low turn-out for gig

[ColonelZulu]

1) Crowd or no crowd, you need to use every opportunity to rock legit
2) Even your mom is going to get tired of hearing your band, so don't blame them if they don't follow you to every show like you're the Grateful Dead
3) Most people are not musicians and only want to hear music to dance unless it's from top artists

 

[Ross W. Lovell]

Mailbox flyers. Just slap 'em onto random boxes. Someone in my neighborhood did this for a lost cat. Haven't seen any more flyers around, so I assume it must have worked. Probably will for music, too.

Don't be a felon.

Big difference between "onto" and "into" a mailbox.

"Into" a felony!

"Onto" like tucked between the flag and box, legal but more likely to raise the ire of those picking them up on a windy day.

 

[Tony In Philly]

Has anybody else ever played a multi-band event where the earlier bands a) hog the stage past their alloted time, and then b) after they're done make a big production out of packing up all of their gear in front of everbody, and c) to add final insult, leave altogether? To me that's bad form. I prefer only gigs where we do the whole thing for this particular reason.

 

[Slevage]

I'm wondering if there might have been other factors involved. You know, besides the mayo?

He used to hire bands that no one came to see.

 

[Shishka Bob]

That's Show Biz. Welcome.

 

[leegreenman]

You mean like the Rolling Stones and other obscure bands? LOL. Dunno why modern original bands think they are too good for that...

That was a long time ago. There is little, or no overlap, between cover bands and original bands where I come from. Maybe things are different in other markets though.

 

[Drgonzonm]

How about six couples and six high school football players. A couple bucks a ticket. The football players didn't have pay, they were there for security.
The band wasn't bad and the school was celebrating return to school. Can't blame it on the band
Year 1970.
The band played like it was standing room.

Sad story

 

[reeljerc]

i don't have the patience to read through this entire thread.

don't think about promotion.
don't think about money.

do it because you like it.
and it feels right at the moment.

my 2 cents.

 

[RiffwRiter]

Has anybody else ever played a multi-band event where the earlier bands a) hog the stage past their alloted time, and then b) after they're done make a big production out of packing up all of their gear in front of everbody, and c) to add final insult, leave altogether? To me that's bad form. I prefer only gigs where we do the whole thing for this particular reason.

This is kind of tangential as is some of the other stuff on this thread but:
We try to share backline to minimize changeover. Some people insist on playing their own gear. Some people still take forever even with backline and we probably don't do a show with them again.

 

[basslust]

The way I see it, get as good as you can, make the best recordings that you can, and play some shows. If you start getting really good and have really great recordings, the good shows will come.

 

[CRich0205]

Original music is a tough sell. I play in a 3 piece doing alternative rock with no covers. Some shows have had a great draw, we can get lots of friends to come out and the other bands put in work getting people out as well. However we played last Wednesday to 12 people. We were the last band of the night and half the band members from the first 2 were gone when we started. This irks me to no end. I hung out for 2 hours and listened to your crap music you should return the favor and listen to mine.

I don't think the women on the dance floor thing is relevant to most original rock bands though. We're not in the hair metal days when rock music was cool to mainstream casual listeners. Now it's all the awful pop and hip hop over auto tuned stuff my kids like. That answer always strikes me as something a cover band can do really well with.

 

[Nephilymbass]

Just did a gig last weekend that was really fun but few people showed up despite a lot of effort to promote the show. We went old school and put up a bunch of flyers around town as well as bought an ad in a local weekly paper that has good readership and features arts & entertainment events. We bought a couple of ads on facebook to promote the show. None of this seemed to have done any good. We had a few faithful friends come out and a handful of regular patrons of the venue, but no more than what we could have done without spending a dime.
We're going to record some original tunes in a month, and I would love to expand our audience. Finding and reaching new listeners is a challenge I'm willing to work to achieve, but I don't think I know a good way to do it. I don't know what works. There seems to always be a lot of events on any weekend so people have a lot of options for entertainment. Any suggestions on how to effectively promote our band?

