Considering Your Fans Instead of Yourself When Booking Gigs and Tours - Into the Fold by Bandturo

yep freezy freezy it's business time business time this one is what are the consequences of not considering the fans when engaging in the booking process what do we mean by that um well no this isn't for the camera oh you're holding it I see it's business time business time um I think you know shows can feel like just like another notch in the EPK or just another stepping stone to the next gig you know when you talk to Industry people will say we'll do the 100 cap and then the two and then the three and a lot of that process uh belies the fact that those capacities uh include real people coming out to a space and the hard ticket s doesn't lie it tells a story of who's actually caring about your band you can't you can throw money at the promotional process but if it's just based on your band and based on no other factors it's not a charity event it's not a tribute or ball or it's not like a mini Festival it's just for you it's you know the kind of badge of honor so how do you make a show say the word say sold out I think it's really understanding that there's fans with families bad times deadlines Etc who don't operate at the schedule of your band you know if you're going through an area that normally experiences 10 ft of snow you know the Monday night show might not be ideal if you understand you don't have a draw area there's things you can do to make people take the chance on a independent artist you can do a merch giveaway being conscious of fans means thinking about their experience throughout the to run a show not just during your 30 to 40 minute set so by booking far enough in advance and having the time to put the right locals on a bill put the right promo into it the whole night is quality someone leaves with a CD it's really something memorable you know versus just something where someone puts $10 in the door person's hand leaves 30 minutes later because it was a mediocre experience I think the biggest consequence is not caring about the fans is building a night for artists to play for art other artists versus making something that is truly entertaining as we're in the entertainment industry not just the Spotify numbers industry what are the consequences of not considering the fans when engaging in the booking process right off the top quick consequences you waste a lot of time trying to book stuff and waste a lot of other people's time trying to book stuff go where people want to see you whether it's digitally or if it's in a venue in a DIY space in a Performing Arts Center in a parking lot go where people want to see you I mean it's kind of sounds basic but you're competing with Netflix is what we always say you know you know you want to get people come out of their house and have an experience you got to give them something worth more than $10 a month for all 30 days so think about that too when you're when you're booking are you going to be able to do the cool stuff you want to do are you going to settle five times just for five tour dates to get 200 bucks that's not even going to cover costs or you going to be able to play somewhere where you really want to do what you want create engaging experience uh have a ticket link that you can collect customer information from and reach out to them later and follow up and say thank you so considering the fans is obviously something often Overlook but it sounds like you you know what you're doing but uh a lot of times you get carried away in the booking process and the booking economics of what's available to you in your genre what you're trying to do and then you get stuck in one role trying to play to these fans just to keep the lights on but you're not keeping the lights on so yeah consequences of fans shows are just not for industry Spectators they're not just for other bands they're not just for the handshake uh with the venue staff we are in the entertainment industry we're trying to entertain people it's more fun to play to people I come from a rap world it's more fun to tell 100 people to throw their hands up than it is to tell five people to throw their hands up maybe one of them does it cuz they feel bad for you shows are just more exciting more people I I say like like need 50 people for a show to be decent 100 for it to be good 150 for it to be great and 200 for it to be the best night of people's lives to be legendary and when you scale those numbers up in the industry 200 people is nothing you know if you booked a 4,000 capacity Ampitheater or a lot of these stadiums uh people who have radio play on headliner X Dave Matthews Al sh Keys you know they're playing 12,000 capacity venues think of 200 people you know it's just a percentage of that so it really is nothing we have to think what can we do to bring actual human beings out and how will they enjoy the process consequences of not considering fans shows are just not for um an industry notch in the belt it's not just about playing a new venue in a new space in a new market to even consider a place a market is crazy I hate that I've fallen into that kind of terminology these are where people live you know I'm a big proponent of smaller markets going to where there's 20,000 people often times in this early stages of people's career you really just need 100 people in front of you once with a video view doing that to to gain some traction and I think it's easier to do that in a smaller Market than not but that's a kind of tangent point I think considering who your fans might be where they actually are how they consume music how they hear about bands like yourself artists like yourself is there seating is the venue in a weird part of town that no one likes to go to like sometimes as a booking person like I'm like ah that place is cool and then I actually talk to locals and they're like that place is whack like no one actually goes there like what do you mean and I'm like oh I just see band's book there like yeah they're like B's book there but like actual human beings people who live in this town do not go to that place it is wet and you just things to consider and you know it's not I I wonder if sometimes the bands don't go this extra mile on promo cuz they think the name should just cover it alone you might have to put genre tags in a bill to catch people's attention maybe free things at the door consider your ticket price consider how tickets normally are in that market how much tickets are on off night if there's other events in town what are people who are just fans of music and not in it for the industry cred what's in it for them to come out to your event