We played the Boston Music Festival

[khabibissell]

It is the same way here for local original acts. I would like to play for large crowds of course, but it really doesn't matter too much to me personally. The only real way you can play in front a guaranteed large audience is if you're willing to sell tickets. If you want to do that, then you can open for national acts that draw pretty well. Of course, what ends up happening is that you end up paying to play which sucks.

On the other hand, my nephews (they're 16) usually play in front of 50+ doing originals, so maybe interest in local music is coming back around.

[åron]

Duder, you had 3 people at 8pm. That's an achievement right there. That those same 3 people were the audience until 10:30 is disappointing.

"premier week long music festival" : that would be SXSW - I have not heard of this Boston Music Festival.
"only 100 bands" : that's a lot of competition for interest! Make that a weekend festival and cut the # of bands or venues in half, imo.

I think you saw on a grand scale, something I've seen on a club level. The promoters find attracting fans so difficult that they fill the place with acts. The acts watch other artists, buy drinks, buy food, pay for amenities and the promoter makes a little profit. Clubs are happy to milk bands as they chase their dreams.

If you roll into town expecting an audience and you have not done any promotion, I'm sorry but you get what you give, reap what you sow, etc. We've seen several well known national artists come into town, hooked to half-assed local promoters. The promotion sucks and barely anyone shows up. Who's to blame? Anyone that could have done some work to get folks to the venue shares in it. There are too many bands active, some good, some bad. Beyond the existing bands, there are new ones forming every day. It's musical darwinism!

[hippietim]

yikes. i thought this area was bad. but we're getting at least $400 to play covers. our band is just getting started in this area but most of the established bands are getting at least $600. so far we've been bringing our own crowd for the most part.

[jgcable]

yikes. i thought this area was bad. but we're getting at least $400 to play covers. our band is just getting started in this area but most of the established bands are getting at least $600. so far we've been bringing our own crowd for the most part.

I hear you Tim. Its pretty hard to bring our local fan base to a gig that is 6 hours away on a Tuesday night. I didn't want to do the gig but my bandmates thought it would be crowded. I didn't. We have another gig through this promoter in New London that I would like to cancel. This guy sucks.

[khabibissell]

On the other hand, do you really think it is the promoters responsibility to bring out fans?

Personally, I feel it is ultimately up to the band to bring their following out to the shows.

[jgcable]

On the other hand, do you really think it is the promoters responsibility to bring out fans?

Personally, I feel it is ultimately up to the band to bring their following out to the shows.

Not when you are doing travel gigs. Its up to the promoter to book the right clubs.
For example... Bullet Boys played at a local club in Yonkers, NY several months ago. Their promoter booked the gig. There were 6 people in the club because the promoter did a crap job booking the gig and even a crappier job promoting it.

In our case.. there were 5 bands booked on our night. All the bands were booked by the same promoter. There was nobody there for any of the bands. The bands talked afterward and all agreed that the promoter did a very lousy job in regards to when we played and how he "promoted" it.

[thetroy]

I don't know the numbers, but my guess is that it costs more money to promote something effectively than you will make on ticket sales unless tickets are above $XX maybe like $20

[Ben...]

On the other hand, do you really think it is the promoters responsibility to bring out fans?

Personally, I feel it is ultimately up to the band to bring their following out to the shows.

What if no body knows about it? I think it's the promoter's job to advertise the gig, hence being called a "promoter" and not "the guy who books the gigs".

[khabibissell]

What if no body knows about it? I think it's the promoter's job to advertise the gig, hence being called a "promoter" and not "the guy who books the gigs".

Not to offend anyone, but look at it this way... The promoter can saturate the hell out of the local market with news of the show but the fact is, if nobody has ever heard of the bands that are playing, nobody is going to show up. That is why alot of times the venue will force the bands that are playing to sell tickets...

From being involved with doing shows myself, that whole subject is a sore spot with me. Alot of the bands I've delt with feel entitled to play for large crowds and get high guarantees, but don't want to do the work of promoting themselves. They expect everything served up on a silver platter. The fact is YOU (the band) have to do the work, and get your people to the show, even if it means driving them there. I've seen bands rent a bus to do this.

Until you're somebody, you're nobody... unfortunately, that's the way it is.

Again, I have to reiterate that I'm not trying to offend jgcable because I've heard his band and like their music. I think the whole band is a very talented group of individuals, not only technically but from a songwriting standpoint as well. The local scene is (especially for guys over 30) is in sad shape.

