Urban75 Home About Offline BrixtonBuzz Contact

Calling experienced promoters

it's what the venue charge you for the security/hire etc. it will probably cost them more than £100 to pay both of them but they'll make it back on the bar.
 
If you're going to do this seriously you should have £700 to play with and look to be making £300/£400 a night, at least, if you're bringing in a large crowd.

Just make sure you've enough money upfront to pay everybody, and don't be too upset if you lose a little to begin with.

And don't cut corners with safety, and check terms of public liability and insurance.
 
pk said:
If you're going to do this seriously you should have £700 to play with and look to be making £300/£400 a night, at least, if you're bringing in a large crowd.
Click to expand...
well that entirely depends on what yr putting on. if yr doing free improv music nights for the love of it then if you get 20 people your doing pretty well, and that kind of money is ridiculous overkill.
 
rutabowa said:
well that entirely depends on what yr putting on. if yr doing free improv music nights for the love of it then if you get 20 people your doing pretty well, and that kind of money is ridiculous overkill.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but that doesn't require promotion in the same sense as getting a few thousand flyers together and setting up websites, marketing, merchandise, etc.
 
pk said:
Yeah, but that doesn't require promotion in the same sense as getting a few thousand flyers together and setting up websites, marketing, merchandise, etc.
Click to expand...
no it doesn't, that was my point. really i was saying to the OP "do you actually know in detail what you want to put on, or do you just like the idea of putting on a night cos it's cool?"!
 
pk said:
Yeah, but that doesn't require promotion in the same sense as getting a few thousand flyers together and setting up websites, marketing, merchandise, etc.
Click to expand...


no need for a website at that level when you have fuckbook, myspazz and google (to find messageboards and forums with which to litter the internet with)
 
pk said:
Yeah, but that doesn't require promotion in the same sense as getting a few thousand flyers together and setting up websites, marketing, merchandise, etc.
Click to expand...

HarveyGoldsmith_203x150.jpg


pk tells it how it is!

good to have you back, by the way, old bean. when did you get back?
 
I've been back from travels a while now, just before Xmas - off elsewhere soon though!! ;)
 
twisted said:
You'll also have to sort out a backline (drumkit, bass amp, guitar amps, DI boxes).
Click to expand...

OK, 2 people mentioned this already. I hadn't thought of this at all, so it's good advice.

scifisam said:
Go to lots of gigs similar to the one you want to put on.
Click to expand...

To be fair, I've done a fair stint of gig-going in my time, from small to large. I've got a pretty good idea of what I want to put on. Just not been out very much very recently.

free spirit said:
you appear to not really know what you want to promote, or why you want to do it, or how to go about it.
Click to expand...

Ouch - :)

Motivation is many-fold. To break some new bands. To give something back. To have a laugh. To put on a good party. Because I can't DJ or play guitar. Because someone gave my band a break when I was 17 and it felt amazing. Because I like going to gigs. Coz I reckon I'd be good at it. Coz I reckon it'd be a laugh. Coz I want to plant a seed and see if it grows :D

Now the what is harder. I'd love to put on a regular club night with some established bands and DJs playing and 1000 punters turn up and have the best night of their lives and we'd re-invent rock n roll like the 60s never happened. But I gotta try summat small scale first. No point running before I can walk and tripping up and falling over to find someone's nicked 500 quid out me back pocket.

So a couple of indie bands who are not gig virgins, but looking for a london gig in 'trendy camden' who'll bring along 50 paying mates between them sounds like a good start to me. Then we'll see where we end up.

As for the how, well, I aint got a clue. Hence the post.
 
free spirit said:
I will - but it's for your own good.

you appear to not really know what you want to promote, or why you want to do it, or how to go about it.

this is not a good start imo, putting on gigs either needs to be a proper business or a labour of love (it can if you're lucky be both).

If you're not sure what it is you want to promote then I take it this doesn't fall into the labour of love category, in which case I don't really see why you're wanting to do it.

If you've got loads of mates, and there's nothing on that really appeals to you in your local area, then fair enough, go for it, start small and build up a good reputation and word will hopefully spread (it doesn't spread by itself btw, it takes work, mailing lists, email lists, text message lists, myspace, facebook, fuckloads of message boards, posters, flyers, PR etc etc to help the word of mouth along).

if you just want to throw a few gigs for a laugh, then I strongly suspect they'll bomb badly, you'll lose money, the venue you hire will lose money, the bands yo uhire will be fucked off with having their time wasted, and the few of your mates who bother to come down will expect guesties, and be narked at you for trying to charge them to come into an empty night.

if I'm reading this wrong, and you're serious about it and willing to put in the effort required, then good luck... my 12 years promotions experience is telling me otherwise though.
Click to expand...

seconded
 
I thought it might be useful to list a few things to NOT do:

I hate promoters that ask people on the door which band they've come to see, and then check who pulled the most people at the end of the night. Invariably, these same promoters tell bands they have to pull a minimum of 30 people and then they'll be paid for everyone over and above that 30 minimum. This, to me, is a money making scam, pure and simple, and it rips off bands and their fans. A dodgy promoter of this ilk can put on three bands, each of them will pull 29 people apiece, and the bands won't get paid and the promoter skips off with a pocketful of cash.

