ninehertz

1. • jimbish
   • I've been asking myself is free entry to gigs a good or bad thing,woundering what others think. Most gigs in my area for local bands are free,I know bands arnt in it for the money but dosent this further reduce there chances to get a little something. What say you.
   • [08:34 on 05/11/11]
2. • mr bendy man
   • yeah man, some of our gigs are 200 mile round trips, we dont expect any dosh but some of these gigs are so poorly attended even when free!! so we bite the bullet and get our sounds ot to as many people as we can.
   • [09:59 on 05/11/11]
3. • jimbish
   • It feels if you do get people in its no guarantee the venue will give the band owt.but does free entry suggest,yeah we got bands on but they ain't worth paying to see. Which ain't really the right attitude. Though some bands are of course a bit rubbish.
     
   • [10:50 on 05/11/11]
4. • mr bendy man
   • totally agree with you there. there is a promoter in oxfordshire who does gigs in several venue's and puts on a 3-4 band bill, the headliner will get £30 and the supports get nothing. but they are free entry, BUT i realised that the brewery gives the pubs live music allowance's which obviously gets split between the landlord and promoter!!! now thats cuntish!!
   • [11:07 on 05/11/11]
5. • jimbish
   • 3 quid or there abouts don't seem a lot,don't buy a lot these days but its maybe a mental barrier for a gig goer,that's a pint ill miss out on. Bit of a catch 22 situation. Maybe you need to chuck in a free gift to get em in.
   • [12:03 on 05/11/11]
6. • pull-my-plonker
   • £5 or less I personally don't think about so there's no mental barrier for small gigs if you really are interested in going. Free Entry no-one can argue with, as long as the bands get their dues (travel expenses and beer or two) I'm not arguing.
     
     Venues like the Unicorn put on amazing nights and make thousands just on the bar so everybody wins as the bads get paid too. If you have the right scene, things can be done for free, but it's often a case of meetings costs first and foremost.
   • [16:27 on 05/11/11]
7. • jimbish
   • Thats the thing I guess, comes down to whos running the venue/promoting the gig. Its cool that there are those who understand the work thats involved, like any scene though there is always those that dont and are best avoided if possible.
     
     
   • [10:05 on 06/11/11]
8. • bosskeloid
   • I think the Unicorn is the best example in London of doing things right, the level of bands they get and its free entry. The nights i put on in Brixton are £5 entry but ALL the money bar the door guy and DJ
     cost goes to the bands (once i did well enough to pay myself too) but it depends on your viewpoint! I hate the idea of the promoter going home with all the money when they don't even turn up and leave all the work to the bands. So if your charging entry you need to make sure your bands go home with the majority of that as they are the reason people are paying!!! Sorry as i am only saying what has been said a million times before...
   • [11:05 on 07/11/11]
9. • jimbish
   • No need to apologize,its interesting to hear how things operate elsewhere.I never use to be the guy in the band that books gigs,but now I have to be that guy I look at how gigs I attend/play are run a lot more.
   • [16:47 on 07/11/11]
10. • stevefingers
    • It's an odd one. Around here (Leicester) there are as many great gigs going on that are free entry as there are nights with a line-up of of useless bands with a £5 entry fee. On that basis, I don't think it bears any relation to the quality of the night.
      
      I like the idea of giving people a free gift on entry. For a £5 entry fee you could easily justify a cheaply printed CD with a couple of tracks from each band on the bill if you could get it sorted in advance. Badges and stickers are cheap enough to give away too but then if you normally sell merch it would probably reduce takings there. But then you could argue that it all helps your popularity and you'll get it all back further down the line.
    • [20:59 on 07/11/11]
11. • Ollie
    • There used to be a great venue in Plymouth called the Phoenix...we did our first gig there and many others afterwards. It was a proper spit and sawdust little place with a PA held together by string but it was run by 2 gorgeous girls and had a shed load of enthusiasm. the problem is, they charged for just about every gig they had there, even if it was a local band night. Most of the time it may only be a couple of quid but you could plainly see people turning up out of curiosity as they'd heard the music but when faced with a door charge would tun and walk away. Even on local band nights though the bands didn't get paid out of the door takings, the money going to the sound engineer and the venue. We did ask them several times why they insisted on charging and they always said they had to make money to keep going and that they were selling bottles of Fosters for only a quid to give value. We pointed out that it doesn't matter how much you're selling the drinks for if people aren't coming in. We even suggested they start charging an extra 50p on he Fosters as it'd still be cheap but cut the door charges, at least for local band gigs, as they'd get more people in and make shed loads more over the bar but they wouldn't have it.
      
