Only the cream of the current crop of drummers can afford to sit and wait for the phone to ring. Everybody else has to do at least a little outreach to market him or herself. I always keep a few business cards in my wallet and hand them out whenever I meet a bandleader who could be a potential employer. And I designed the cards to have a little style and attitude — not just black type against a white background — so that they stand out a little. I also mantain a myspace page with my current schedule, a bunch of recordings I’ve played on, a couple videos, and my whole bio, which I regularly refresh as I play with new acts (for example, I just added Shana Morrison after doing my first gig with her last Saturday). So what do you do to market your services?

Ads on LA Weekly’s website, craigslist and Backpage.com (and I’m not talking the “Hi, my name is Nick, I have been playing for blah blah blah… I mean and ad, like a magazine ad, no text just stright to the point!)
LA Weekly and Backpage I post about once a month because they don’t get as much traffic, but craigslist I try to do every single day.

personal website (nickmason.org)
myspace page dedicated to me as a drummer (myspace.com/nickmason)
facebook page dedicated to me as a drummer (facebook.com/nmason)
post on forums such as this one and 2 or 3 others
Biz cards