Live Music Promotion Paul Curry

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Live Music Promotion Paul Curry
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Choosing a venue
Question.. What should you consider when
choosing a venue?
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Three main types of venue

• music venues with an in house pa
• music venues without an in house pa
• rooms / halls that are not usually used for gigs

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 1.      Find a Location where will your
audience travel? What size venue do you need?
Whats available and when? What kind of image
does the venue have and is that the kind of image
you want to be associated with?  2.      Cost
of the Venue Some venues charge a flat fee while
others will take a percentage off of the door.
Some will be free as theyll make their money
from the bar. Some places will ask for a bar
guarantee. In other words, if a bar demands a
guarantee of 500, but they only make 400 on
food and drinks, you pay the remaining
100. 3.      PA Systems Is it provided by the
venue? Do you have to pay for it or the Engineer?
Do you have to hire one in? What size do you
need? For rock and indi a rough rule of thumb is
5 watts per person in the audience will do the
job but if theres more than that (say a 1000
watt pa for a 100 person audience) it does give
you more control..and they dont have to be
turned all the way up!  4.      Staff Another
important factor to hosting a successful event is
providing appropriate staff. Does the venue
provide people to collect tickets, do security,
etc. or or you have to provide that or pay the
venue for it? 
What Venue?
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Sorting out a line up

• Question.
• Where do you find bands?
• What factors influence what line up you choose?

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Where do you find bands?
Websites Message Boards Rehearsal
rooms Press Mates Seeing bands yourself Through
your work There are bands everywhere.. but do
you want to put them on?
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What factors influence what line up you choose?
Your personal preference (whether logical or
emotional)? Genre Your target audience Whos
available How much they cost Youre in charge,
you make the decisions. and take the risks
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Who is your audience?

• Where are they?
• What do they want?

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Know your customers' needs

• Who they are - Whats their gender, age and
  marital status etc. likely to be?
• What they do - What are their interests?
• Why they buy - What makes them buy tickets for a
  gig?
• When they buy - Do they go to a gig once a week,
  once a month, once a year?
• How they buy - Do they buy in advance or on the
  night?
• How much money they have - Do you know what your
  customer can afford?
• What makes them feel good about buying - If you
  know what makes them tick, you can serve them in
  the way they prefer.
• What they may expect of you - For example, if
  your customers expect big bands and you don't
  disappoint them, you stand to gain repeat
  business.
• What do they think about your competitors - If
  you know how your customers view your
  competition, you can learn about what your
  customers want and, where theres direct
  competition, stand a much better chance of
  staying ahead of your rivals.
• Are they fickle is there evidence that people
  try places for a while then move on to something
  new? How are you going to keep them coming back
  to you?

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Budget
Question What factors could be considered
when budgeting for a show?
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Insurance
Public Liabilitycovers your liability against
claims from the public while attending your
event.   Property Insurancecovers the property
used in the event.   Employers liabilitycovers
you as the organiser against any claims from any
staff that you might employ for the
event.   Cancellation and Abandonment
covercovers your event against cancellation or
abandonment, postponement, failure to vacate,
adverse weather and any other eventuality beyond
the control of the organiser of the event.
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One of pdms Terms and Conditions(echoes that of
the Hat Factory which is our main venue)?
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How are you going to pay the bands?Are you going
to pay the bands?
Percentage of profits? Flat fee? Based on how
many people they bring? You decide, so do some
calculations beforehand to see what suits your
needs
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Planning
OK, so youve got a venue, some bands, what your
budget is and an idea of who your audience is.
Now you need to work out what to do with all
that information and how to make sure the gig
is well attended, safe and good for everyone
(including you)?
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Tell people what they need to know.

• Bands
• What time to turn up to soundcheck
• What time (roughly) they'll be onstage
• The running order
• How long their set should be
• Whether, or not, backline is provided.
• How to find the venue
• Your phone number and that of the venue if
  possible
• What the situation is with money on the night
• If theres a Guest List

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• Engineer
• It's useful to know how many guitars, drum kits,
  vocal mics, and DIs each band will require, and
  what the DIs are for (e.g. electric violin,
  sampler, drum machine, vocal effects etc.)
• What time bands are arriving (tell the venue
  to!)?
• Running order

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Promotion

• What ways are there to promote your gig?

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Use all of these as a minimum

• Local Press (local to your potential audience)?
• Fliers and Posters
• Message boards
• Websites
• Fanzines
• THE BANDS

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On the day
Nearly there !
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Make time

• Have your phone on and check e mails (bands can
  pull out at any time)?
• Arrive on time
• Introduce yourself to the venue staff, the
  engineer and the bands
• Health and Safety check
• Be there for sound checks
• Resolve any problems that come up
• Monitor Box Office
• Be professional

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Health and Safety
Are entrances/exits clear? Are staff/stewards
in place? Can emergency vehicles gain access?
Are security precautions in place? Have
adequate signs been provided?   Is site free
from tripping hazards eg cables, potholes,
footpath defects etc? Are permanent fixtures in
good condition eg seats, fencing, signage etc?
Have current weather conditions created new
hazards to be addressed?   Are all potentially
hazardous activities segregated and/or fenced as
required? Have temporary flags/decorations been
installed correctly and checked? Have any
unanticipated hazards been introduced?   Is
fire fighting equipment in place? Is lighting
in place where required? Do toilets work?
What are the First Aid provisions?
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Noise
The Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005
replace the Noise at Work Regulations 1989.
Basically, an employers responsibility - but
each individual has to take care of their own
hearing. Where noise is more than 85 decibels for
more than a short period of time its worth staff
(and you!) having some effective noise
protection. This will impact on you if you employ
people and could impact on your show if, for
example, the venue has Noise Limiters in place.
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Wrapping up

• Close the box office before the end of the gig
  and total up.
• Pay everyone who's guaranteed a payment first
• Calculate what bands get (whatever system you put
  in place) and pay them
• Say thank you to everyone
• Go home and work out your profit (or loss)?
• After a few days check websites, message boards
  etc for what people have said about the gig.
• LEARN

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Thats itNow its time for you to think about
your own gig.
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Contact Info

• pdmmusic_at_aol.com
• www.893pc.com/course.html