What’s Wrong with The Music Scene is it the Bands, Venues, Fans or All of the Above?

I am writing this to help bands understand that the music scene has drastically changed in the past 5 years. The scene has always changed but from a booking agent/manager point of view it has really hit a bottom the past 2 yrs. Who is to blame, honestly EVERYONE.
Below is based on my observation, views and years of experience in booking and band management. This is not intended to piss people off but rather help guide artists.

Where to start….? Hmmmm.

The days of average people going to a music venue to check out new up and coming bands does not exist today. There are too many other options for people now with various sporting events, gastro pubs, restaurants, etc. Along with people are spending there money differently these days because of the economy and their interests. For example, I bought a ticket for a known artist and cost $65 for the ticket. If I wasn’t in the music business it most likely would be my one night out that month. If had a friends band to check out I would probably put it off because of finances. So how do we get the focus on the live music and people start getting excited again in live music?

I am going to break out Bands and Venues into different parts.

Bands:
It seems there are only a small majority of bands that understand how to book their gigs. The thing to remember is that a venue is to sell alcohol and needs these sales to stay open let alone make a living. Bands are always required to draw their fans to a venue, it sucks but it’s the reality that an unknown band is faced with. The problem I see with bands is that they book gigs just to play out and wind up with oversaturation of their scene. I understand the thinking the more places we play the more people we get as fans. The issue is most bands are running the same model and winds up resulting in poor turnouts at each show. This also affects future bookings at these venues. Bands should think as a major artist. How many times does a major artist play your market? Maybe once or twice a year?

The rule for booking a show should 4 weeks before, 4 weeks after and a 50 mile radius of a venue at minimum. I know people are saying WTF??? A band should also be able to play 4 times a month in 4 different markets. I know it’s easier said and done. A band needs to build their local shows as an event and pack out the venue. Okay sounds good, but how do we get fans? Well it’s marketing your band and Social Media is only a small part. It’s going out and meeting new people, networking and the old “hand out cool looking flyers”. Going to other bands shows that are similar to your band, meet their fans, hang out at the venue your playing, etc.. There are endless ideas to promote the band, think out of the box. Realistically every band should be able to draw 20 people per show as a very minimum. I have seen bands from other markets come to Philly and draw these numbers with being in the city for 48hrs. If they can do it why can’t the local area bands do it?

When you book your show, you should always ask the booking agent for all the details from the bands on the bill, band contacts, media lists and how many posters to send to club. The key on every show is to work with the other bands on the bill, do a cohesive poster for everyone..”Create the Event”. Bands need to be focus on the overall show and work together. For example each band has 4 people, with a 4 band bill that is 16 people who can work on promoting the show. Divide up responsibilities, a street team, social media team, maybe a promo CD with each band on it, etc. A lot of show failures are a band laziness or thinking their music will set the world on fire. Hopefully the music will set the world on fire, but if nobody sees the show how is it gonna grow.

I believe a band needs to establish themselves at two venues in their market if possible. If a band does the above and can bring a decent crowd regularly at these venues. 90% of the time, the booking agent will work with you and offer you the ability to swap shows with an out of market band that does well in their own area. This is the model that has been around since the 60’s. It still works today, only if both bands do their parts in their markets. The goal would be to find minimum of 3 bands to swap shows with. At least there is a higher chance that people will be at the club than hopping in the car to play a gig with three unknown bands running probably the same plan as above.

I know it’s tough out there for bands but I see lack of desire for promoting for you. If something doesn’t work, try something different and always try to come up with different ideas. There are also exceptions to rule but they are far and few between. The bands main goal is to write great music, build a fanbase and perform your music live.


Venues:
Venues are in the business to make money. The day of music lovers running music venues is becoming scarce and now owned by investment people. In today’s world with skyrocketing costs of doing business is really insane from the utility, rent, production, up keep, employees and keeping product on the shelves. So these owners need to make a certain amount of money to stay open, let alone turn a profit. So if shows have low turnouts constantly the venues wind up closing. But there are things that venue can do to increase their profitability along with helping the artists in promotion.

A venue should be able to offer a regular promotional vehicle. This would include weekly and monthly ad listings for shows in the area newspapers or arts paper. Having a strong web presence with their on website and through all the social media outlets is a must. I still believe a venue should partner up with a local radio station that fits their style. Having the venue name on the air along with upcoming shows adds to the excitement of the venue. Sometime this has to be built over a period of time but it keeps the name of the venue relevant in the media.

A tough thing for any live music venue is to build a crowd to come to club strictly on the basis that there is always good music there. This is where the booking agent’s job is to book great artists and put together great musical shows. This can take a couple of years to develop the venue to point to get regulars but when it does you have a cool music scene. Also for this to work, the above topics need to be happening also.

Venues also need to develop their own brand also so that the normal person may decide to check you out. By making this happen is that you need to create events that are tied into music but also have other elements that may attract the normal person to check it out. Key also is having a great staff, cheap drink options, good food and creating a fun environment all ties into a bars success.

Word of mouth is also a major marketing tool for a venue along with bands. If people leave and had a one hell of a time they will tell their friends of this also place along with the band they saw.

Conclusion:
The one thing is that I have pride myself is trying to help develop bands and venues over the years. It makes the job even more rewarding watching bands grow and become successful. Being in the music business for 25yrs, I have met so many people and bands over the years that are still part of my life to this date. The beauty of this business is still the great music that all of you creates and perform live. In short, building music scenes is like building friendships they are developed over a period of time.

Hopefully you will find my rant helpful, any comments or additions feel free to comment!

Jim Thorpe
Legendary Dobbs
Thorpe Productions
Dewey Beach Music Conference

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