[skorb]

my South Bay Los Angeles cover band pulls $250 - $500 per gig, and we play out a lot, and generally don't do the "bring our own crowd" thing. that the same as a pay to play in many respects.

we do play a couple places that pay a % of the bar, but when that's 20% and we get $550, how can you argue with that?

we look for good local spots that have their own crowd naturally and once we get in for a gig, generally the mgt and the patrons love us and ask when we'll be back.

I cannot imagine doing the originals thing. that has got to be a tough road, especially at 40+. I'm 43 and hauling my gear for a 4 hr set of covers every weekend is tough enough as it is. but so rewarding and fun!

[khabibissell]

my South Bay Los Angeles cover band pulls $250 - $500 per gig, and we play out a lot, and generally don't do the "bring our own crowd" thing. that the same as a pay to play in many respects.

we do play a couple places that pay a % of the bar, but when that's 20% and we get $550, how can you argue with that?

we look for good local spots that have their own crowd naturally and once we get in for a gig, generally the mgt and the patrons love us and ask when we'll be back.

I cannot imagine doing the originals thing. that has got to be a tough road, especially at 40+. I'm 43 and hauling my gear for a 4 hr set of covers every weekend is tough enough as it is. but so rewarding and fun!

Yeah, the covers thing is a whole different world. Cover bands generally play at places that have a built in crowd already. Original bars are usually dead unless a popular band is playing... meaning the bands have to bring the audience.

[jgcable]

Bottom line is.. our band (and the other bands) were duped by the promoter into thinking that this was a large scale highly attended event that we were priveldged to even be invited to. We all showed up expecting a large crowd.
Back in the 80's and early 90's my band did hundreds of travel gigs and the only people we ever brought was a few roadies. Those gigs were packed every night of the week. Nobody had heard of us then. It was just a good time to be in a metal band in the tri-state area. L'amours in Brooklyn was PACKED. When we played there with several other bands there would be a line to get in.

[Spivonious]

Personally I won't go to a show unless there's a national headlining band that I'm interested in. I also pray that there aren't any local bands thrown onto the bill, because 95% of the time they either suck horribly or don't fit with the headline act. The gothy pop band with a violin that "opened" for Symphony X at the Jaxx comes to mind. The club had added 3 local bands in front of a national tour that already had 2 opening acts and a headliner. The concert started at 7:30. We didn't get out of there until 11:30PM. And then there's 3 hours to drive home.

The local club in Lancaster (Chameleon...is there another CR?) has a downstairs that has local bands with no cover charge, but 9/10 bands there are crappy emo bands that can't tune their own instruments. It's just not my idea of fun.

John, no offfense, but when the weekly pass is $15, some red flags go up. Maybe the bandmates will listen to you in the future.

[markD]

i feel you john. my band just got burned like that too. we traveled out of town to play a "HUGE" show with "TONS" of advanced ticket sales - when we got there....25 people. we killed and sold some CD's and t-shirts, but still lost money. we were sent a promotional flyer to print and distribute - which we did locally and online - but the "promoter" told us she was taking care of her local promotion.

as far as cover bands....that is an easier road. people WANT to drink and dance to songs they ALREADY know, or recognize. those of us out performing original music, more often than not, find ourselves playing to small crowds. i am talking 35 people is a KILLER crowd. people just don't come out.

for instance, i advertised a "local" show here on the JCF. it was (sadly) a pay-to-play gig (we had to sell tickets) at a fairly decent sized venue. it was a friday night show, we had a KILLER time slot, but i didn't get ONE bite from ANY of the tampa area JCFers. i am not saying that because of sour grapes, it just is what it is.

my band exhausted our "own" crowd a while ago. friends will only come out so many times, and the tampa original music scene SUCKS!!!! we are currently looking into hiring a booking agent for us to start doing A LOT of out-of-town shows.....playing markets that are more supportive of newer original bands. we WILL have to promote those shows, and we are fine with that. we just WANT people to hear OUR music, hahahahaha.

[CharvelRocker]

The local club in Lancaster (Chameleon...is there another CR?) has a downstairs that has local bands with no cover charge, but 9/10 bands there are crappy emo bands that can't tune their own instruments. It's just not my idea of fun.

John, no offfense, but when the weekly pass is $15, some red flags go up. Maybe the bandmates will listen to you in the future.

The Symposium often has GOOD live acts, albeit not the jump out of your seat and head bang type. I think the Village at one point in time had live music, not sure. Most people won't go within 10 blocks of that place anyway :ROTF: But yeah, from the couple times I've been there and from what I generally hear, the place normally has a fair number of people in it, even moreso now that it isn't quite the dump it used to be (reminds me of the time a guy walked out to go pee on the sidewalk/street...)