adouglas
Well-known member
So I was perusing Craigslist looking for gig opportunities and ran across this:
LOOKING FOR COVER BANDS TO PLAY OUTSIDE ON PATIO OF A SMALL BAR IN xxxxxx, CT. SATURDAYS AND SUNDAYS FOR 2 HOURS. MUST BRING OWN EQUIPMENT. TOP 40 CLASSIC ROCK, ALTERNATIVE ROCK. MUST BRING A FOLLOWING AS WELL AND IF ALL GOES WELL I'D LIKE TO HIRE TWICE A MONTH FOR SUMMER & FALL.
We've all been there. Club owners only want to hire you if you can bring people with you, as if we all have some kind of vast entourage that follows us from gig to gig. It's the same old song and dance. I just couldn't resist. I had to finally get it off my chest. I responded with this:
Greetings. I've seen your ads on Craigslist looking for bands.
Good for you, for supporting live music. I wish you success.
I'm in a working band myself, and in an age of iPods, a lot of people seem to have forgotten that a live band can give you what no DJ or playlist can, and that's a great show.
(We responded to your ad, but since you never clicked through to our press kit or replied to our email, we assume you're not interested in what we play.)
I'd like to give you a bit of well-intentioned input, from the other side of the fence. Forgive the long email. It is intended to give you some insight into the reality of live music from the point of view of a working band.
Being in a band, we get the "do you have a following" and "how many people can you bring" questions all the time. We understand the motivation. We cost you money, and if we can't bring people in the door it's a losing proposition for you.
But if you think about it, that is a question we cannot answer, any more than you can predict how many people will show up at your cafe next Thursday night. We do not own the people who come to see us, and cannot force them to show up. Club owners often seem to think that bands have some kind of magical power over their friends, family and fans. Sadly, this is not true.
Sure, we've got a couple of hundred names on our email list. Sure, we've got people who like us. Does that mean they're going to come to the next gig? How should we know? And to be perfectly honest, even a die-hard fan will probably have other things to do on any given night. We play one or maybe two gigs a month. How many times would YOU go to see a band you like in a month? Take your answer and apply it to every one of those 200 names... how many people can you really expect to come out for any given gig?
All we can do is promote the show. We come to the venue a couple of weeks before every gig with good, professional-looking posters. We send out a couple of hundred emails. We post the gig on our website and on Facebook. From all of this, a few people might show up -- and we're an established band with dozens of gigs to our credit. In direct mail (my main job is in marketing) if you get a 2 percent response rate you're doing very well. It's just a fact of life.
The biggest problem we face in trying to get people through the door is a lack of promotion on the part of the venue. The club owners want us to draw a crowd on our own with no effort on their part, but how many people can we reach? Given what a typical bar gig pays, we cannot afford to do any advertising at all. So we get a grand total of a couple of hundred impressions, which (if we're lucky) results in four or five people actually walking through the door because we're there.
On the other hand, if your club is known as an entertainment hot spot, you're going to draw more. We played a great gig a few weeks ago at xxxx in xxxxx. This place clearly has built a name for themselves as a place to go to have a good time... it was good and crowded, and not because people were coming specifically to see us. Only a few people we knew were there.
If we can keep people in your club, spending money and having a good time instead of bailing out to see if there's something better, then we're doing our job well. One person who buys four drinks is as good as four people who walk out after their first beer. Frankly, our number-one job is to entertain people. Getting them to show up is something else, and you have an important role to play.
We believe that making the gig a success should be a collaboration. You can't just hire a band and expect people to appear out of nowhere. We'll do our part to promote the show, but if you want a lot of people to come, you have to do your part too. Here's the harsh fact: You can hire the world's hottest band, but if people don't have a good time in your place, they won't come back. If they have a blast, they'll return again and again whether it's that band or somebody else.
It really is all about the club, not about the band. The fact that you're differentiating yourself by having live music is great. Every bar has canned music. Hiring bands gives people a reason to come to yours.
So you see, from our point of view, the whole "following" thing is a myth. You're inevitably going to get bands who promise you that they can pack the place. Keep track of that and see if they really do or if they're just blowing smoke. And here's the really telling part... if you have the band back, see how many show up for the second gig. You can lean on your friends and family to come support you... once. After that, you're on your own.
I hope this has given you some perspective on the challenges we all face in this business.
