on bass.fan. They don't appear in your sidebar or on your public profile until you switch them on, which keeps your setup clean until you're ready.
- Sign in at bass.fan and go to Features in the left sidebar
- Find Bookings in the optional features list and toggle it on
- The Bookings section will now appear in your sidebar under your main navigation
- Your public profile will now show a Book button pointing to your booking form
Step 2: Configure Your Booking Form
Your booking form is the first thing a promoter sees when they click "Book". The default form works, but configuring it properly makes the difference between receiving useful, qualified enquiries and a inbox full of vague messages that waste your time.
Go to Bookings in your sidebar, then open the Booking Form tab. From here you can:
Write an intro message
The text at the top of your form sets expectations before anyone submits. Use it to explain your typical fee range or minimum, your lead time for bookings, and what happens after they submit. Something like: "I review all enquiries within 48 hours. If your date and budget work, I'll respond with availability and a quote."
Add a minimum budget notice
This is the single most effective filter on your form. A line that says "I have a minimum fee of £500 for private events" saves you from every low-budget enquiry before it's submitted. It doesn't need to be your exact rate — just enough to communicate your level.
Choose which fields to include
The standard fields — event type, date, venue name, city, expected capacity, budget range, and additional notes — are already structured. You can add custom questions specific to your booking type: "What is the music format?" for corporate events, "Do you have a PA system?" for private hires, and so on.
Restrict access if needed
If you only accept bookings from known promoters or agencies, you can restrict your booking form so that only enquirers whose email address is on your allowlist can submit. This is useful if you work exclusively through an agency and don't want public enquiries.
Step 3: Set Up Your Availability Calendar
The bass.fan calendar connects directly to your booking form. Dates you mark as unavailable — or that already have a confirmed booking — are automatically blocked. Promoters can't submit enquiries for those dates, which eliminates the entire category of "I got an enquiry for a date I'm already booked" followed by an awkward decline.
- Go to Calendar in your sidebar
- Click on any date to mark it as unavailable (or set a recurring unavailability pattern)
- Add any existing bookings or commitments you have that aren't yet in the system
- Set your default availability window — how far in advance you accept bookings
You control what visibility level each calendar entry has. Dates can appear as simply "Unavailable" to visitors without revealing why — your private life and undisclosed bookings stay private.
Step 4: Make Your Profile Booking-Ready
A promoter who lands on your bass.fan profile before clicking "Book" is already qualifying you. They're checking your genre, your level, your previous events, and your sound. If your profile is incomplete or thin, they'll either not enquire at all, or enquire without enough context for you to assess whether it's a good fit. Both outcomes are a waste of everyone's time.
Before you start promoting your booking link, make sure your profile has:
- A complete bio — one paragraph minimum, written in third person, covering your genre, your sound, notable bookings, and what you bring to an event. This is the first thing a promoter reads.
- At least one music widget — a SoundCloud or Spotify link showing your active releases or mixes. A promoter needs to hear you before booking you.
- Event listings — even just two or three past events gives credibility signals. It shows you play, and it shows at what level.
- A professional profile photo — not a blurry phone selfie. A DJ shot, a live photo, or a simple studio portrait at reasonable resolution.
- A filled-in genre or style field — so your profile appears in the right context for promoters looking for your type of act.
Step 5: Connect Stripe for Deposits (Optional but Recommended)
Collecting a deposit at booking is the most effective way to confirm commitment from a promoter. Without a deposit, a "confirmed" booking is just an intention — promoters who cancel or go quiet are much more common without financial commitment on their side.
- Go to Payments in your sidebar (enable it first via Features if you haven't)
- Click Connect Stripe Account and complete the Stripe onboarding — takes about 5 minutes
- Once connected, you can attach a deposit requirement to any service or booking
- When a promoter is ready to confirm, bass.fan generates a secure Stripe payment link for the deposit amount
- Funds go directly to your connected bank account — bass.fan doesn't hold them
Step 6: Build a Contract Template
Even if you've done bookings by handshake before, a signed contract protects both parties. bass.fan's contract system lets you build a reusable template with your standard terms, then generate a pre-filled contract from the booking details in seconds.
- Go to Contracts in your sidebar (enable via Features first)
- Click New Template and write your standard performance contract terms
- The template supports merge fields — {{artist_name}}, {{event_date}}, {{venue}}, {{fee}}, {{deposit}} — that auto-fill from each booking
- When a booking is ready to proceed, click Generate Contract and it's pre-filled and ready to send
- The client signs digitally from any device — no printing, scanning, or PDF attachments
What Happens When an Enquiry Comes In
Once your setup is complete, here's the exact flow a promoter goes through:
- Promoter visits your bass.fan profile and clicks Book (or goes directly to `bass.fan/yourusername/book`)
- They fill in the structured booking form — event type, date, venue, city, capacity, budget, any additional notes from your custom questions
- They submit — they receive an automatic confirmation that their enquiry has been received and you'll respond within your stated timeframe
- You receive a notification: email and in-platform notification in your Bookings inbox
- You open the enquiry in /bookings, review all the submitted details, and decide to accept, decline, or ask a follow-up question
- If you accept, you move it through the workflow: send a quote, generate a contract, request a deposit, and mark as confirmed
- The confirmed booking blocks the date in your calendar automatically
From the promoter's perspective, your booking system is indistinguishable from a professional agency's infrastructure. From your perspective, it's a structured inbox that tells you everything you need to know about each enquiry before you've even replied.
Promoting Your Booking Link
Once everything is set up, the booking link goes everywhere. Your profile URL is `bass.fan/yourusername` and the booking form is at `bass.fan/yourusername/book`. Both should be in:
- Your Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter/X bio links
- Your email signature — every email you send to an industry contact
- Your SoundCloud and Spotify artist descriptions
- Any physical material: business cards, flyers, festival programmes
- Any press or media content where your name appears
- Outreach emails to venues and promoters — lead with your profile link, not an attachment
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a paid plan to receive bookings on bass.fan?
The booking form is available on all plans. Stripe payment integration and contracts require a paid plan. If you're just starting out, you can receive and manage enquiries for free, and add the payment and contract features when you're ready to formalise the workflow.
Will I get a notification every time someone submits an enquiry?
Yes — you receive an email notification and an in-platform notification in your Bookings inbox every time a new enquiry is submitted. You can also set up notification preferences in your account settings to control how and where you're alerted.
Can I receive bookings for multiple types of events on one form?
Yes. The Event Type field on your booking form lets the enquirer specify whether it's a club night, private event, festival, wedding, corporate event, or any other format. You can also add custom questions that are relevant to specific event types. One form handles the full range of your bookings.
What if I want to keep my booking form private?
You can restrict your booking form to a specific list of email addresses. Only someone whose email matches your allowlist can successfully submit an enquiry. This is useful if you only take bookings through a specific agency or want to control which promoters can reach you.
Can my manager or agent handle my bookings on my behalf?
Yes. If you're represented by an agency or management company that uses bass.fan, your profile can be linked to their account. Enquiries submitted through your booking form route to their central inbox, and they can manage the full workflow on your behalf. Your profile stays yours — they just have permission to manage the booking side.
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