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Is this a no no?

but it's not stupid to consider the possibility.

I wrote assume not consider - the're different.

and yes..... there are exceptions to everything, some people are just Jerks and need to find something to complain about. But as far as bar owners, In my whole life (46 years) I've never seen one get mad because a band promoted itself.

As for those Jerks ....I would expect that these people would be angered if
Budweiser wanted to promote their beer by putting up a beer sign or poster.

sometimes you just can't please everybody.
 
I'm all for the in-yer-face-ness of rock-n-roll, but I really hate ****ing where I eat. I don't think it's very good form to say anything on stage you wouldn't say right in front of the bar owner, and I can't imagine standing there with them and someone else and going "yeah, so why don't you come down to this other joint next week, instead of Fred's place here." Sure, some owners don't care, but they're the ones that will screw you, too. Selling them out just sets you up to be screwed-around even more. That is, if you're disrespectful of them, don't expect them to respect you. If you're good with that, fine, but we actually have friendly, adult relationships with our owner/customers, and they usually comp our food...

Promoting the band is a must. But I wouldn't make it a habit of stepping on other people--some of them stomp back.
 
I'm all for the in-yer-face-ness of rock-n-roll, but I really hate ****ing where I eat. I don't think it's very good form to say anything on stage you wouldn't say right in front of the bar owner, and I can't imagine standing there with them and someone else and going "yeah, so why don't you come down to this other joint next week, instead of Fred's place here." Sure, some owners don't care, but they're the ones that will screw you, too. Selling them out just sets you up to be screwed-around even more. That is, if you're disrespectful of them, don't expect them to respect you. If you're good with that, fine, but we actually have friendly, adult relationships with our owner/customers, and they usually comp our food...

Promoting the band is a must. But I wouldn't make it a habit of stepping on other people--some of them stomp back.

+100%
If you want them to know where you are next week...put a little "card" on the tables with your "whole" schedule on it (including the gigs at the current establishment)
That won't hurt anyones "feelers".:D

They can take the card with them and put it on the fridge too...maybe they won't forget to show up!
 
Venues are like your girlfriend.

They promise you a good evening, they promise you comfort, they promise a good deal of things. (very few of them deliver, the ones that do are awesome)

Capping the night off with your girlfriend and a room full of people with "come see me next weekend where I'll be with this other chick" isn't a good idea.
 
Playing cross town is one thing. There's one place we play that has a problem with a nearby club. Reportedly their position is you can play at our's or theirs, but not both. Play there, you're done here. Heard that from a band that got blacklisted. They didn't even promote the other club at this club. They just played there.

So I wouldn't be surprised if some club owner somewhere has a bad reaction if they notice you plugging another club nearby you're playing at. Haven't seen it, might be rare. Doesn't mean its not possible. Gigs are rare, good paying gigs even rarer, if you can promote your web site with no risk, that's the smart way to go.

Randy
 
I'm with the "be discreet" camp. OK to mention that your schedule is available elsewhere, but probably best to avoid explicitly plugging a gig at a directly competing venue

Playing cross town is one thing. There's one place we play that has a problem with a nearby club. Reportedly their position is you can play at our's or theirs, but not both. Play there, you're done here. Heard that from a band that got blacklisted. They didn't even promote the other club at this club. They just played there

Yep

That's the exact situation with a pair of clubs up in New Hope (PA). Once you pick one, you're stuck with 'em because the other will point blank refuse to hire you. From what I hear (never played at either) it's been that way for decades

Seems awful petty to me, but people can get like that sometimes....
 
In my opinion, doing this exhibits poor judgement and a lack of business relation skills. Of course it's bad form to promote another business from within a competitor's building, using their electricity to urge their customers to go elsewhere and spend money. To assume otherwise is stupid. And just because you didn't happen to witness the negative reaction by the owner doesn't mean there wasn't one.

I'm pretty sure this issue is the reason we lost one of my favorite gigs, thanks to our blabbermouthed bandleader.