Hi all,
One of the groups I work with is releasing a CD in November.
www.lightofeastensemble.com Things are coming together nicely. We will be playing in a 300 seat hall in the city. Sunfest, the local festival in town,
www.sunfest.on.ca will be promoting the event which is a bit of a coup for us. They will take care of everything from sound, promotion, tickets sales and so on. All we have to do is play. We are also hoping that CBC radio, Canada's national broadcaster, will be there. They have indicated they want to record us once the CD is ready. So the potential is there for a successful event. Last time we booked the hall we sold over 200 tickets so there's a good chance we may sell out.
What I am looking for are suggestions on how to run the evening given that the main purpose of the event is to introduce, promote and sell the disc. If it was a concert we'd do two sets and be packing up by 10. In this case doors will open at 7, show is 8-10 and we have the hall until 11 to load out. Not much to load out since it's a house PA and we are all playing acoustically.
My initial thought is to play a short set of perhaps 30 mins then take a break for 30 mins for CD sales, signing etc. Then come back and do another longer set. Maybe 45 minutes leaving time to sell more discs as well as pack and be out of the hall by 11. We'd play some tunes from the CD but not all since I think people would like to be surprised by what's on the disc.
Let me know what suggestions you have for programming a CD release event. Play less and meet and greet more? Just do a regular show?
Thanks everyone.
