Thursday, May 20, 2010

The conundrum of booking live shows.



This subject has been gnawing at me for a while now.

To counteract the difficulty of booking clubs and venues, I started booking shows at my own venues and events. Problem solved for now - good for pr, crappy for paying bills.

But - for the loads and I mean LOADS of artists out there that can't or choose not to do this, there is this big, little issue of booking shows (if you want to do it on your own without paying an agent).

Here are some facts:

~There are more artists than ever that want to play live, and really, they are good enough to play live, (and really the only way to get good, is to do it).

~There are actually venues closing down their live/original bookings because of poor turn out. They are hiring djs, or cover bands (nothing against guys & gals).

~Lots of coffee shops seem to be picking up the slack, and open mic nights, but paying gigs mainly go to cover bands, original bands get the door.

~Some clubs book the same bands over and over because they know they will bring some people in, and they won't look at anyone else.

~Many, artists won't/don't share gigs/venues - they are very protective of a paying gig.

~Live music is good for us (all ages, everybody), people want to see live original bands.


When I see all of these things written down, all I can think is:

Artists need a face to face fan base - (online doesn't count if they can't get out to your shows).

How do artists build a face to face fan base if they can't book gigs?


Anybody? Anybody?

















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