How To Pack For A Tour

You need to approach touring the way you would backpacking through Europe: you can only take what you can carry on your shoulders. Your van is already filled with guitar amps, drums, the bass rig, more drums, merchandise, drum hardware, food, some band mates, and then your drummer. Suffice it to say that room is scarce unless you’ve got a bus (and if you’ve got a bus you can probably skip this article altogether).

As you’re packing you need to ask yourself “Do I really need this? Can I just pick this up at a store if I’m dying without it?” You’ll find that you’re packing way too much clothing. Assuming you know where you’re sleeping most nights, a few of those places will likely have laundry facilities or you can hit up a scrub shop on an off day. If the drives are going to be long, you’re not going to be impressing anyone with your fashion on a daily basis so don’t worry about roughing it. Try to keep it down to one back pack – something you can walk a few blocks comfortably. Stick dryer sheets in your bag and shoes to keep things fresh. Moist towelettes go a long way to make you feel better when you wake from a van-nap.

Gear wise, make sure you have extras but don’t go overboard. Bring extra strings, tubes, sticks, and a backup guitar. Space is usually an issue so don’t worry about bringing a second cabinet or stuffing your acoustic thinking you may get bored and play in the van. You’ll find ways to entertain yourself: simple things like books, an iPod, or your laptop are good starting points.

Packing smart will keep the van comfortable. A few other things you can do to keep the van a happy place:

1. Change up the driver and passenger seating every few hours. The new locale will stimulate you provide a nice change of pace.
2. Take trash out with you when you make pit stops (the cup-holders will fill with candy wrappers, I promise) and spray some air freshener before you get back in. From band-stink to Spring showers in five minutes.
3. GPS. Understand that it can go crazy at times but it’s worth bringing one. Don’t buy one just for the tour – you likely have a friend who will be glad to help out the band by lending theirs. Word of caution: never bring two. They will fight like competing bakeries.
4. Make a tour itinerary listing all of the venues, phone numbers, addresses, sleeping arrangements, pay arrangements, load-in times, set times, and distances between shows. Dress it up and make it fun, then print two copies: one for the front of the van and one for the back (so that the guys in the back aren’t always pestering you for information).

There are a lot of other things you can do to make the van a home-away-from-home but that stuff will hit you quickly during your first tour. The bottom line is you’re going to be getting really close to your band mates for what will feel like an eternity. Tensions build while everyone is out of their comfort zone. Do the best to respect one another while making yourself some personal space.

Finally, treat your van like you would a guitar: tune it up before making it do the work. Find problems early before you wind up busking at a Canadian Tire in Whitby to pay for that break job.

Arriving At The Gig

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There’s a difference between playing gigs at home versus while on tour. The band needs to think of itself as a travelling salesman: You have a product that you’re demoing around the country. You want people to buy this product, love this product, and show this product to their friends. A professional attitude is enough to make you seem like a pro, even if you’re throwing your back out trying to lug that 412 cabinet up the most insane flight of stairs (tip: buddy-lift EVERYTHING).

So you’ve arrived at the venue at the requested load-in time. What’s next? Here are the things I like to run through with each show:

1. Learn the sound engineer’s name. Everyone should know it. Convince yourself that the sound engineer is your best friend. Sound guys (and gals) are people, too – they will be more likely to make you sound good if they like the way you treat them.
2. Learn how to setup other pieces of equipment. If your drummer could use a hand and you’ve got your stuff setup, help him instead of sitting at the bar waiting.
3. Start when you’re told and finish on time. The next band is excited to play and doesn’t want you getting in the way. No encores unless A) You’re the headliner; or B) The situation is calling for it and you’ve sent someone from the band to clear it with the next band.
4. Push your merchandise. You’ve travelled all this way and your door cut will more than likely not be great until you’re an established band – merchandise is gas in the van. Make sure one band member runs to stand by the merch table when you’ve finished your set. Tell some stories and let the crowd get to know you – they just may want to buy into you.
5. Get to know the other acts. You never know when you’ll run into each other again (it happens more often than you would think, at completely different parts of the country) or when you’ll need to borrow their equipment.
6. Get paid. Have a designated person within the band to handle the collection of finances. There’s an art to talking money with door guys and other bands so that you’re able to take of yourself while meeting the needs of the other people involved. This develops with continuous exposure so it’s best to get one person learning the ropes instead of taking turns.
7. Before you leave make sure you’ve said goodbye to everyone who works at the venue. Get to know them a bit – they’re your gateway back into this place. I like to make sure each venue has a copy of the album and a business card (the bartender or door person who likes you the most is the best person to receive it as they’ll push it around).