Book bands because you love them. Impress upon them that this is a labour of love and you'd like them to enter into the spirit of things by working hard to get people to come to the show. Work out a percentage to pay the bands after you've covered your costs and stick to that. Just do things ethically.
 
ianw said:
What do you mean?
Click to expand...

Oh, I thought either you thought I was being a prick because I hadn't even got some bands lined up [defensive] or you were going to say I know the most amazing unsigned indie band who would love to play in London. For free. In Haringay. On a Thursday night. To 20 people [optimistic]

That it might be an innocent question didn't occur :)

*brews a camomile tea*
 
ianw said:
I thought it might be useful to list a few things to NOT do:

I hate promoters that ask people on the door which band they've come to see, and then check who pulled the most people at the end of the night. Invariably, these same promoters tell bands they have to pull a minimum of 30 people and then they'll be paid for everyone over and above that 30 minimum. This, to me, is a money making scam, pure and simple, and it rips off bands and their fans. A dodgy promoter of this ilk can put on three bands, each of them will pull 29 people apiece, and the bands won't get paid and the promoter skips off with a pocketful of cash.

Book bands because you love them. Impress upon them that this is a labour of love and you'd like them to enter into the spirit of things by working hard to get people to come to the show. Work out a percentage to pay the bands after you've covered your costs and stick to that. Just do things ethically.
Click to expand...

To say that to do the first didn't even occur to me. Maybe I'm not cut out for it after all - the business is full of sharks lol.
 
matp said:
To say that to do the first didn't even occur to me. Maybe I'm not cut out for it after all - the business is full of sharks lol.
Click to expand...

The fact it didn't occur to you is a good thing. But you'll encounter this modus operandi eventually, so I thought I'd head you off at the pass.
:)
 
ianw said:
I thought it might be useful to list a few things to NOT do:

I hate promoters that ask people on the door which band they've come to see, and then check who pulled the most people at the end of the night. Invariably, these same promoters tell bands they have to pull a minimum of 30 people and then they'll be paid for everyone over and above that 30 minimum. This, to me, is a money making scam, pure and simple, and it rips off bands and their fans. A dodgy promoter of this ilk can put on three bands, each of them will pull 29 people apiece, and the bands won't get paid and the promoter skips off with a pocketful of cash.
Click to expand...

I'd love to meet a promoter who wasn't like that.

I never have yet.

Mind you, one of the reasons is that it's pretty difficult for promoters to make money (or even cover room hire/sound engineer costs) in London if they don't do so.
 
scifisam said:
I'd love to meet a promoter who wasn't like that.

I never have yet.

Mind you, one of the reasons is that it's pretty difficult for promoters to make money (or even cover room hire/sound engineer costs) in London if they don't do so.
Click to expand...
I don't do that, but then I've been burnt several times recently when we do our 4 room venue, where I'll often bring in smaller local promoters / dj / band collectives to host on of the back rooms. I do this on the basis that they should be bringing in enough people to at least cover their fee's, preferably their share of the hire fee as well. We don't specifically give them x amount of tickets to sell for their share or anything, but if the room's full I take that as them doing their job, if it's empty then they're a waste of time and money.

I've just had one lot who demanded they got paid £50 each for djing in the back room for 5 of them on the basis they were professional dj's who needed paying properly and would definately be bringing in 80-100 people at least. On the night for the last 2 hours they had 2 people in their room who were our regulars anyway... that fucked me right off as I lost serious money on the night overall, and they were still demanding to be paid in full despite not brining a single extra person through the doors.

it cuts both ways.
 
scifisam said:
I'd love to meet a promoter who wasn't like that.

I never have yet.

Mind you, one of the reasons is that it's pretty difficult for promoters to make money (or even cover room hire/sound engineer costs) in London if they don't do so.
Click to expand...


i don't know anyone who operates on that basis. and i know loads of promoters in london.
 
matp said:
Ouch - :)
Click to expand...

no offense, in fact what I'm really trying to say is that before you even think about putting on your first gig you need to work out what it is you're aiming to do in the short, medium and long term with the events, then work out the best ways of getting there.

otherwise you'll end up jumping at the first venue you can find, and going with bands / dj's willy nilly just because they've offered their services - then 6 months down the line realise you've accidentally started running a gabba night when you really wanted to be running a nu wave punk night or something.

once you've built up a bit of a folowing it's hard to change tack midstream as thoes that have started to come regularly will be like wtf's going on, and stop coming, and you'll already have a bit of a rep for being a gabba night that would put off the nu wave punks (for example) even if you're putting on a nu wave punk band line up.
 
do you have a lot of friends?

do you have enough friends so that of only 1% of them turn up you'll still have a room full of people?

as to actual advice I'd say choosing the right venue will make or break your first event. and plan on success being break even / fun at a cost...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

editor
Tips for bands and promoters
Replies
27
Views
841
ska invita
ska invita
Fez909
What's this bassline style called?
Replies
14
Views
266
Petcha
P
ElizabethofYork
Calling bands by part of their name
2 3 4
Replies
90
Views
3K
plurker
plurker
V
Charly Garcia, great prog/experimental/punk Argentinian lyricist and musician!
Replies
2
Views
226
klang
klang
maomao
Songs with extreme profanity in them
2 3 4
Replies
92
Views
1K
Almor
A
Back
Top Bottom