This is me

I just got off Facebook chatting with my intern Ryan. I’ve been MIA for the past couple weeks trying to get myself more organized as well as beginning to learn web design. But basically, I just wanted to catch up with him.

I was gonna copy and paste our dialog, but I downsized the screen and then he signed out, so I lost it. Instead, I’ll just give you the basic run down. He said he had “an idea”. To me, that’s like a one night stand calling me and saying, “I need to tell you something. Can we meet up for some coffee this week?”. You think you know they’re gonna say, but it really could be anything. Anyways, he tells me he wants to play a larger venue in Seattle and he plans on joining up with 2 other local bands to get the draw necessary for the promoter and/or venue to be on board with the bill.

I told him that’s a hard thing to pull because…

• there will most likely be overlapping draws between bands. In other words, 3 bands that have 150 draw each will, in most cases, not equal 450 people at the show. The venues aren’t out to do favors. It’s a numbers game and if you can’t accumulate the draw needed to make it worth the venue than they won’t do it.
• the bands have to make sense together otherwise the expected number of fans may not go. The right bill can actually get people who have never seen any of the bands to come out. I know that was the case with me in the past.
• you’d have to create enough of a buffer around the show (no local shows one month before and after) for the venue to even consider.
• you have to get three bands to agree to it, which is sometimes the hardest part. What will the set order be? How will the money be divided?
• more importantly, when you have a bill, you have to actually get the attention of the venue. What’s a bill without a venue???

Soooooo, he asked me how I would go about it. Well for starters, I told him to utilize me. I took a look at the venues he was talking about to look for bands I knew that were playing upcoming shows, so that I could get the direct contact info for the talent buyer there to cut some political tape for him but not everyone has that luxury. Then I checked out the bands he wanted to play with, after which I copied and pasted their booking email address’ in Facebook for him. He has to contact them directly, introduce himself and his band by only implying positive things. Don’t bring up ANYTHING that is ambiguous or potentially negative (ie draw, venues he’s played, how long the band has been together, who else the band has played with) until they inquire about it. Omitting without lying is the key, so if they ask, be honest with them and honesty is important for anything in music. You can’t bullshit a bullshitter, so why even bother. It’ll only bite you in the ass if you lie. If Ryan would be doing all the work for getting this show together, it’d be worth it for whoever bands he contacts to join in on the show if he could cumulatively get them into a larger venue because most likely that venue isn’t an option for them individually. In addition, it would an excellent introduction to the venue for any of the bands to support a touring band at the venue in the future.

OK, so let’s say he has lineup set and I write an intro email on his behalf to the talent buyer of the venue. What’s he supposed to do now. Once again honesty is key. Give the links of the bands, a brief local history of noteworthy shows including what the draws were for each show, and what all three bands would do in order to help promote the show and supplement what the venue/promoter does normally. In addition, let the venue know a couple dates that work for all three bands (this should be decided before he contacts them). He tells them too many dates it makes it seem like he’s desperate, not serious, and/or haven’t thought it over well enough with the other bands. Also, he’s local, so the venue knows he can be flexible and if they’re really into it, they’ll say some like like, “those dates are on hold, but blah blah and blah blah are avail.”

Some larger venues may want local bands to buy tickets to sell, but a band should never put themselves in that position because it sways the power in the hands of the venue and the next thing will be a shitty guarantee instead of door deal where the potential monetary gains are most likely greater given the expected draw of the show on whole. It’s as if they’re doing you a favor, which they technically are, but they’re making money on the show when all the fans come and drink their faces off and buy $8 slices of pizza, so the favor is reciprocal and cancel each other out, so the bill should be treated as any other show.

Ryan, I hope I was of some help for you and keep me posted in the following weeks when you contact the bands. And if any of you guys out there are in the same situation as Ryan and need more detailed suggestions, please contact me.