Final Notes

The goal is to build profile, fan base, and hopefully make money. Touring isn’t always (or usually even) a money making endeavour until you’ve secured good guarantees so try to break even. Figure out beforehand what the tour should cost you and factor in emergencies (having an extra 1000.00 in the band fun will help you out when things take an unexpected turn). Try to have as much of the expenses covered before you head out so that you don’t get half way through the tour wondering if you’ll make it home.

Lastly, treat this both as a career move for the band and as a vacation. You’re likely suffering personally and financially by committing so much time on the road so make the best of your time out there. Be a tourist. Flaunt the band around as you check out the local hot spots – it’ll give you something to talk about and make you feel like a rock star. And let’s not forget band traditions: make them. My band would drive around with megaphones promoting the show for an hour before sound check. You’ll find something you all like to do to harass the general public.

Chris Gallant is the lead singer and guitarist of The Sidewalks, an alternative rock/ska band from PEI, Canada. He has been promoting acts and booking his own tours for three years now. The article was originally published on Ultimate Guitar.

One Red Bull too many?

It would have to be said that in this day and age, no one is immune to the temptations of well-placed advertising. At this year’s Download festival, a good friend of mine and I did indeed spend four hours in ‘Tuborg Town’ downing pints and watching people throw themselves up and down a bungee run. We then proceeded to the Zippo tent where my friend spent thirty pounds on a lighter. I was shocked, but it seemed that the majority of people who had been drinking were moving on from beer tents to the tent of the mother of all lighters.

By attaching itself to the rock and roll image, Zippo has jumped on the idea that all rockers need a lighter to wave during ‘that one power ballad.’ People are buying into the idea. By marketing their brand alongside numerous rock and alcohol brands, Zippo’s advertising method has created an ‘in’ brand upon which people are willing to spend money because they feel that the brand represents them.

It was an incredibly astute move on Zippo’s part to promote Download, but it is one thing to buy your favourite band jumper when intoxicated; perhaps another to buy into a brand whose association with rock music is somewhat manufactured and arbitrary.

Another surprising marketing in-road in recent years has been the addition of the ‘Pepsi Max’ and ‘Red Bull Bedroom Jam’ stages at Download. These two brands have demonstrated to the alcohol industry that there is a market for both energy drinks and soft drinks in the rock genre. By promoting these drinks, Red Bull in particular is becoming more and more associated with mainstream rock.

Red Bull’s Bedroom Jam, for those of you who are in the dark, is a platform for rock musicians to submit a music video to the Bedroom Jam website and get votes online from people who like the music. The most popular bands have the chance then to play all the festivals in the UK! This is obviously a great chance for those just starting out a career, but it also makes Red Bull more accessible to music fans.

Giving Download its wings?

Several people I encountered at Download were exposed to Red Bull through the Bedroom Jam contest, and now drink Red Bull regularly. By associating rock music and soft drinks, festivals can also appeal to the ‘straight edge’ side of things, where for those who don’t (or can’t) drink alcohol, there is always time for a Red Bull. Many of the bands featured on the smaller Red Bull stage seem to appeal to a younger audience, which is probably no accident.

Perhaps the only way we will be able to enjoy rock music now is through branding. It is sad that now in this day and age just taking over a field, banging out some rocking tunes and having warm beer is no longer viable. I would of course rather have a festival than no festival, but if festivals are to increasingly become a marketing exercise for big brand names at music’s expense, then maybe it is time to pull the plug, hang up those wellie boots and call it a night.

