That is does.View attachment 5140284 View attachment 5140283
If nothing else, it makes the ride around the sun more enjoyable.
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What's wrong with 2023 audiences?
- Thread starter Lance Bunyon
- Start date
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I have the best luck with that crowd. There are some people out there who haven't forgotten how to have a good time. We laugh about the geriatric dance floor but, damn, they're out there dancing which is an accomplishment at our ages. I don't mind going out swinging with this crowd, at least they appreciate what we do.
Talk base secret decoder ring. It's got a whistle on it.
I've been that route. Boxtops. Cinnamon flavored cereal I disliked.
I want the whistle.
I NEED the whistle.
Keep posting.
I’m a couple hours away .. I’m observing the situation with the tip jar- folks who are in their twenties or thirties are NOT tipping. They don’t care what we play either - no reaction. I’m surprised when someone says something good about us playing, then it turns out that they are playing themselves.
Venues have upped their game...and they have had to..
Weather permitting, I'm expecting a bumper weeked but if you just stick a band in the corner without much thought, then dont expect any audience to give it much thought.
A 3 hr gig has all the hallmarks of a wallpaper gig imv; its too long for the band and its too long for the audience.
Weather permitting, I'm expecting a bumper weeked but if you just stick a band in the corner without much thought, then dont expect any audience to give it much thought.
A 3 hr gig has all the hallmarks of a wallpaper gig imv; its too long for the band and its too long for the audience.
These photos are from my last two gigs, a week apart from each other. One is a summer concert series we play once a year where 2-4 thousand people show up (we had close to 4,000 this year). The other is a monthly 3-hour gig we do at an outdoor brewery, every first Friday, where 200-300 people usually show up.
I’m having no problems with attentive audiences who tip well. It’s a brass band, no vocals. 9 band members, we have a $10 suggested tip protocol, but almost always pull in substantially more than that. (Earning $200 per person is pretty much a guaranteed minimum). We have a big tip jar, and we have QR codes posted all over the venues that takes you to our Venmo account (which also conveniently has the same name of our band). We do mashups of pop/rock/punk/funk songs that get people dancing. We have lots of cool merch, from shirts to hats to bandanas to stickers to scented candles to baby onesies and more. We have our own stage lights and preprogrammed light show that follows every hit/verse/chorus/etc. Our transitions between songs are tight and immediate, with banter breaks (about 1 break every 4 songs) scheduled as part of every set list. Every banter break has a pre-determined subject for the two guys with mics to talk about (tip the band, buy merch, see us at this next date and time, if you forget to tip us tonight we love morning-after-Venmo’s at this account, story about this next song, etc). Our audience and fan base is made up of college students, working professionals, retirees, and even the judge who excused me from jury duty because I had a show during trial and he loves our band. We are not background music, we are a party.
Audiences still love live music and are doing just fine in 2023. What is your band doing to draw them in and keep them engaged?
I’m having no problems with attentive audiences who tip well. It’s a brass band, no vocals. 9 band members, we have a $10 suggested tip protocol, but almost always pull in substantially more than that. (Earning $200 per person is pretty much a guaranteed minimum). We have a big tip jar, and we have QR codes posted all over the venues that takes you to our Venmo account (which also conveniently has the same name of our band). We do mashups of pop/rock/punk/funk songs that get people dancing. We have lots of cool merch, from shirts to hats to bandanas to stickers to scented candles to baby onesies and more. We have our own stage lights and preprogrammed light show that follows every hit/verse/chorus/etc. Our transitions between songs are tight and immediate, with banter breaks (about 1 break every 4 songs) scheduled as part of every set list. Every banter break has a pre-determined subject for the two guys with mics to talk about (tip the band, buy merch, see us at this next date and time, if you forget to tip us tonight we love morning-after-Venmo’s at this account, story about this next song, etc). Our audience and fan base is made up of college students, working professionals, retirees, and even the judge who excused me from jury duty because I had a show during trial and he loves our band. We are not background music, we are a party.
Audiences still love live music and are doing just fine in 2023. What is your band doing to draw them in and keep them engaged?
That was the case early on for our Thurs/weekly gig. We just had to start explaining it to 'em - Just leaving out a tip jar is not enough.
No one knows the game plan until you tell 'em.
IME it's all about presentation and engagement. Our 3 hour gigs go by quickly with a usually-good crowd up to the end.
But most 4 hour gigs, especially the 9-1's (I won't do the 10-2's anymore), different story. I get that those clubs want to take full advantage of the time they're open - mostly in-city gigs with higher costs of doing business - but that last hour is usually not just wallpaper; It's wallpaper underscored with fatigue & punctuated by a super-late loadout.
Due to the venue rules we’re not allowed to advertise our tip jar nor put the Venmo barcode. A tip jar, a nice wine glass can be visible with a bite cash, nothing more. Maybe talking to a guest can help which occurs when someone comes to talk to us. It is an acoustic gig to keep guests happy with their conversation.
Sounds pretty draconian. We rely heavily on tips so that would probably not be a good venue for us. Otherwise the standard $100-150/man just doesn't cut it these days.
