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Completely new to setting up a PA.

#81
Certainly there is safer money playing covers. But it depends on the area. Where I am there is very little for original bands, but other places there is.

What I have seen original bands do is rent out a hall and sell tickets. In my town, the town hall theater (nice place - about 25- seats with balcony) can be rented for a pretty cheap price if not Friday or Saturday (or if they have an opening). Even if you have to go in with another band, consider finding a place like that. Do the publicity and sell tickets if you have the following - you keep all the profits.
 
#82
+1 on the above

Two or more bands can join up for a theme gig, especially if you play originals. That can give you a better combined audience and more sales in the bar. Takes a bit of organizing and marketing though, so someone has to step up and do the work to make it happen. We've been part of such nights a few times and it has been appreciated in that the audience gets to see more than one group play and each band brings in part of the audience. Plus you play only part of the night and get to be audience yourself.
 
#84
buldog5151bass said:
Certainly there is safer money playing covers. But it depends on the area. Where I am there is very little for original bands, but other places there is.

What I have seen original bands do is rent out a hall and sell tickets. In my town, the town hall theater (nice place - about 25- seats with balcony) can be rented for a pretty cheap price if not Friday or Saturday (or if they have an opening). Even if you have to go in with another band, consider finding a place like that. Do the publicity and sell tickets if you have the following - you keep all the profits.
Click to expand...

Exactly.
And if nobody comes to see you it could be because nobody knows you or the band is not that appealing.

If nobody knows you... Work on it. Get seen. Play any occasion, busk, record a demo you can give away and get you heard.
Staying at home moaning won't get you very far.

If your band is not that appealing... Then you know, and you may continue doing it just for fun, but maybe don't rent big places. Yet.

Networking with other bands is often a good way to get invited to play other gigs supporting other bands and get seen. If you have a little cd demo they can take home and remember you, all the better.
 
#85
FretNoMore said:
+1 on the above

Two or more bands can join up for a theme gig, especially if you play originals. That can give you a better combined audience and more sales in the bar. Takes a bit of organizing and marketing though, so someone has to step up and do the work to make it happen. We've been part of such nights a few times and it has been appreciated in that the audience gets to see more than one group play and each band brings in part of the audience. Plus you play only part of the night and get to be audience yourself.
Click to expand...

That's what my band does locally every few months.
We hire a nice venue, which we now get at 50% because they know we bring people and they drink, and invite one or sometimes two other bands. We may invite a band we like from a neighbouring town, which normally results in us getting invited back later on, and/or another good local band, and it's working alright. We do themes so people can choose to dress up... Halloween is an obvious one, but we also did a Tarantino night which was pretty cool, among others. We got nice visuals being projected, based on the theme and on each band playing... It's great fun and we don't make a killing, but we make more than playing in your random bar... :-D
 
#86
buldog5151bass said:
Play your cards right and you won't need to pay a promoter. You can either divide gate equally, or have audience choose who they came to see and divide that way.
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We do the promoting :-)

We have sometimes offered a fixed fee to the other band/s, but lately we just divide the profits equally (after paying the venue, the drinks in the green room, posters and flyers etc)

Promoters, in our experience, do a lot less work and are nowhere as motivated as we are.

Good promoters are another matter, but most self-named promoters in the originals circuit are pretty poor.
 
#88
buldog5151bass said:
Yep, but not many bands realize how to do the work - you guys are the exception. Just like cover bands who complain that bar owners don't pay them enough when they don't put fannies in the bar stools.
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There is a lot of sense of entitlement in bands, from what I've seen.

A local band I know, covers band, before they even played live once, were talking about how they would not even consider certain bars in town, because they deserve better venues... When nobody had even heard them yet.
I am "chummy" with one of those bars and offered to set something up so they can get one set, and see how it goes. Absolutely not.

They've played two gigs in nearly two years, and now the drummer has left. :-D
 

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