Rona Sannachan is a freelance journalist who enjoys writing, music, vegetarianism, and her bold attempts to fuse them.

Promotion within a city is specific to the avenues available in that area, but it all comes down to some fairly simple stuff. It just takes time and dedication.

Print Media, Radio, And Television

Every city has a local arts paper or magazine. Research and figure out where to send your press release (you’ve made a press release, right?), tour dates, and try to make it a little more personal (ie, talk about why this town is particularly exciting for your band). Also look up all the radio stations in those cities as well as television stations. Get in contact with the program director and give them your pitch. Hopefully your pitch has an interesting angle to it that they can get behind.

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Internet Forums And Blogs

The internet is global and so are musicians. You may find new fans with forums specific to your tour destinations. Bloggers in well connected music circles are the people you want writing positively about your band. They have listeners. Post your show date, strike up a conversation, and make a connection.

Social Networking

There’s always someone in the tour van who’s got their laptop or cell phone going. Log into your Facebook, Twitter, or Myspace and send an update once in a while. “Van broke down. Having an acoustic jam on the side of the road to entertain the mechanic.” Keep it interesting and informative – don’t stop at “Chicago tonight!” Make a joke while you’re at it or offer something special for your potential guests. Ask questions. People love to voice their opinions.

Posters

Every tour needs a tour poster. I’m not going to run on a graphic design rant but make sure you have an attractive poster with all your dates listed, but also have a secondary poster with a blank space to custom tailor on a per show basis. Send these posters to all the venues, radio stations, and any friends or fans in your street team who live in the area. Keep extra ones on hand to autograph or put up in local stores on your off days.

Next week I’ll be talking about what to keep in mind when you’re about to embark on the tour. Until then, get out your map and start planning your adventure.

Chris Gallant is the lead singer and guitarist of The Sidewalks, an alternative rock/ska band from PEI, Canada. He has been promoting acts and booking his own tours for three years now. The article was originally published on Ultimate Guitar.

If you’ve toured before you’ll know that a lot of this information comes as common sense literally within a few days of being on the road – your band’s routine or “system” kicks in and the tour goes on autopilot. However the point of this guide is the educate and inform those of you who’ve never hit the pavement in a van full of gear in pursuit of making it big. It’s often a long, arduous, and smelly journey but you get addicted and will want to do it again the second you get home.

This isn’t meant to be a step by step guide into touring so much as it is an overview of how a tour should come together for the average DIY band. Best of luck.

Image credit: weheartit.com

Are You Ready To Tour?

A few questions you need to ask yourself:

Does my band have a solid enough fan base in the local area?

You’re probably wondering why the local market has anything to do with you going abroad. Well, there are two main reasons for this. The first is simply that it serves as a gauge of interest in your band. If your fan base is made up of a good spread of music listeners (ie, not just your girlfriends and relatives) then you’re on the right track and the same thing will likely happen in other cities. Second, you need to depend on your local gigs to make up the funds to head out on the road. Plan to take a few extra gigs to fill the band fund up as you lead to the tour you’re embarking on.

Do we have reliable transportation?

My first touring band destroyed three vans on three separate tours because we didn’t take appropriate vehicles to handle the combined weight of the members and the gear. Do not expect to pull off a 10 day tour in a minivan if you have a typical rock stage setup (I’m talking at least one stack, a bass rig, the drums, and assorted luggage). Suspensions will drop out, transmissions will die, and brakes will fall apart. Make sure you have the proper vehicle for what you’re hauling and how long you’re hauling it.

How long do we want to go on tour? Can everyone take the time off?

Time off becomes the enemy by the time you hit your second or third tour – it loses some of it’s charm in your family/girlfriend/boss’ eyes and becomes a nuisance, meaning it gets more difficult to get the time off the more often you go on tour. But that’s a discussion for another article. The length of your tour is really up to you and your band because you’ll need to determine how much work you can miss, how much you stand to gain from the tour, and how long you want to be out of your comfort zone. The kind of tour you’re booking will determine the length as well, which brings me to my next point.

