How do I get more bands to have shows in drive-thru land?
December 14, 2014 7:49 PM   Subscribe

I live in New Mexico, drive-through land for musicians, bands and tours. I've seen plenty of artists and groups stop multiple times in Texas, Arizona, and/or Colorado, but skip New Mexico all-together. Could I get involved with local music promotions to get more musical events in New Mexico?

I was involved with college radio for over a decade, and I'm still on some distribution mailing lists for people who work on the album-side of promotions, so I see when some bands and groups are touring and looking for places to play. Can I tap into this and contact venues to try to connect groups with locations? Or would it be better for me to set up a formal promotions company?
posted by filthy light thief to Grab Bag (4 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
Can I tap into this and contact venues to try to connect groups with locations?

Possibly, yeah. Lots of touring bands will have a booking agent they work through, and the agent's connection/coordination with the album promotion side of things may not be particularly good, but if you get an early warning that so-and-so is going on tour (and, especially, will be in the general SouthWest area on such-and-such dates) you can always drop a line to the appropriate local venue that they have an opportunity to book the band. This might be a little more likely to be taken seriously if you're kind of a regular at the venue (at least for certain shows), and get to know the staff a little. That way they know you're not just some random weirdo or some kind of astroturf spambot - you're that skinny dude who shows up for all the noise & free jazz shows (or whatever you're into), so they know you're paying attention to who's on tour and who's playing your town when.

In the above scenario, you've got nothing at stake and have no formal connection with anything, you're an act's volunteer "street team", so to speak, just trying to get bands you like to play your town. You won't make any money, but it won't cost you anything either.

Or would it be better for me to set up a formal promotions company?

"Promoter" means "money." Hopefully money comes in, definitely it goes out.

How "formal" it is is kinda between you and your state tax & incorporation laws - I've definitely seen one-man operations that have just done the absolute minimum so they can set up bank accounts to write and receive checks in [promotion company's] name, and otherwise most of the purpose of a [Company Name] is that they hope the audience will notice that [Company] is often connected to shows they like, and will come to [Company's] shows no matter which venue they're in.

But yeah, if you are promoting or co-promoting a show you will be negotiating and signing contracts with booking agents and venues, and you are responsible for whatever financial obligations are in those contracts. Which means you better have some cash reserves. Not only will you need to spend some money on posters and flyers and advertising for the show, agents may well ask for deposits, especially if you're a noob with little or no track record. And bands like (may insist on) actual cash money - no checks - at the end of the show. If your contract says you've guaranteed the band 2 grand, you need to pay the band 2 grand, even if there was a sudden ice storm and 10 people showed up. (Lots of bands are actually pretty flexible about acts of god or bad luck, but that's not something you want to count on, and your career as a promoter may be very short-lived if you quickly gain a reputation as someone who doesn't pay touring bands.)
posted by soundguy99 at 9:17 PM on December 14, 2014 [1 favorite]


My brother managed a band for a few years and booked bands for Albuquerque, UNM. He lives in Albuquerque now. I can email him if you'd like.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 5:39 AM on December 15, 2014


Some folks in Savannah have turned bands passing through on their way to SXSW into an annual thing. Maybe they'll have some ideas for you.
posted by mareli at 5:41 AM on December 15, 2014


How much work are you willing to do? The big problem is not so much that bands and venues are unaware of each other so much that one or both parties has to agree to risk losing a bunch of money on an unknown situation. Getting people interested in and out to a show can be a surprising amount of work. I've seen many promoters and venues go under from having one or two big shows that seemed like they would be surefire successes flop.

Most venues are flooded with people that want to play there; the problem is finding ones that will have enough appeal to get people to come (and usually drink alcohol, which is where most venues make their money), and then getting the word out. Soundguy99's point that most venues are suspicious about random people approaching them about booking third parties is a good one - there's a lot of wannabes, hangers-on, and just plain crazy people in the business, many of whom can talk the talk and name drop pretty well but fail to follow through or deliver. After a while owners start to blow off most people they don't know and trust.

You might contact some of the local university student groups that bring in concerts to see what their experiences have been like.

What level/size of band/venue are you thinking about? If you're mentioning college radio, I'm guessing you're thinking of venues that hold 200-500 people. The sweet spot for drives for bands that play those sorts of venues tends to be around 4-5 hours, so find out what cities in that driving distance gets the sorts of acts you're interested in and then see if you can make a connection between them and local venues.

If you do get personally involved, make sure that you get set up as an LLC, S-Corp, or similar so that if something goes disastrously you're personally protected. Consult a lawyer, etc. Depending on your local laws, you might also be able to dabble in the field using house parties, churches, or coffeeshops to do low cost touring singer-songwriter events to get a feel for things.
posted by Candleman at 11:01 AM on December 15, 2014 [1 favorite]


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