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Terms and conditions for performing
at a
Redeeming Features Entertainment organised event.
Our gigs are run under the door deal system with a twist. Normally
a door deal ends with an even split among the acts. Meaning that an
act that brings lots of people has to share the money from those payers
with the other acts. Often one or more of those acts have only brought
a few or no payers. Not really fair wouldn’t you agree?
I try to book 4 acts per night (last minute cancellations
are hard to replace) & work hard to match the acts with genre
in mind. My cut is $1/head from the door. Our door staff ask each
paying entrant who they are there to see & this is marked against
that act’s name. The wages for both door & sound staff are
taken out of the door take before acts are paid. This is $200 (Sound-$130/Door-$70)
This is split evenly between all 4 acts, at $10 entry that’s
$50/5 payers each. Once each equal share has been taken out, the rest
is paid to that act.
Say an act brings 50 people. At $10/head that’s
a $500 door take for that act. I take $1/head = $450, $50 is taken
out = $400 which is paid to that act. While another act on the same
bill who only brings 3 people will have to pay $20 to make up their
share of production costs. Of course I need acts to bring as many
people as possible but basically only 5-6 people are needed to cover
costs.
There are production costs to cover from the door
take which ever way you run the door deal. ($200) It’s taken
out of the door money before anything else & is standard at most
venues around Sydney. This pays for the sound & door staff for
your gig.
Tips & advice for marketing your gigs.
1. Have cards to give out at every gig, listing your
next 3 gigs. Make the card small enough to fit in a pocket but big
enough so it’ll be found before it goes through the wash. Don’t
forget to have your website address on it. And don’t put them
on the hotel tables, as the venues don’t like that.
2. Utilise Facebook & My Space to their fullest, keep them up
to date & constantly changing. That way people will come back
to see what’s happening.
3. Contact all local radio stations in the area you’re playing
& find the announcer who plays your sort of music. They’re
the ones most likely to help you to set up interviews & talk about
your music. They love hearing from unsigned artists & often will
do extra plugging for your gig if you make personal contact &
give them a couple of CDs.
4. Offer merch as incentive if you have it. Fans love getting extra
for showing their support.
5. If finances allow, use paid promotion through the drum, the brag
& other street media. Make sure you include the local free newspaper,
as that will reach more local people than any other publication.
6. Posters at the venue are always a good idea as this shows the venue
that you are promoting your gigs.
7. E-flyers are great for generating interest. Make them interesting
with all the gig info listed. Start sending this out at least a month
before but don’t bombard your email list with emails, send out
two or three leading up to the gig & one after it thanking everyone
for showing up. Don’t forget to remind them about your next
few gigs.
8. Spread your gigs out to about 6-8 weeks so you don’t burn
out your fans. This will keep your numbers consistent & create
a bit of hype among venues & bookers. Remember most venues only
hold live music to bring people to the hotel & bands need to do
their part to keep live music alive.
9. Find similar acts that you like & support them at their gigs.
Doing this consistently will result in them supporting your gigs.
10. Use those same acts to set up gigs so you’re playing to
fans from other bands that like similar music. If you market the room
well at the gig you should end up with more fans & CD sales.
11. Have someone with a clipboard at each gig who works the room while
you’re playing. They should be asking for email addresses &
My Space accounts & getting feedback on your music.
12. Get on every single gig guide you can find. Most of these are
free & there is a large list of them. Like with everything else
listed here, this takes time so share the workload among your band.
13. Before and after you have performed, stay in the band room to
support the other acts & talk to as many people as possible. Some
fans are too shy to approach you & will love it if you talk to
them first.
14. Remember, although you may just want to play music, you are working
with bookers, venues & others who are trying to earn a living
from the industry. Respect that with a professional & courteous
attitude & do the right thing. We all talk to each other &
bands with a bad name will not get many gigs. Be polite to the door
people, they are collecting your money!
15. Keep your set to the length allowed & pack down as quickly
as possible so the night can run to time. This is the right thing
to do & will gain you respect from the people you are working
with.
16. After 12 months of regular gigging & achieving some success,
start hassling industry people to come to your gigs. This won’t
happen immediately but with repeated invites you will start seeing
them attending. But you have to be getting large crowds at your gigs
on a regular basis.
You should never give away your music for free. All this does is
devalue your songs & it creates a mind set with the general public
that local unsigned music is not worth paying for. Even if you only
have a 3 song EP, put a price tag on it. I have heard people at the
door question why they should pay to get in when no one knows who
these bands are. This is what we are battling & if we all work
together we can change that. You have invested lots of money &
time in your music, it’s only fair that you get some sort of
return for that investment.
RFE
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