Take 2: UPDATE-Obligations of The Band & The Venue To Attract A Crowd

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tommykat1

tommykat1

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In a separate post, I recently ranted about a new venue where my band played in which the owner did no promotion (after promising to do so), and yet we delivered a stellar crowd made up of our regular fans. The locals didn't show, as they were protesting what has traditionally been a blues joint that is now offering up classic rock. The first effort is to get the gig through promotion and salesmanship. What's more difficult is getting asked back, and I'm pleased to say that we got a second booking.

Now, here's a twist on the same subject. Last night we played another local venue for the first time. We had no promise of promotion, which is fine, as we knew it going in. However, as is the norm, we hung four full color tabloid posters a week prior to the show.

Some of our crowd showed up, even though they had seen us at the blues joint two weeks ago. So we had a good "seed crowd" to begin with.

But...dang! This bar is, quite literally, one of the few pubs we've played that has a huge, built in crowd of 30 somethings who like good, live music. It was standing room only of unknowns. We rocked the place from beginning to end. The owner showed up at about 11:00 with his wife to help the manager and two bartenders keep up. Ha! Too amazing. It was non-stop dancing until 1:00 AM, and we could have continued.

I guess it comes down to the old real estate slogan: Location, location, location. This was THE spot to hit, and we had a ton of fun.

_______________________________________________________

UPDATE 6/20/13:

Just met with the owner of the club. We're booked every 2nd Friday through the end of the year. Dang. Hope we can still pack 'em in until then... :)
 
So play there again and drop the crappy place.

Remember, YOU are the X factor.


There's bars on every corner of every town of every city...
 
Agreed Doc but in my neck of the woods the bar scene is all but dead except for drum n bass and DJ re-mixes.
Private parties, corporate and weddings only now and making a lot more doing them.
 
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A certain A room club that was the "IN" place for the past few years must have lost its appeal and is now no longer hip, its odd but true, nice bar, great stage, sound , lights and all but the crowd just isn't there any more, however, a new place opened 5 miles away late last year and it is full both weekend nights. The new place isn't in the best area either yet it seems to be drawing. Sometimes its not the band, its the club.
 
You know club owners re-name and re-design every couple years.... least, the smart ones.

It's a attention deficit society.
 
tommykat1 said:
In a separate post, I recently ranted about a new venue where my band played in which the owner did no promotion (after promising to do so), and yet we delivered a stellar crowd made up of our regular fans. The locals didn't show, as they were protesting what has traditionally been a blues joint that is now offering up classic rock. The first effort is to get the gig through promotion and salesmanship. What's more difficult is getting asked back, and I'm pleased to say that we got a second booking.

Now, here's a twist on the same subject. Last night we played another local venue for the first time. We had no promise of promotion, which is fine, as we knew it going in. However, as is the norm, we hung four full color tabloid posters a week prior to the show.

Some of our crowd showed up, even though they had seen us at the blues joint two weeks ago. So we had a good "seed crowd" to begin with.

But...dang! This bar is, quite literally, one of the few pubs we've played that has a huge, built in crowd of 30 somethings who like good, live music. It was standing room only of unknowns. We rocked the place from beginning to end. The owner showed up at about 11:00 with his wife to help the manager and two bartenders keep up. Ha! Too amazing. It was non-stop dancing until 1:00 AM, and we could have continued.

I guess it comes down to the old real estate slogan: Location, location, location. This was THE spot to hit, and we had a ton of fun.
Click to expand...
That sounds fantastic! Congrats on another great show. Need to know the name of this venue, and you need to tell people when your band is playing again!
 
its just the opposite in my area. clubs that have maintained the same venue,name,ownership and such have built a nice following of customers that keep the business running. the new clubs that pop up here and there don't seem to last long at all.

mike
DoctorJosiah said:
You know club owners re-name and re-design every couple years.... least, the smart ones.

It's a attention deficit society.
Click to expand...
 
Chunkaway said:
In a separate post, I recently ranted about a new venue where my band played in which the owner did no promotion (after promising to do so), and yet we delivered a stellar crowd made up of our regular fans. The locals didn't show, as they were protesting what has traditionally been a blues joint that is now offering up classic rock. The first effort is to get the gig through promotion and salesmanship. What's more difficult is getting asked back, and I'm pleased to say that we got a second booking.

Now, here's a twist on the same subject. Last night we played another local venue for the first time. We had no promise of promotion, which is fine, as we knew it going in. However, as is the norm, we hung four full color tabloid posters a week prior to the show.

Some of our crowd showed up, even though they had seen us at the blues joint two weeks ago. So we had a good "seed crowd" to begin with.

But...dang! This bar is, quite literally, one of the few pubs we've played that has a huge, built in crowd of 30 somethings who like good, live music. It was standing room only of unknowns. We rocked the place from beginning to end. The owner showed up at about 11:00 with his wife to help the manager and two bartenders keep up. Ha! Too amazing. It was non-stop dancing until 1:00 AM, and we could have continued.

