• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join freeLog in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Does anyone here promote using Craigslist?

I know it's kind of skirting around the rules, but when I have a free show, I post that I have free tickets to said show in the "Free stuff" section of Craigslist.

I always get huge responses. I posted about our House of Blues show about five minutes ago and I'm already getting requests for tickets.

Anybody else utilize craigs as a resource?

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
 
I've only done it with shows that actually require tickets. (bigger shows like the HoB show upcoming) and it REALLY works.

I'm not sure how well it would work if I didn't actually have anything to send out, but it would still get the word out in a big way.

why are you doing free shows?

Promotion. The House of Blues show is a paying gig (but the tickets are free, they pay us based on attendance, not door percentage).

To be honest, I'd play House of Blues for free. Where we are as a band, the exposure is well worth it. Not to mention it's just one of the best venues in the universe. I absolutely love that place.
 
^ same here.


Do you advertise these shows on Craigslist? If so, what page, and what do you think the effectiveness is?


edit: I liked your idea about advertising free tickets on the free stuff page, but we don't play shows requiring tickets and I was wondering what your approach is on non-ticketed shows......
 
edit: I liked your idea about advertising free tickets on the free stuff page, but we don't play shows requiring tickets and I was wondering what your approach is on non-ticketed shows......[/I]

I'm sure you could just put an add promoting "Free Admission".

I'm curious, why are tickets required if they're free? Don't you end up with people who want to get in but can't just because they don't have a ticket (which should have been free)? Maybe this is common practice, but it's not something I've seen before.

Probably because the venue has a maximum capacity. Therefore people who obtained their tickets ahead of time would be ensured entrance into the show. Whereas if you were to show up without a ticket, you would be hoping the venue wasn't full (sold-out) already.
 
I'm curious, why are tickets required if they're free? Don't you end up with people who want to get in but can't just because they don't have a ticket (which should have been free)? Maybe this is common practice, but it's not something I've seen before.

If someone was offering X number of free tickets and you showed up after they were all gone, it doesn't mean that the tickets weren't free.
 
Probably because the venue has a maximum capacity. Therefore people who obtained their tickets ahead of time would be ensured entrance into the show. Whereas if you were to show up without a ticket, you would be hoping the venue wasn't full (sold-out) already.

But then you're assuming that everyone who got a free ticket is going to show up, aren't you? Hopefully they all will, but it seems unlikely.

If someone was offering X number of free tickets and you showed up after they were all gone, it doesn't mean that the tickets weren't free.

Sure, but it seems to me that either you need to make money on tickets or you don't. Why would you only make money on some tickets?

I'm not trying to be argumentative, I'm just trying to understand.
 
As of today, I've gotten over 200 "for sure" tickets out based solely on this add (for the House of Blues show).


From what I've found, the 10% rule doesn't apply to tickets that were requested. When someone actually asks you for tickets, it usually runs more like 85%.

Which means that from Craigslist alone, we should have ~ an extra 170 people.

And we get payed based on the number of people that show up.
 

Latest posts