Our gig Friday night was the lowest turnout we'd seen in our home venue in a long time and we worked really hard flyering, promoting online, and even paid to advertise on the radio and online. We didn't expect it to be a great turnout because the "make America rock again tour" was the same night just a couple of miles down on the same street and we were also competing with late night football, The show turnout at both shows was actually pretty pathetic. I ended up getting a $50 handshake which for a 3 band show I was honestly surprised I got that much based on the attendance. The big show down the road included bands like Scott Stapp from Creed, Trapt, crazy town, and I want to say Drowning Pool and friends who worked production for that show said there was only 150 people at that show. Which is crazy because they played the middle of no where Virginia like the next day and there were thousands of people. The terrible attendance Friday was in Fayetteville, NC. A town with over 200k people. It isn't a rock town. Lot of hip hop and country fans in the area but we've played countless shows in Fayetteville with between 300-500 people.im sure people anticipating the hurricane didn't help either as the venue Parking is known to flood.

I was pissed after the show. Wrote a long rant about how people in my town talk about there's nothing to do but all they ever do is sit at home and watch TV. It is what it is. We have a light week with just practice this weekend then playing two gigs the following weekend hoping the turnouts will be better.

 

[Nephilymbass]

The way I see it, get as good as you can, make the best recordings that you can, and play some shows. If you start getting really good and have really great recordings, the good shows will come.

Def true but attendance has been weird lately. We've played shows with over a thousand people and shows with less than fifty people.

 

[Nev375]

Doorknobs.

Doorknobs are either perfectly legal or every pizza joint in town is run by felons.

 

[biguglyman]

Years ago I was in a mostly original band. The lead singer was friends with members of a huge (in Syracuse NY) band. He got us a steady gig opening for them. Didn't pay poopie but 6 months later we were drawing pretty good on our own thanks to the exposure. Find a big act that will let you play under the same type of arrangement and try to coat-tail.

 

[Nephilymbass]

I think location and cost is also a big factor. One of the venues we play every month is right on the strip in Wilmington, NC. Lots of people walking by. Place does free or $2 door and gives bands a nice cut of alchohol sales and free beer for band members. That place is always packed. Another venue we play regularly that doesn't have as good of turnouts is much closer and charges $10 over 21 and $15 under 21. Personally if it was up to me I'd make all of our shows ladies get in free. As others have said it helps to give people a reason to come out other than to see the band. And the guys always go where the ladies are.

 

[biguglyman]

I've always contended that to be a successful bar band you need to appeal to drunk women. If the drunk women are there, the men will follow and you'll have a good crowd.

 

[QORC]

Unlike original music LOL

word!!

 

[tbz]

I've always contended that to be a successful bar band you need to appeal to drunk women. If the drunk women are there, the men will follow and you'll have a good crowd.

What demographic of drunk women likes guitar based music primarily in 2017 though?

In LA at least that demo is pretty heavily split. Most young women prefer dance club style music over what you'd hear in rock clubs.

Maybe it's different in the rest of the world but here "drunk women" don't gravitate towards rock clubs as a rule.

There are exceptions in the furthest suburbs but even then the bar/cover band shows will have women in their late 30s early 40s.

Not trying to be too negative but rock music as a whole seems to be suffering from a lapse in popularity. This is just a symptom of the overall problem.

 

[P. Aaron]

Just did a gig last weekend that was really fun but few people showed up despite a lot of effort to promote the show. We went old school and put up a bunch of flyers around town as well as bought an ad in a local weekly paper that has good readership and features arts & entertainment events. We bought a couple of ads on facebook to promote the show. None of this seemed to have done any good. We had a few faithful friends come out and a handful of regular patrons of the venue, but no more than what we could have done without spending a dime.
We're going to record some original tunes in a month, and I would love to expand our audience. Finding and reaching new listeners is a challenge I'm willing to work to achieve, but I don't think I know a good way to do it. I don't know what works. There seems to always be a lot of events on any weekend so people have a lot of options for entertainment. Any suggestions on how to effectively promote our band?

We've promoted the hell out of shows, had radio ads, emailed & texted everyone, dragged in transients off the streets, and many times, few show up.

Other times, we're booked, 3.5 feet of snow, well below freezing, roads suck, no promos, no publicity, no transients to bring in from the cold and the joint's so damned packed it's a probably fire violation.

That's Club-work many nights.