I guess it comes down to the old real estate slogan: Location, location, location. This was THE spot to hit, and we had a ton of fun.
Click to expand...
That sounds fantastic! Congrats on another great show. Need to know the name of this venue, and you need to tell people when your band is playing again!
Click to expand...
Dude! Thanks! ChaoticSoulBand.com.
 
Very cool. Live music is alive and well and some Bar Owners are starting to see the light.

10 years ago DJ's and Karaoke were killing live music. But today live music is making a HUGE comeback. I live just outside of a small 60,000 person city that has went through a huge transformation in the Arts department. In 2008 Middletown, Ohio made national news as one of the fastest dying cities in the country. Since that time there has been a huge turn around mainly because of the Arts. It started with a free concert series every other Wednesday that now pulls 6,000-8,000 people. The entertainment is all local. Most of the musicians and bar owners (Yes I said bar owners) work together to support live music. It's common place for a band or a bar to support live events that are not their own.

For example: If I have a gig Friday night and so do 6 other bands not only would I let all my friends know about my gig, but also about the other bands. This has been going on for about 2 years and has revitalized live music.

During this same period about 60 local artist have opened studios and shops in the downtown area....not called the Art District. Once again working together.

I have heard of the same thing happening in other cities and hopefully it's catching on.
 
DoctorJosiah said:
You know club owners re-name and re-design every couple years.... least, the smart ones.

It's a attention deficit society.
Click to expand...
Where I come from, bars change hands frequently, but it's not because of a smart move on anybody's part. Venues are constantly being bought and sold due to poor management and little to no promotion.
 
Old town Scottsdale is the perfect example of attention deficit society. There are so many clubs (mostly DJs there, some for bands) that come and go within a year or two, then another night club pops up in its place. There are a few that have been there for 10+ years that are finally closing their doors.

Fortunately, there is still a fairly strong market for live bands in the metropolitan area, even in Scottsdale.

Unfortunately, it's difficult to just turn your back on any club or bar, especially during transition periods, since the new version of the club may become the new "it" spot.
 
We got a call from a place in the rural part of the county; definitely outside of our "draw". We play there in a couple of weeks, but from what I've seen, they are very active in promoting their music on Facebook. They also asked me to send them digital posters that they will be placing in their venue and around the town. It looks like a nice place and I really am pulling for them to succeed. There's no expectation of our pulling our crowd due to the distance, but it doesn't mean we won't try. They seem to be going all out to build their own customer base, and we are hopefully a positive part of that process. I plan on hitting Yelp after we've been there and finding some nice things to say. Would love to see this type of effort duplicated by other places.
 
Awesome to hear Tom. It's funny because I see you playing in Dublin and everytime I see this I think it's in my town, Dublin CA. There a sports bar about 1/2 mile from my house that I thought yiu guys were playing at. I got all excited...guess it's there in Oregon, eh?
 
Quite simple in my area: people DO NOT go out to see a specific band/friends band, most of us lead busy lives with work/family/friends/etc, and going out is a random act and is thus not much planned around WHO is playing and WHERE they are playing. It really is up to the venue to have a good reputation as an establishment that provides good live entertainment. You can waste time printing up flyers and posting of Facebook that you are playing, but unless someone intends on going out that night chances are they wont be there. Sure, there are exceptions where some friends will come and see your band, but those are far and few between. I'm happy to play out, the more the merrier, but if just 5 or 6 folks there and really diggin it then good enough for me. I just dont think I am going out to make money for myself, let alone the establishment that sells alcohol.
 
Wow, that's interesting. I think the fewest we've had is about 20 of our peeps show up (dive bars not included...LOL!).
 
here the live scene has been taken over by bands/clubowners playing for pass the hat

way more supply than demand,and no qc,yet lineups of 20 yr olds at the disco ,paying 15 bucks cover for a dj,yikes

i focus on private gigs now,as i refuse to play for less than 100 per nite

i hope that live music will increase in value at some point,but seems bleak

glad to hear of a resurgence in other towns
 
One thing I also do is practice what I preach. When I'm not gigging, I try to be someone's audience.


SUPPORT LOCAL MUSIC!
 
DanRH said:
Awesome to hear Tom. It's funny because I see you playing in Dublin and everytime I see this I think it's in my town, Dublin CA. There a sports bar about 1/2 mile from my house that I thought yiu guys were playing at. I got all excited...guess it's there in Oregon, eh?
Click to expand...
Yes, I remember that scenario awhile back, Dan! It's the Dublin Pub, on the border of Beaverton and Portland. That spot has some issues. Difficult acoustically, and very, very difficult to enter and exit. They also like to have two bands on weekends, and that makes ingress/egress and setup/breakdown a strenuous affair for both bands. The venue pays only the door cover, less $50 for the bouncer. So, it's hit or miss, unless you bring your crowd. Our crowd made it clear that they don't want to go there and, for that matter, to a few other places we had been playing. So we're beginning to establish a presence in some preferred areas for three singles groups that have been following us around.
 
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