Taking it to the next level?

[Joe Louvar]

I love seeing fellow bassist helping each other - that’s very cool of you pip.

 

[Kmonk]

Maybe you are booking the wrong venues. Find out where other bands that play your genre are playing and go see them. See how big the crowd is, type of crowd, etc. Get to know bands that are playing a similar genre as yours. You never know when they might want a band to open for them or perhaps fill in for them if they have to cancel a gig. Try to meet the person who books the band. They can also be a good way to make contacts.

 

[Nowhereboy]

West Mids... there's a pretty decent live scene around here if you can get on the circuit. It may be a bit far for you during the week, unless you put together a tour, but Saturday nights are pretty good and get a fair turnout, so you could reasonably make a weekend of it.

I'm hearing a lot of promoters are finding it hard to get a crowd in anywhere at the moment though, some thoughts are that everyone spent all their money outside getting a tan at the festivals this summer!

Let me know when you've got something and I'll pass it along to a couple of guys and see what happens...

Cheers - P

I'm looking to try out some gigs outside of town on the weekends at first anyway, see how it goes. I've just been put onto a promoter from manchester by a guy In a band that we gigged with In the cluny recently, he said he can arrange some weekend gigs in a few venues in the area.

I guess this isn't going to be as hard as I expected, just got to put the effort in, I normally rely on the BL to do this stuff but I think it's time I put the work in myself.

I'll get in touch once we have a new EP anyway, I really appreciate you helping out

 

[DwaynieAD]

you're overplaying the area. once a month to once every 6 weeks in any 30 mile radius is more than enough.

it's your own fault you're not getting paid, don't let people take advantage of you. start your booking with "we need x amount to play"

 

[valus]

it's your own fault you're not getting paid, don't let people take advantage of you. start your booking with "we need x amount to play"

For an originals band that doesn't draw? Probably a great way to lose the gigs they have!

 

[valus]

You started off bad like most bands do by setting a precedence that its ok to play for no money so now the promoters dont feel like they need to pay you anything.

Heres what you do. You tell them your planning a massive show on X day. If necessary collab with a couple other bands to guarantee a crowd. Twell them that you need at least 1000.00 for that gig. It sounds like alot but tell them you can have the bar at capacity.

If they say well no show them the pics of the crowd you pulled and simply say to them look all these people came and bought drinks and gave them business because of you gys. Nobody in town can pull that kind a business, and you want to help them out but you guys gotta eat as well.

Then say ok what would they consider a fair price.

They will low ball you say you cant do that then offer them a price you think is reasonable plus 25% of the bar sales for that night then tell them thats the lowest you can do and their killing you.

If that doesnt work. Spend 200.00 build a stage out of 2X4s rent a PA buy a 6000W generator off craigslist and throw your own festival. contact your local civic center to rent a park, their fees are usually commically cheap.

Lots of small mom and pop businesses will jump on board and sponsor you guys either service i.e. food, or free pa and lighting or a generator for the event, or they will come out there and setup a boothe you can charge them something stupid like 100 that will help recoop some of your costs and from their perspective its a steal 100 bucks for guaranteed 200-300 potential customers. They will also help you pull an even bigger crowd

I'm with you man its time we musicians fight back bars have had it WAY too easy.

Have ever had any success with this tactic?????

 

[karl_em_all]

Make some money. Invest in an artist to do you a band logo that looks cool. Put that on some shirts, on you cd's or whatever. Sell that stuff at your shows.

 

[gregmon79]

One thing I noticed you had said, you wait for the BL to make decisions and or make moves and book shows. IMO that's a big mistake. Given the history and the band being together for as long as it has, even before you came into the picture, he should be doing more maybe. It sounds to me like he's comfortable where the bands at. You're not. So as you're thinking, start booking, calling promoters, get up and do what you need to. Don't depend on the "BL" to do it all because it sounds like he's not doing much. Maybe I'm wrong. You can't depend on others to do stuff like this. In my band, 3 of us communicate with different promoters to get access to more shows and venues. There is no real BL in our band. We each play a role in the band musically and otherwise.

 

[pipFunk]

... How did the recording go?

PM me, if you want to take things forward.

Cheers - P

 

[Itzayana]

If you have 5000 band fans you need figure out how to leverage them to create major BUZZ.
Next small gig you play you need to figure out how to get many thousands of your fans to show up. Think conspiricy
Create traffic jams, thousands of people crowding the street. Get the police, the media, riot control and the fire department to respond. Be the biggest story in the 24 hour news cycle. GET NOTICED. Create an event that is talked about and not easily forgotten.

 

[pipFunk]

... mate, spoke to my contacts just before Christmas and they are booking bands now for this year's festival. No guarantees, but if you want to get something in for consideration pm me with contact details... I check in once a week or so.

cheers - P