Society as a whole changed as a result of unforseen consequences of a new technology, and it isn't the first time that's happened
Adapt or perish
As far charity gigs, that's something I actually did exclusively for a couple of years. No paying work during that time, but there were plenty of what amounted to bar gigs For The Cause. FWIW I did get the t-shirt. The founder of the particular organization in question (501c3 charity, blah, blah, blah) had a band of his own, and I played bass in that band for the first 3 years or so of its existence. Maybe a dozen or so live gigs a year, a bit of recording, and one college radio appearance. The cause itself was a good one and one that I still support. The same BL also organized and promoted an annual fundraising event that featured all of the local A-List players, plus most of the middle and a few up-and-comers. During this time period I was not only playing bass and occasionally acoustic guitar with this BL, but I was also doing a nice acoustic-only showcase as a solo act - the "fools on stools" gig. Wasn't making jack for money but I was stretching out on two different instruments and having a pretty good time in the process
A couple of things really stood out about those charity gigs. One is that club owners loved the idea, for obvious reasons. Didn't cost 'em a cent and the quality of the music was objectively pretty high. Another is that, generally speaking, everybody got paid except for the musicians. This was especially noticeable at the big yearly shindig, where AFAIK even the A-listers were playing gratis while the kitchen in the venue was doing a landslide business (no freebies for the performers), as was the bar (ditto), not to mention that both Venue and PA support were hired at full price. With a single exception (tip of the hat to the Ivy Tavern) none of the clubs at the smaller gigs ever fed us either. Now, I didn't expect to be comped drinks in a situation like that, but a sammich or a bowl of nachos from the kitchen would've been a nice gesture, especially after we just pulled an extra 35 paying customers into your bar on an otherwise dead night
One other unforgettable insight had to do with just how ego-driven some of the "Causes" turned out to be. A lot of 'em start out with a single person who had a health problem that severely impacted their life. The original good intention soon changes into an entire bureaucracy, complete with competing centers of power, passive-agressive game playing, and self-dealing. The easiest way to sort out the decent sort of do-gooders from the grifters is to simply ask what percentage of the donations go directly toward the stated goals of the organization. < 50% or so is cause for concern, and any serious push back to the question itself even more so. A good follow-up question is whether or not anyone in the organization is actually drawing a salary. The answers to those two basic questions will tell you pretty much everything you need to know
Adapt or perish
As far charity gigs, that's something I actually did exclusively for a couple of years. No paying work during that time, but there were plenty of what amounted to bar gigs For The Cause. FWIW I did get the t-shirt. The founder of the particular organization in question (501c3 charity, blah, blah, blah) had a band of his own, and I played bass in that band for the first 3 years or so of its existence. Maybe a dozen or so live gigs a year, a bit of recording, and one college radio appearance. The cause itself was a good one and one that I still support. The same BL also organized and promoted an annual fundraising event that featured all of the local A-List players, plus most of the middle and a few up-and-comers. During this time period I was not only playing bass and occasionally acoustic guitar with this BL, but I was also doing a nice acoustic-only showcase as a solo act - the "fools on stools" gig. Wasn't making jack for money but I was stretching out on two different instruments and having a pretty good time in the process
A couple of things really stood out about those charity gigs. One is that club owners loved the idea, for obvious reasons. Didn't cost 'em a cent and the quality of the music was objectively pretty high. Another is that, generally speaking, everybody got paid except for the musicians. This was especially noticeable at the big yearly shindig, where AFAIK even the A-listers were playing gratis while the kitchen in the venue was doing a landslide business (no freebies for the performers), as was the bar (ditto), not to mention that both Venue and PA support were hired at full price. With a single exception (tip of the hat to the Ivy Tavern) none of the clubs at the smaller gigs ever fed us either. Now, I didn't expect to be comped drinks in a situation like that, but a sammich or a bowl of nachos from the kitchen would've been a nice gesture, especially after we just pulled an extra 35 paying customers into your bar on an otherwise dead night
One other unforgettable insight had to do with just how ego-driven some of the "Causes" turned out to be. A lot of 'em start out with a single person who had a health problem that severely impacted their life. The original good intention soon changes into an entire bureaucracy, complete with competing centers of power, passive-agressive game playing, and self-dealing. The easiest way to sort out the decent sort of do-gooders from the grifters is to simply ask what percentage of the donations go directly toward the stated goals of the organization. < 50% or so is cause for concern, and any serious push back to the question itself even more so. A good follow-up question is whether or not anyone in the organization is actually drawing a salary. The answers to those two basic questions will tell you pretty much everything you need to know
Most bands I play with would consider a charity date. Likely to be 1 a year typically and under strict conditions like decent access, stage help and food and beverage available.
You get known for doing them and you can fill up your diary.
Local town here is having a free festival for a charity and hasn't got a decent band all weekend in around 20 plus acts.
Is this model working when repeated too often?
You get known for doing them and you can fill up your diary.
Local town here is having a free festival for a charity and hasn't got a decent band all weekend in around 20 plus acts.
Is this model working when repeated too often?
wintremute
mediocrity at its finest
- Oct 16, 2014
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I can't wait to find out what's wrong with 2024 audiences!
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