How To Book A Tour

Booking a tour is a lot easier than people make it out to be. You just need to be diligent and plan ahead. Giving yourself at least 3 months to get the show dates is a good idea whether you know the venues already or have to start completely from scratch.

Identify the type of tour you’re booking.

You can do two general types of tours that I like to call Main Market Tours and All Market Tours. A Main Market Tour is when you only play in the biggest cities with the largest pieces of the music industry that you can get close to. Of course this is geographic, but building profile in a city that houses the kind of people who should hear you (agents, reps, promoters, and media) is the smartest choice when time and money are constraints on the tour. Get in, do the job, and get home, all while hitting the bigger markets. Alternatively you can do the All Market Tour which is when you look at a map and pick out all the cities in a certain radius and plan to play in each one over a certain length of time. If you only have a week, I’d go with the first type. Two weeks or more and I’d consider the second. That isn’t to say you can’t mix it up: If a smaller city is completely en route to a bigger city, see if you can wedge a gig in there on the way up.

Image credit: Mark Loper on Facebook

Find venues and promoters.

Once you’ve narrowed down your cities and dates start doing up emails and press kits to send to the venues and promoters that you feel would be interested in an act like yours. Try to think from a venue owner’s perspective – all you are in the end is drink sales. You can have the best songs in the world, but if no one cares to come see you it’ll be hard to get a returning gig (and after all, you are hopefully going to tour again sometime and will want to build on the relationships you opened with these venues the first time around). This raises the question: How am I supposed to get people in the door if I’ve never played there before? Well, if you’re asking yourself this question you’ve already done half the work. Just promote the shows as best you can and play your heart out, even if 3 people show up. Impress the bar staff and you’ll have done enough to come back.

In the next chapter I’ll be talking about tour promotion and what to keep in mind when you’re about to embark on the tour. Until then, get out your map and start planning your adventure.

Chris Gallant is the lead singer and guitarist of The Sidewalks, an alternative rock/ska band from PEI, Canada. He has been promoting acts and booking his own tours for three years now. The article was originally published on Ultimate Guitar.

Branching Out

So you have a firm collection of fans exploring your various websites, fan pages, fliers and coming to your shows. That’s a good start. You’ve played with and against some of the hottest names in the area and showed how capable you are at being an acting ambassador for your music scene. That’s even better, because when it comes to leaving the area and taking your music scene elsewhere, those tricks will come in handy.

I’m not talking about going on tour here. Essentially, I’m just talking about going out of town. A band that’s absolutely huge in one place might be completely unheard of twenty miles away, but that’s an untapped market with unlimited potential that you need to get yourself into if you want to draw wider attention. We’re not trying to get the attention of big record label executives here; we’re trying to make a living as a musician.

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In this situation, the old ‘it takes money to make money’ proverb comes true. Travelling becomes more expensive both the farther you go and the more you take with you, and booking a place to perform at somewhere nobody has ever heard of you can prove exceedingly difficult. This, of course, is where that ‘scene ambassador’ role comes in handy.

First off, do your research. You know what sort of music you play, where else nearby is it popular? Decide on a target location, then find out what bands are big there. Ask around, maybe go to a couple of gigs there and hand out some cards just to get your face noticed, but zero in on a couple of bands or musicians and make some contacts. A friend who might let you use their drumkit in the area saves shifting your own either on a train or in a van. In the same vein, dropping your band to an opening slot, even if you’re headlining back home, means that you can ask those contacts where they’re playing, and assure yourself a slot in front of all of their fans. This also serves as a way of introducing yourself to the venue owners and making contacts there.

Advertising will undoubtedly be more difficult when you can’t get to the area in question to put up posters and hand out fliers. As an opening act, that’s not something you really need to worry about, since it will be done for you. Saying that, a presence requires…well, presence. The major cost will be getting back and forth, but everywhere you are not known is a potential market that you aren’t taking advantage of.

