I'm a regular reader of web based networks ranging from Dave here on Great Lakes/BlackStain to Jenn at MidwestMusic.com to Mitch & Rick at MichiganBands.com, Mary at MichiganArtists.com, Derek at CDBaby and a bunch of others. The common thread that all of us who either play, promote, manage, or own a venue is networking. Many people don’t see the value in this and instead they prefer to not work together--to each their own. We support the above people and communities commitment to helping each other by trading shows, letting other artists know about shows available to them, and helping to get artists paid for their hard work while making money for the venues that support live music. As we all know, this is not an easy thing to do in this industry.
I'd say booking is that hardest thing to do in this industry. Coordination between the agents, artists, and venue can be a real challenge. And by booking, I mean in major and smaller markets throughout the Midwest. To help move this along, we moved what was originally a discussion topic on Tribe.net to form the Music Tour Network www.MusicTourNetwork.com
This growing team of people, which includes folks from the above named websites, is focused on bringing together artists, venues and promotion people who strongly believe in two ideals:
1) The unshakeable belief that music is the world's language.
2) Trust
For now, the Music Tour Network is building a tour route that spans from New York City, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago and smaller cities between. To make this work for everyone who wants to tour and make money we need three things:
1) Local Host artists in each city that we can count on to do what they say they’re going to do: Organize a great show, perform a great show, draw enough people to sell the venue out, show up on time, no bad attitudes
2) Traveling artists who: Perform a great show, show up on time, no bad attitudes, and agree to organize a show on their home turf and invite the Local Host artist from another area to perform
3) Venues: Who are interested in working with us and gaining confidence that the right mix of local and out-of-state artists will make them money.
And there's the key issue for venues: Making money. I've done a lot of financial consulting for music and entertainment venues and they are in a difficult financial situation as well. From their perspective, it's less expensive to pay one DJ to spin a record or do karaoke, then it is to hire a band, rap group, or even duet to perform live--Less equipment, lass hassle, and more money for everyone.
So how can bands and venues be successful? Hardcore advertising and getting the word out: Using Myspace and all of the other websites plus E-mail is step one. But the real work comes by following up with phone calls and arranging to sell tickets in advance. (Note: This is not the same a "pay-to-play" since you’re not going to get “fined” for not selling tickets). If you’re the Local Host artist or from the area where the venue is located, it’s your job as part of the network to fill the venue up with people until it's bursting at the seams. The traveling artists will have little draw at your venue, but when it's their turn to host a show, then the burden is on them to draw like crazy. Note: Please be conservative with your estimates on draw--it's much better to promise 100 and bring in 200 than the other way around.
As an example: With effort, Jackie Blue will draw 150-200 people for a local show. So we assume for planning purposes that our draw will be 100. If a show at a venue will be sold out at 300 people, we need to team up with 2 other local bands that will very conservatively draw 100 people each—as proven by selling 100 tickets in advance of the show. Then the fourth, opening band (Traveling artist) can be brought in without the concern of having to draw.
In this way the artists play to a packed house, make money, and the venue makes money and sees our collective commitment to help the venue prosper. It all requires cooperation and planning between the show organizers, artists and venue (lots of phone calls and E-mail).
As positive examples on how to get people to shows, I know of at least three people who do this very well: Shannon and Greg from Zuby's band and Carrie from Jackie Blue.
If you have your own ideas, suggestions, or positive examples on how to expand our combined artist's network, I welcome them.
I'd say booking is that hardest thing to do in this industry. Coordination between the agents, artists, and venue can be a real challenge. And by booking, I mean in major and smaller markets throughout the Midwest. To help move this along, we moved what was originally a discussion topic on Tribe.net to form the Music Tour Network www.MusicTourNetwork.com
This growing team of people, which includes folks from the above named websites, is focused on bringing together artists, venues and promotion people who strongly believe in two ideals:
1) The unshakeable belief that music is the world's language.
2) Trust
For now, the Music Tour Network is building a tour route that spans from New York City, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago and smaller cities between. To make this work for everyone who wants to tour and make money we need three things:
1) Local Host artists in each city that we can count on to do what they say they’re going to do: Organize a great show, perform a great show, draw enough people to sell the venue out, show up on time, no bad attitudes
2) Traveling artists who: Perform a great show, show up on time, no bad attitudes, and agree to organize a show on their home turf and invite the Local Host artist from another area to perform
3) Venues: Who are interested in working with us and gaining confidence that the right mix of local and out-of-state artists will make them money.
And there's the key issue for venues: Making money. I've done a lot of financial consulting for music and entertainment venues and they are in a difficult financial situation as well. From their perspective, it's less expensive to pay one DJ to spin a record or do karaoke, then it is to hire a band, rap group, or even duet to perform live--Less equipment, lass hassle, and more money for everyone.
So how can bands and venues be successful? Hardcore advertising and getting the word out: Using Myspace and all of the other websites plus E-mail is step one. But the real work comes by following up with phone calls and arranging to sell tickets in advance. (Note: This is not the same a "pay-to-play" since you’re not going to get “fined” for not selling tickets). If you’re the Local Host artist or from the area where the venue is located, it’s your job as part of the network to fill the venue up with people until it's bursting at the seams. The traveling artists will have little draw at your venue, but when it's their turn to host a show, then the burden is on them to draw like crazy. Note: Please be conservative with your estimates on draw--it's much better to promise 100 and bring in 200 than the other way around.
As an example: With effort, Jackie Blue will draw 150-200 people for a local show. So we assume for planning purposes that our draw will be 100. If a show at a venue will be sold out at 300 people, we need to team up with 2 other local bands that will very conservatively draw 100 people each—as proven by selling 100 tickets in advance of the show. Then the fourth, opening band (Traveling artist) can be brought in without the concern of having to draw.
In this way the artists play to a packed house, make money, and the venue makes money and sees our collective commitment to help the venue prosper. It all requires cooperation and planning between the show organizers, artists and venue (lots of phone calls and E-mail).
As positive examples on how to get people to shows, I know of at least three people who do this very well: Shannon and Greg from Zuby's band and Carrie from Jackie Blue.
If you have your own ideas, suggestions, or positive examples on how to expand our combined artist's network, I welcome them.
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Detroit
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