      They're no longer in business.
    • [10:42 on 08/11/11]
12. • pull-my-plonker
    • That's a big shame.
    • [22:06 on 08/11/11]
13. • Ollie
    • pull-my-plonker says:

      That's a big shame.
      
      
      Yep...played there one time with Ramesses and Gonga when no-one really knew who either band were.
    • [08:57 on 09/11/11]
14. • bosskeloid
    • Ollie says:

      pull-my-plonker says:

      That's a big shame.

      
      
      Yep...played there one time with Ramesses and Gonga when no-one really knew who either band were.
      
      
      Surely that is due to a shit promotion, if you put the work in and approach your target audience then it should be attended especially if its £2 to get in and £1 a drink! If you are a lazy promoter and do nothing and expect the bands to bring the people... IT WILL BE EMPTY....
    • [11:44 on 09/11/11]
15. • Ollie
    • bosskeloid says:

      Ollie says:

      pull-my-plonker says:

      That's a big shame.

      
      
      Yep...played there one time with Ramesses and Gonga when no-one really knew who either band were.

      
      
      Surely that is due to a shit promotion, if you put the work in and approach your target audience then it should be attended especially if its £2 to get in and £1 a drink! If you are a lazy promoter and do nothing and expect the bands to bring the people... IT WILL BE EMPTY....
      
      
      Oh don't get me wrong, it was rarely empty, there was usually a bit of a crowd in there and the guys at the venue did promote it pertty hard with posters, flyers...etc, even producing a monthly fanzine available in all the locan shops. For whatever reason though something didn't work and it went under. The amount of passing trade that would have come in and spend more over the bar than would have been gained through entry fees that was lost by people not wanting to pay the entry fees is a big factor. Just do he maths...someone gets in for free but buys 2 pints at £3 a pint compared to not coming in because they have to pay on the door...not only did they not get the entry fee they didn't get the money over the bar. Also in retrospect having Fosters going so cheap probably didn't help them either as loads of people drank that but there wasn't much mark up on it...less mark up, less profits, less money available to pay staff...etc
      
      We did have some very good nights in there, we played 2 weeks running and exceeded the capacity and broke he bar record both times. On the other side of it we supported Mendeed there...who were fucking abysmal...and they ended up playing to 3 people....we played to about 15.
    • [12:24 on 09/11/11]
16. • bad admiral
    • skill wizard is always rammed - that's free!
      
      unicorn is great fun and has lovely little buzz going around it. only issue is that it's a bit of a pig to get to but having said that there's usually a decent crowd there.
      
      ratz ass played there once. for FREE. couldn't believe it.
    • [13:23 on 09/11/11]
17. • Mazz
    • bad admiral says:

      skill wizard is always rammed - that's free!
      
      unicorn is great fun and has lovely little buzz going around it. only issue is that it's a bit of a pig to get to but having said that there's usually a decent crowd there.
      
      ratz ass played there once. for FREE. couldn't believe it.
      
      
      It was our pleasure..best band they have ever had there.
    • [14:07 on 09/11/11]
18. • bad admiral
    • Mazz says:

      bad admiral says:

      skill wizard is always rammed - that's free!
      
      unicorn is great fun and has lovely little buzz going around it. only issue is that it's a bit of a pig to get to but having said that there's usually a decent crowd there.
      
      ratz ass played there once. for FREE. couldn't believe it.

      
      
      It was our pleasure..best band they have ever had there.
      
      
      it blew my mind. you can't sell that stuff. you have to give it away. too crucial.
    • [15:32 on 09/11/11]
19. • pull-my-plonker
    • Ollie says:

      pull-my-plonker says:

      That's a big shame.

      
      
      Yep...played there one time with Ramesses and Gonga when no-one really knew who either band were.
      
      
      That's just stupid. That would sell out in London.
      
      Where the fuck are Gonga now anyways?
      
      I'm not sure running a bar for less than £2.75 is even an option any more. £1 a pint days are well gone.
    • [22:58 on 09/11/11]
20. • bazzathespaz
    • I think advertising the gig as free is great in theory and certainly very selfless of the promoter but runs the risk of people considering it casual entertainment if that makes sense, like they might go in or they might not, it doesn't matter. Chances are they'll just sit round drinking and then miss the bands cos they think they've got nowt to lose, when in fact they could be missing out on some quality action. I suppose if people are paying they will hopefully want to get their money's worth. £3 for an underground gig I think is the optimal price. It seems to be a sort of damned if you do, damned if you don't type situation.
      
      You London types have got it so good at the Unicorn! I wonder though if the Unicorn wasn't in London if there would be so many successful gigs?
      
      It's frustrating playing and going to gigs with so many ace bands that people don't seem to give a shit about cos they'd rather have another pint while talking shit that they could do any other time.
    • [09:23 on 10/11/11]

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