Advertising your band how much is enough £££££

[deepbass5]

Just wondered how much you individually or as a band spend each year advertising.

Web site domain registration
Web design and up keep
Web site advertising e.g. wedding sites or band promo sites
Local papers and mag adverts
Cards

Then there is the other costs. public liability, PAT testing, instrument insurance.

I am starting to feel like a charitable organisation just here to keep the other band members in Gigs. But you're dead in the water these days without advertising.

[ThomBassmonkey]

It doesn't sound like a good situation if you're paying out more for this stuff than the other band members, maybe it's worth having a chat about it.

My band pays for it's self, we tend to spend whatever we have on promo, acoustic gigs and a few festivals and stuff pay the bills. For proper PR, it can cost thousands a month. Sites like Bandzoogle make a band website easy to keep going and relatively cheap. Everything else kind of depends on what your audience is and how much you think you'll benefit from them.

[flyfisher]

No website, no advertising, no PAT testing, no insurance. It's bad enough buying gear without all those other costs!

In fact the more I see of our end of the 'music business' the more I realise how much hard work it is to make money, so we don't really bother trying.

I'm not in it for the money but still manage about 20-25 gigs per year with the two bands I play in.

I guess we're really just 'hobby' bands, but we have fun playing mostly our own stuff, which is all we're interested in really.

[lurksalot]

We just do legwork , knocking on doors, talking to people and putting on a half decent performance when we get a gig , after a while the repeat bookings come along and make the work a bit easier , but always knock on new doors and see getting in at new venues half the fun, I think we are of an age though where friends are at notable birthdays and a fair few parties come our way , they all look good on a band CV , I personally had two 50th birthday parties last year , and the band played at both

[hamfist]

[quote name='lurksalot' timestamp='1358033158' post='1932265']
I personally had two 50th birthday parties last year
[/quote]

Isn't that impossible ?

[wateroftyne]

[quote name='hamfist' timestamp='1358063278' post='1932415']


Isn't that impossible ?
[/quote]

Not if you're the Queen.

[Happy Jack]

Invested £500 in having our website put together professionally ([url="http://www.junkyarddogslondon.co.uk/home.html"]http://www.junkyardd...co.uk/home.html[/url]) plus a couple of hours setting up a page on Lemonrock ([url="http://www.lemonrock.com/junkyarddogs"]http://www.lemonrock.com/junkyarddogs[/url]). Running costs are minimal.

Some people I know have access to big colour photocopiers so that's A3 and A4 posters done for nowt.

Used one of those cheap on-line business card offers to make up thousands of cards for £25. Been handing them out for ages, still have loads.

The total amount spent over the last four years could be funded by four gigs.

Edited January 13, 2013 by Happy Jack

[JamesBass]

[quote name='deepbass5' timestamp='1358032322' post='1932250']
Just wondered how much you individually or as a band spend each year advertising.

Web site domain registration
Web design and up keep
Web site advertising e.g. wedding sites or band promo sites
Local papers and mag adverts
Cards

Then there is the other costs. public liability, PAT testing, instrument insurance.

I am starting to feel like a charitable organisation just here to keep the other band members in Gigs. But you're dead in the water these days without advertising.
[/quote]

So far we don't spend much, but being a newly formed band and focusing on having material to get recorded and start to release that's when we will start to advertise and promote. Costs could be either astronomical or they can be minimal. Personally I prefer to do things by myself, I can design websites however till my band start making money at a good rate, I won't get a domain name, Word Press is more than good enough for bands, it's not as professional as having your own domain name but your music will speak for itself.

All my costs towards Liability and Instrument insurance come from my membership at the MU, which also gives us access to loads of other benefits, we are also, once the songs are recorded, going to join up to PRS so as to guarantee no matter how low of a turn out at the poorly promoted gigs we still get good pay out of it by playing our own stuff and get the royalties for it.

Also if you do some clever accounting and set your band up as a business you can claim those running costs as being requirements to the business, well that's how I understand it. Hope it helps?

[hamfist]

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1358069684' post='1932460']
Not if you're the Queen.
[/quote]

Good point.

[lurksalot]

[quote name='hamfist' timestamp='1358063278' post='1932415']
Isn't that impossible ?
[/quote]

Not quite , My wife was arranging a surprise party for me but didn't check my gig diary , so we had a gig on my birthday weekend that we had to do , so I announced that as my birthday bash and loads came , great night .
My wife had reaaranged the surprise party for a month later and booked the band which was in the gig diary as a party for a mate of the drummers, I knew nothing until I turned up with the kit , went in through the stage door and the whole place shouted surprise , it was a superb night , so yes I played at both my 50th birthday parties

[JTUK]

We have a kitty and these things come out of that.

[Dad3353]

[quote name='iceonaboy' timestamp='1358156935' post='1933789']
I like your way of thinking. I too am sick of getting older, so Im going to , from now on, get younger
[/quote]

I've been trying that for the last few years or so. It doesn't seem to be working that well...

[Dave Vader]

We have a PRS account and management spend all the money in it on this stuff. Sometimes they let us see the figures, but as musos we are confused by numbers that are neither time signatures, nor bar counts.

I have no idea how much we spend on stuff, however as my day job is running a print department, certain more expensive costs are bypassed fairly easily.

[BobVbass]

[quote][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]We have a kitty and these things come out of that.[/font][/color][/quote]

Ewww get it a litter tray!

[AussieBassman]

[quote name='lurksalot' timestamp='1358033158' post='1932265']
I personally had two 50th birthday parties last year[/quote]
Doesn't that make you 100? Did you get a birthday telegram?

[thumperbob 2002]

Even though our guitarist has his own media company and we get free posters and business cards etc, our sax player made up his mind to spend £1500 on a couple of wedding fairs and a pamplet. I didnt agree but had to go through with this as was outvoted. My company, which turns over 40 times what the band earns, spent £297 last year on marketing etc, This was our listing in the phone book!!

Most bands do not need to spend on marketing- websites are easy to set up and run- promo material can be done on home printers. Bands should be designed to get gigs from gigs- thats the way it works. Of course this is different if you are pro, but then you`ll have an agent anyway who should be doing this.I hated giving our agent/ manager 15% plus Vat of our earnings.

[JapanAxe]

I pay for all the costs of my country trio, and I get it back from gig fees by retaining any money that doesn't readily divide by 3. My costs (which I offset against earnings, so haven't had to pay any tax for years):

PLI - via MU membership.
PAT testing - never been asked.
Cards - Vista Print.
No website, just a Facebook page (though yet to really use it).
Artiste panel in Southern Country Magazine - £60 per year (also subscribe to the mag itself at £22 per year) - pays for itself with one booking.
Posters - laser-print my own onto coloured paper, or email a pdf to the organiser so they can do it; also do A6 table-top flyers that audience members can pick up if they want.
Demo CDs - recorded in my home studio, burned on Lightscribe CDs with a pretty design, contact details on the disc itself.
Rehearsals - usually in the bass-player's music room (free).
Postage is the killer at the moment!

I should also mention I spend a lot of evenings on the phone chasing gigs, but at least I am in control of my own destiny, and we're not paying 18% to an agent out of the pi$$-poor fee he's 'negotiated' for you at some distant venue!