Good luck in your endeavors!
LOOKING FOR COVER BANDS TO PLAY OUTSIDE ON PATIO OF A SMALL BAR IN xxxxxx, CT. SATURDAYS AND SUNDAYS FOR 2 HOURS. MUST BRING OWN EQUIPMENT. TOP 40 CLASSIC ROCK, ALTERNATIVE ROCK. MUST BRING A FOLLOWING AS WELL AND IF ALL GOES WELL I'D LIKE TO HIRE TWICE A MONTH FOR SUMMER & FALL.
We've all been there. Club owners only want to hire you if you can bring people with you, as if we all have some kind of vast entourage that follows us from gig to gig. It's the same old song and dance. I just couldn't resist. I had to finally get it off my chest. I responded with this:
Greetings. I've seen your ads on Craigslist looking for bands.
Good for you, for supporting live music. I wish you success.
I'm in a working band myself, and in an age of iPods, a lot of people seem to have forgotten that a live band can give you what no DJ or playlist can, and that's a great show.
(We responded to your ad, but since you never clicked through to our press kit or replied to our email, we assume you're not interested in what we play.)
I'd like to give you a bit of well-intentioned input, from the other side of the fence. Forgive the long email. It is intended to give you some insight into the reality of live music from the point of view of a working band.
Being in a band, we get the "do you have a following" and "how many people can you bring" questions all the time. We understand the motivation. We cost you money, and if we can't bring people in the door it's a losing proposition for you.
But if you think about it, that is a question we cannot answer, any more than you can predict how many people will show up at your cafe next Thursday night. We do not own the people who come to see us, and cannot force them to show up. Club owners often seem to think that bands have some kind of magical power over their friends, family and fans. Sadly, this is not true.
Sure, we've got a couple of hundred names on our email list. Sure, we've got people who like us. Does that mean they're going to come to the next gig? How should we know? And to be perfectly honest, even a die-hard fan will probably have other things to do on any given night. We play one or maybe two gigs a month. How many times would YOU go to see a band you like in a month? Take your answer and apply it to every one of those 200 names... how many people can you really expect to come out for any given gig?
All we can do is promote the show. We come to the venue a couple of weeks before every gig with good, professional-looking posters. We send out a couple of hundred emails. We post the gig on our website and on Facebook. From all of this, a few people might show up -- and we're an established band with dozens of gigs to our credit. In direct mail (my main job is in marketing) if you get a 2 percent response rate you're doing very well. It's just a fact of life.
The biggest problem we face in trying to get people through the door is a lack of promotion on the part of the venue. The club owners want us to draw a crowd on our own with no effort on their part, but how many people can we reach? Given what a typical bar gig pays, we cannot afford to do any advertising at all. So we get a grand total of a couple of hundred impressions, which (if we're lucky) results in four or five people actually walking through the door because we're there.
On the other hand, if your club is known as an entertainment hot spot, you're going to draw more. We played a great gig a few weeks ago at xxxx in xxxxx. This place clearly has built a name for themselves as a place to go to have a good time... it was good and crowded, and not because people were coming specifically to see us. Only a few people we knew were there.
If we can keep people in your club, spending money and having a good time instead of bailing out to see if there's something better, then we're doing our job well. One person who buys four drinks is as good as four people who walk out after their first beer. Frankly, our number-one job is to entertain people. Getting them to show up is something else, and you have an important role to play.
We believe that making the gig a success should be a collaboration. You can't just hire a band and expect people to appear out of nowhere. We'll do our part to promote the show, but if you want a lot of people to come, you have to do your part too. Here's the harsh fact: You can hire the world's hottest band, but if people don't have a good time in your place, they won't come back. If they have a blast, they'll return again and again whether it's that band or somebody else.
It really is all about the club, not about the band. The fact that you're differentiating yourself by having live music is great. Every bar has canned music. Hiring bands gives people a reason to come to yours.
So you see, from our point of view, the whole "following" thing is a myth. You're inevitably going to get bands who promise you that they can pack the place. Keep track of that and see if they really do or if they're just blowing smoke. And here's the really telling part... if you have the band back, see how many show up for the second gig. You can lean on your friends and family to come support you... once. After that, you're on your own.
I hope this has given you some perspective on the challenges we all face in this business.
Good luck in your endeavors!