When you are playing gigs, don’t forget to reward the contacts that you’ve made. If a band in that area has given you a support slot, offer them one in your area. This maintains good relationships between both bands. As an example, Muse and My Chemical Romance did a UK/USA tour. In the UK, My Chemical Romance opened for Muse, since their major market is in the USA. In the USA it was the other way around, with Muse becoming the supporting slot. There was no clash of egos, just good business by both sides.

If you become popular in this new location, as your fan page and website will undoubtedly tell you, you might begin to use the venue contacts you will have cultivated by acting as an opener. Never let a chance pass you by in this regard. Playing a set and not getting to know the owner is never a good move. A few friendly conversations and a contact number could well secure you a headline slot of your own in the future. At this point, line yourself up some gigs that don’t interfere with those in your own music scene, get all your new fans online for you and handing out fliers for you, then grab yourself a map and pick another location.

There will be an effect when you get back to town. When a band gets bigger, everybody knows it. Gigs at home will become more scarce, but the price will also go up. People will begin to travel to see you and word of mouth will spread wider and wider.

It’s a methodical process, but it’s a necessary one. The worst thing you can do through this is forget to keep those big performances going back at home. Don’t let yourselves become boring, or you’ll lose a lot of attention from the people who are most likely to pay the big money. As your local gigs become less and less, you can ask for more money, but you still want to be seen. When you leave town you will be judged as music ambassador, your job is to go to them to convince them to come to you.

Tom Colohue is a writer from Blackpool, England. Though he specialises in Fiction, he also writes music theory articles, and new media articles based primarily on the internet. On occasion, these also intermingle. He is well recognised by numerous critics and analysts for his integrative descriptive work and his cynical textual mannerisms. For more information, Tom Colohue keeps a Facebook Fan Page, which contains updates from new articles and his personal blog, Mental Streaming. This page can be found via this link.

GigzWiz logo

If you haven’t heard of it yet, GigsWiz is a direct-to-fan ticketing service, which offers artists and event organizers easy-to-use tools for promoting, marketing and selling tickets to live events via their websites and social media channels. What is interesting, GigsWiz shares part of the ticket fees it collects with them with artists, while helping promoters and venues to sell more tickets faster.

The startup is a recent MidemNet Lab finalist (we didn’t have a chance to attend the conference this year to write about the event in details, unfortunately), entering the landscape of gig/show promotion in the midst of a rapidly changing touring and ticketing market. The idea behind the service is that fans are increasingly directly connected to bands online and the traditional marketing methods used by promoters can be highly inefficient at reaching those fans.

GigsWiz is a time saving service for artists, venues and promoters. Artists sign up to GigsWiz Backstage and connect it with their Facebook and Twitter accounts. After that, GigsWiz automatically promotes all upcoming gigs with ticketing links. Event organizers, meanwhile, can create events on the GigsWiz Tickets service, giving them direct access to an immediate band fan base.

In addition to automated social media updates, GigsWiz offers embeddable widgets and Facebook apps for artists, promoters and venues. These widgets list upcoming gigs and link directly to the ticket purchase page. Gig info is also automatically posted to all relevant gig-listing services.

GigsWiz was founded in Finland, in early 2010 by three co-founders, Juuso Vermasheinä, Kai Lemmetty, and Joonas Pekkanen, all with strong entrepreneurial and digital technology backgrounds. The GigsWiz service has been in an invitational beta phase with several promoters since November 2010. The company has raised angel funding and is currently negotiating follow-up funding.

Have you tried the service yet? Let us know in the comments!

