Supporting local gigs and venues - is it an obligation?

[Marvin]

This is prompted by a post I saw on a social media site by a friend of mine whose band are playing a gig at the weekend. It wasn't what I would call a promotional post more a plead for people, friends mainly, to attend their next gig. (They need the gig to do well to help finance a short tour they're doing - yes all sounds a bit arse about face )

However, it got me thinking. How far should we as fellow musicians go to support bands and venues local to us? Of course if we don't go to the venues then the venues will shut and we'll have no where to play ourselves. But, on the other hand, is not the onus on the venues, on the whole, to book bands and artists that are going to put 'bums on seats' or 'feet on dancefloors'. There's always chances for new bands to try out with support slots, thats always been a given.

And is it not for bands to not step up to the mark.

Should we as musicians, members of bands etc be expected to fork out to watch other bands who we'd normally give a very wide berth?


From my personal perspective I wouldn't want anyone in the crowd who felt obliged to be there. I want people to attend my gigs because they want to be there, otherwise it feels a bit fake.

[bonzodog]

I think the venue should be doing most of the hard work to get punters in but also think the band should also be seen to be advertising too especially now with social media. We play almost every weekend and always put our gigs on our facebook page but would not expect all our followers to come to every gig. We play at lots of venues where we find out on arrival the venue hasnt bothered to put any posters up. But on the other hand if I was a landlord I would also be annoyed if I booked a band who had a website or a facebook page but didnt bother to mention the gig at my venue.

[Old_Ben]

I think the onus is on bands playing and the venues to make each night a success, if both parties aren't being pro-active and working together then the night is bound to fail. I have had countless occasions seen / been at / played at nights were the bands on expected the pub to be full with regulars & the landlord has expected the bands to bring 50+ people into his pub / venue. I don't feel I should actively go out looking for bands playing, the bands should make me want to go out and see them.

[JTUK]

[size=4][color=#222222][font=Helvetica Neue, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif]My feeling is that altho you really want bands to be the draw, you yourself might be in a [/font][/color]
[color=#222222][font=Helvetica Neue, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif]situation where you could do with some support, so I generally go to venues that give [/font][/color]
[color=#222222][font=Helvetica Neue, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif]me work... and I also try and sell it as a place I kind of believe in. And I also go and see my[/font][/color]
[color=#222222][font=Helvetica Neue, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif]friends bands.even if I don't especially rate them and I hope they'll do the same for me.[/font][/color]
[color=#222222][font=Helvetica Neue, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif]Too often people will rant about supporting a scene but you wont see them at many gigs [/font][/color]
[color=#222222][font=Helvetica Neue, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif]...and most towns will have this sort of local musical mafia which is a bit ridiculous.[/font][/color]
[color=#222222][font=Helvetica Neue, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif]Unfortunately a lot of musicians are pretty insecure, so they'll not go and see their contempories[/font][/color]
[color=#222222][font=Helvetica Neue, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif]if that band is better. oh well..[/font][/color]
[color=#222222][font=Helvetica Neue, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif]If you are doing pubs, you may luck out and have a great night and then for some reason, the [/font][/color]
[color=#222222][font=Helvetica Neue, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif]next time is not as good... these are the times when everyone could help themselves and [/font][/color]
[color=#222222][font=Helvetica Neue, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif]support the venue and bands... If musicians can't be ar$ed to support the scene, I'd not want to[/font][/color]
[color=#222222][font=Helvetica Neue, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif]hear them complaining no one else does. [/font][/color][/size]

Edited April 15, 2015 by JTUK

[0175westwood29]

i wnt go to a gig to just be at the venue, but i do go to alot of shows that i think ill like or am gigging with them soon so want to show my face.

however you cant complain about people not coming to your show if you wnt go to theres.

andy

[Cameronj279]

From a personal standpoint I would go to a venue I enjoy being in and I will go see bands who's music I enjoy. I don't go see music I don't enjoy (It's actually dawned on me that I don't like seeing live music very often). I wouldn't want people coming to my bands gigs just out of -what seems like- pity. If that means playing to a small amount of people then so be it.

[blue]

[quote name='Marvin' timestamp='1429119161' post='2748262']
From my personal perspective I wouldn't want anyone in the crowd who felt obliged to be there. I want people to attend my gigs because they want to be there, otherwise it feels a bit fake.[/quote]

No, I wouldn't want that either. However I do believe in going to see bands at local venues especially the venues my band plays. A lot of guys boast that they don't go to see other local bands. That's fine, however, then I say don't complain when your band has a poor turn out.

BTW, I don't drink so going to bars and clubs is a little out of my element.However I do it anyway. I am part of this community and in a way it's a part of my job and it's usually a good networking opportunity.

Blue

Edited April 15, 2015 by blue

[blue]

[quote name='bonzodog' timestamp='1429121715' post='2748298']
I think the venue should be doing most of the hard work to get punters in but also think the band should also be seen to be advertising too especially now with social media. We play almost every weekend and always put our gigs on our facebook page but would not expect all our followers to come to every gig. We play at lots of venues where we find out on arrival the venue hasnt bothered to put any posters up. But on the other hand if I was a landlord I would also be annoyed if I booked a band who had a website or a facebook page but didnt bother to mention the gig at my venue.
[/quote]

Agreed, usually our posters are up at the venues we play. We also promote every gig on Milwaukeerocks.com, email blasts and 2 local trades papers.