Your Fans

• You can give away free downloads, and they don’t have to be anything that you plan on selling. For example, give away older ‘vintage’ recordings of you from years past with every CD sold. Fans love to feel like they know you, and as long as the recording doesn’t embarrass you to where it would hurt your future success, it could be a real fan attraction.
• Give away low-cost keepsakes like key chains with your band logo on them. The goodwill and long-term affinity you receive will more than compensate for the cost!
• Offer discount coupons from businesses when someone buys your CD or attends one of your shows. For example, ask several local restaurants if they would give you ‘buy one, get one half-price coupons’ to give away. This means that your fans would instantly get their money back for the show or CD, and maybe even make a profit! The restaurant will love it too because you are bringing them new customers.
• You can get the same kinds of deals I just mentioned from bowling alleys, movie theaters and many retailers. Then put your own personal coupon book together to give away. Include a coupon for a free download, or a discount on another CD or show ticket!
• Have very generous upsells. An upsell is the upgrade or secondary item that you sell to someone who is already purchasing something from you. For example, offer a 2nd t-shirt at cost with the purchase of one. After all, the goal is not only to make money right then and there, but also to get as many people wearing your t-shirts as possible.
• Be free with your time. Stick around after every show to meet everyone who wants to meet you. Take the time to respond to messages on your social networks.
• Personalize everything. At your merch table, ask each fan his or her name and then give them something for free (like a band postcard) that you address specifically to them. Have a variety of choices (colors, sayings etc.) so you can pick the one that is most appropriate for each fan.
• Perform longer shows than your fans expect (with the permission of the venue).
• Put bonus tracks on your CD and let your fans be surprised when they play it for the first time!
• Mingle with the audience before your show and during your breaks. Learn the names of some of your audience members and refer to them from stage (always in a positive light). Publicly recognize anyone in the audience who is celebrating something special like a birthday, anniversary, promotion etc.

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The Venue And/Or Person Who Hired You

• Go the extra mile in everything you do. Offer to play longer if the audience wants you to. Offer to be available to help in any other way that they might need you to. You never know when an extra hand for a few minutes can help them out of a jam.
• Ask the manager, bartenders, waiters and waitresses what you can do to make their jobs easier. Even though they may not be able to think of anything, just the act of wanting to help them will endear you to them.
• If you play overtime at the end of the night, don’t charge them. I guarantee it will come back to you in the form of future gigs at that venue!
• Offer to start early if it looks like the pre-show audience is starting to leave. Again, don’t charge for this.
• Offer to let other acts use your equipment if you are sharing the stage with them. It makes life easier on everyone, it lets you use the equipment you are used to and sound best on, and it makes you look like the hero.
• If you are booked at an event where the venue will need to rent a PA for you, and you have a PA that is appropriate that you can bring, offer to bring yours at half the price of the rental (or at no extra charge). The same goes for lighting and other equipment.
• Express your appreciation for the venue and/or for the person who hired you from stage. Let them know that it is an honor to be there.

It is easy to see that giving more than you are paid for or more than is expected from you is a powerful way to earn respect from everyone and set yourself apart from the majority of acts that do just enough to get by. It also makes you the first act people think of when they are shopping for live or recorded music!

© 2011 Vinny Ribas. Read more tips in the entire article at this location.

Thinking on your feet is one of the most sought after skills in any work environment. The ability to think and act quickly is absolutely essential, and making use of this talent is one of the best ways to keep things fresh, new and unique for people. Making a performance that pulls in every person in the room is important. Being the opener that eclipses the headliner by means of being memorable is even better. Let’s have a look at some major performance pieces that kept people coming back for more.

Jimi Hendrix: Setting Fire To His Instrument

Have you ever seen this on YouTube? It’s infamous for being so very rock and roll, but the reality of it was far less impressive. The fire lasted only a short time, and Hendrix was simply unable to get the fire any larger, so he just smashed it up instead. It’s nothing tremendously impressive, and yet it’s one of those things that everybody talks about.

Image credit: iamoutside on Tumblr

Did it look planned? Not at all. Not long beforehand he’d been humping the amplifiers for the sake of additional feedback noise. There’s no stroke of PR genius, and no marketing agent whispering in his ear. Hendrix simply wished to ruin his guitar forever, and everybody loved him for it.

The Who: Total Destruction

It’s been cited and quoted that The Who had virtually no money to their names, and very little success, before they started to destroy the guitars and the drum kit at the end of each set. They literally could not afford new instruments to replace them. If it hadn’t worked to earn them such high amounts of additional publicity, they would have been ruined permanently, which no chance of reprieve. I’m never going to suggest doing this yourself, but it’s an example of an idea that went brilliantly because it was something to associate with the band. It was new, and it was ruthlessly exciting.

They also made enemies through this. Things such as explosives in a drum kit have a habit of making people dislike you. A lot of television programmes and performance venues made a point of refusing to host The Who’s show. However, due to the success that they eventually received, all of these were likely rescinded. Remember, the media follows you once you’ve made it. Until then though, you have to follow the media.

Led Zeppelin: Guitar Solo With A Violin Bow

Let’s be honest here; this likely destroyed the bow and ripped all of the hairs to pieces. However, even though I have personally never heard the solo in question, I have definitely heard about the gimmick that was the performance. It’s the mixing of two different musical instruments that earns our respect, mostly because of the necessary precision required to hit the correct guitar string with a violin bow.

Of course, due to the angle of guitar strings, the violin bow will have been on most if not all of the strings. There was no evident violin skill in this trick; it’s all left hand muting, but the ability to capture the attention of listeners with a little thing such as this is exactly what creates a truly unique performance.

These are just examples of course, but it’s an example of something which draws focus. You should always want something that makes people aware of you, beyond doing exactly the same as everybody else. You have to stand out and make people pay attention and, even if you’re the most successful band in the world, you still need to make people aware of you.

Tom Colohue

Tom Colohue is a writer from Blackpool, England. Though he specialises in Fiction, he also writes music theory articles, and new media articles based primarily on the internet. On occasion, these also intermingle. He is well recognised by numerous critics and analysts for his integrative descriptive work and his cynical textual mannerisms. For more information, Tom Colohue keeps a Facebook Fan Page, which contains updates from new articles and his personal blog, Mental Streaming. This page can be found via this link.

The club sits at 100 Oxford Street, London, and is completely immersed in pride due to the musicians, crowds and laissez-faire attitude that have always seen it open its doors and mind to all bands great and small.

A Savethe100club campaign has been launched to raise enough capital through donations so that the team of venue’s supporters can buy “the name, the rights, the goodwill and fixtures and fittings” from the present owner and take over ownership of the club.

The people who donated will become “members of the 100 Club” and will be invited to have their say on major decisions that the board of Trustees make. The club will be run as a not for profit organisation and therefore will be eligible for government funding such as from the Lottery fund and the Heritage fund. The trustees will also be applying for heritage status for the club which will secure its long term future.

When London film maker George McCallum discovered the imminent threat of 100 Club’s closure, he took it upon himself to try and help by creating a mini-documentary which could remind people why, even though we are all so busy, this is something worth caring about and supporting.

It is too late for other great venues like The Astoria and The Metro, but there now only remains a handful of clubs and venues for new bands to play in the heart of London and none quite like The 100 Club. Filmmaker George says, “I hope the documentary helps towards reaching the £500,000 target to turn it into a non-profit organization. It’s an excellent idea and part of the remit for the club is to have a new band night once a week – this is essential to the future of the club.”

Save The 100 Club needs help of the world’s music community today. Even if you don’t can or wish to donate, share a link to this post or to savethe100club.co.uk.

For some popular acts, this is a very viable and very lucrative opportunity. But if you do it wrong or haphazardly, you could lose your shirt! Here are some of the most important things that you need to consider and put in place in order to be successful at this kind of risky booking, brought in by Nancy Moran and Vinny Ribas from Indie Connect Magazine:

• Reality Check – Are you honestly popular enough and have enough concert-going fans in the area to justify taking this kind of risk? Don’t fool yourself into thinking you are more popular than you really are! Do a lot of research first, and pre-sell tickets. Be sure you can cancel without too much penalty if you don’t sell as many tickets as you thought you would.