Blue

[blue]

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1429127483' post='2748377']

[size=4][color=#222222][font=Helvetica Neue, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif]Unfortunately a lot of musicians are pretty insecure, so they'll not go and see their contempories[/font][/color]
[color=#222222][font=Helvetica Neue, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif]if that band is better. oh well..[/font][/color][/size][/quote]

+1

again, cool, however don't complain when folks don't come see your band.

Also, easy for me to say. I am single and don't report to anyone.I come and go as I please.

Blue

[Woodinblack]

I am the same as Blue here, I don't drink so pubs are not where I would normally want to go, as they tend to be full of drunks, who are unpleasant. However, I will go to see bands I like, or if there are people I know who are going.

[chris_b]

Bands who only gig occasionally or form 3, 4 or 5 band nights inhabit a world I know nothing about.

But if my cover band does 10 gigs next month and they are all within 40 miles of each other I'm not likely to fill every gig with mates, family or fans. It's not going to happen, We advertise online but, in the cover band world, your average punter doesn't travel very far, if at all.

So these music venues have to be responcible for filling their gigs by putting on good music so punters will want to turn up anyway, in the knowledge that a good night is on the cards. The reality is there is little QC on behalf of the venue. "The band last week was terrible" is something we hear frequently.

The turnover of landlords in pubs means that many of them have little interest in the music nights they inherited. The bottom line is they just want to sell food. Posters aren't put up, you can't start till the football or boxing etc has finished, we arrive to find food is still being served in the area where we are supposed to set up and during last winter we turned up at one south London gig to find an open fire blazing away in the stage area!

A well run pub gig will attract punters and we will send them home buzzing, like last Sunday afternoon.

If an audience doesn't turn up because the band isn't advertised and everyone has gone "up the road" to the other gig in town, like last Saturday, there is not a lot we can do about it.

Back on topic. . . no I don't go to see many bands playing locally.

[JTUK]

I would say that we are quite picky about the gigs we do.... so the gigs we do are in places that we'd like to
go to and the acid test is generally, is the place somewhere that your partner is happy and comfortable to go
to? And that in turn extends to places that our friends would go to.

[Number6]

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1429172332' post='2748670']
I would say that we are quite picky about the gigs we do.... so the gigs we do are in places that we'd like to
go to and the acid test is generally, is the place somewhere that your partner is happy and comfortable to go
to? And that in turn extends to places that our friends would go to.
[/quote]

I understand this fully. We have a local venue that my missus and her mates really like so she's always on at me to get rebooked there. It's also quite easy to travel to for our mates as it has good transport links and on top of that there is a regular good crowd. Wins all round.

[Jonesthebass]

Venues expecting each band to fill their venue is shortsighted on their part. If I have a following with my band and I bring them to your venue great but next week that following goes with me to a different venue.
The onus is on the venue to create a fan base for the venue based on trust that they will put quality acts in to entertain. Sure we all do a gig now and again where we try to drag mates along buying wouldn't see my fav band every week playing roughly the same set why would I track round and watch my mates play every week. You would need a massive mate pool to rotate.

[Lw.]

I will often try to support my local scene, but I don't think it should be an obligation - if anything I'm probably doing it for selfish reasons; I try to support the venues in town that put on good live music nights (often free entry) because I like going out for a drink & I like listening to live music - sure I could get the same pint elsewhere for less & probably be resting it on a cleaner table but I think if you don't support these places they'll go & I'll be left with something worse. This isn't to say I support lackluster pubs that do no work but get a band in every now & again - the night needs to be well run, advertised & at least have some artistic merit.

Probably unfairly I generally give the mid-size gigs (£10-20 a ticket) a miss in my town though - I either go for unsigned stuff to see what's new or I'll travel into London to see specific bands I want to see as none of those kinds of bands come through town.

[CamdenRob]

I support the metal pub over the road despite their pathetic collection of generic lagers... We only pop in on Metal nights as on any other night it's full of neanderthals bellowing at each other about Arsenal.

[Chiliwailer]

Pay to play killed many London venues years ago, back then I stopped playing and going to those venues, I'll be damned if I support them as they did sweet FA to promote. The more serious bands knew to avoid those places anyway if they didn't have a large following. Those venues attracted a certain type of band, I'll leave that one there...

Then there are venues or promotors using venues that have their own vibes, excellent DJ's, different rooms, an evening that doesn't revolve around the bands playing, and a scene. They do it so well, bands don't need to concentrate on promotion. The music was secondary, made it more fun for everyone as my pet hate was and is being stuck in a room having to watch a band you're not into. So if people came in to watch the band they actually wanted to be there, good times.

Lastly, and my favourite, we played in a scene that had warehouse parties. The kind of atmosphere created always made for a great gig and night. Again you don't have to promote a gig, just a great night for your pals. That's the secret I reckon.

Edit - just to say that those last two paragraphs can work, we got a following and deal that way, people weren't forced into liking us just because they were there, proof was always in the pudding by the way the room filled or emptied and how people respond after.

Edited April 16, 2015 by Chiliwailer