Image credit: The art of Indecision

• Financial – First, know how much money you have and are willing to risk (and possibly lose). It’s important to list all of your sources of income as well as every one of your expenses, so you know how many tickets you need to sell to break even, and how much you can possibly make when it is all said and done. It’s also important to know which expenses need to paid for before the event and which can wait until you’ve collected all of the money and sold all of your music and merchandise.
• Date and Time – Be sure that there are no conflicts with other major competing activities at the same time in the area, such as concerts, sporting events, fairs or festivals etc. Even check planned road construction so people can get to you easily.
• Location – Be sure you don’t choose a place that is too big or too expensive. Know ahead of time how many tickets you will be able to sell. Also insure that the price of the venue is reasonable. You might look for a venue that will be free in exchange for them keeping the money from food and/or beverage sales.
• Weather – To the best of your ability, plan around the increased chance of bad weather. In other words, don’t plan a Saturday afternoon outdoor concert in July in a geographical area in which chances are it will be well over 90% humid outside.
• Set up, sound check and rehearsal – Be sure to budget in time to get all necessary equipment set up, get a sound check and even run through your show. This is especially important in a venue that you are not familiar with.
• Printing – Be sure you have budgeted enough for tickets, posters, marketing pieces, signage and any other printed materials you might need. Be sure you have these printed in plenty of time to correct any errors. Leave enough time to do a thorough and effective job on the marketing.
• Tickets – If you’re selling tickets, be sure you get them printed in plenty of time for the event. Also have a plan in place for who is going to sell them (include purchasing online), what the price is (or if you’ll offer multiple price points), a seating chart if you are going to have assigned seating, what the wholesale price is for resellers, how many tickets you need to sell to break even, radio giveaways etc. Will you be offering any complimentary tickets (e.g. contest winners, booking agents, record label executives etc)?
• Marketing – Be sure to have a viable and effective marketing plan, and that you have the budget and team to implement it. Will you organize a street team, and if so, what will their roles be? Will you need a separate website for the event? Be sure the event is on all of of the major and local social networks, on your online calendars, registered with online concert listings, publicized in your local newspapers, talked about by local bloggers etc. Will you need to buy radio spots or magazine ads? Also, will the venue do any marketing for you? Will you be plastering the local area with posters? Can you make it a fundraiser for a nonprofit organization so they sell tickets for you?


Damon Albarn

• Publicity – Put a strong PR campaign together to insure that you get press coverage in every medium possible. Will you do pre-show radio, TV or magazine interviews? Will you hire a publicist to write, submit and follow up on press releases or do them yourself? Are you listed in all of the local events calendars?
• Personnel – What personnel will you need to hire? Will you hire backup musicians, one or more sound tech or lighting techs, someone to man the door, security, police, a publicist, a marketing company, ushers, stage set-up crew, refreshment servers and/or a clean-up crew? Will you use volunteers? If so, where will you get them and who will coordinate them? Be sure to line up your staff in plenty of time and allow for last minute cancellations.
• Legal – Will you need any special licenses, such as a business license, sales tax license, liquor license etc? Are there any contracts or agreements your attorney should review, approve, modify or draw up?
• Insurance – Will you need liability insurance for the event? If someone falls and gets hurt, you may be responsible!
• Equipment – What equipment will you need to bring, rent or buy? This includes sound and lighting, chairs, tables, props, stage sets, extension cords, microphones, instruments etc. Make a detailed list and run it by others to make sure you don’t forget something important.
• Travel – Will you need to make travel arrangements? Will you block out some nearby hotel rooms for out-of-town fans or family?
• CDs, DVDs, download cards and merchandise – Be sure that you have adequate supplies of all of these so you can maximize your return. Do you need to hire someone to work the table?
• Pre and Post Show – Will you have a press conference or other event before or after the show? Will there be a separate meet and greet for your fans or for radio contest winners? Who will plan these, send the invitations, coordinate the catering and take care of any other necessities?
• Contingencies – Be sure you have budgeted enough for unexpected expenses.

© 2010 Nancy Moran and Vinny Ribas. Be sure to find more inspiring articles on music marketing at Indie Connect Magazine.