Members Vito Corleone Posted July 20, 2011 Members Share Posted July 20, 2011 David,I will say that all the top wedding/private party bands down here still tend to mantain about 1 club gig a month. Just to increase exposure and in the end, get more wedding/party gigs.Not that it seems y'all are struggling for gigs, but just passing on what I see down here... Yep. And a lot of the big wedding bands around here do that as well. Problem is our location doesn't really allow us to do that --the big clubs that would provide the needed exposure are all over 100 miles away. No problem travelling that far for a $3000 private party. But for a $1000 club gig? Plus we're kinda aged-out of the club gigs anyway. So we limit our public gigs to the afternoon community events and such for the most part. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wheresgrant3 Posted July 20, 2011 Author Members Share Posted July 20, 2011 David,I will say that all the top wedding/private party bands down here still tend to mantain about 1 club gig a month. Just to increase exposure and in the end, get more wedding/party gigs.Not that it seems y'all are struggling for gigs, but just passing on what I see down here... Same here... There are two bands that command more than $4000 a wedding (very good bands BTW) but will take club gigs for $500-600 just for a little public exposure. The weddings we get are either direct referrals from previous weddings or people that follow our club schedule. We play about 70 nightclub gigs a year, another 20-25 private parties and public events and another 8-10 weddings. I imagine this number to change a bit as we morph more wedding and less nightclub in the coming years. I also understand the travel distances in Dave's market since I've vacationed there a few times. Shame you couldn't find a club in Sacro, Reno and Carson... but that is a big triangle with not alot in between except vacationers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted July 20, 2011 Members Share Posted July 20, 2011 I also understand the travel distances in Dave's market since I've vacationed there a few times. Shame you couldn't find a club in Sacro, Reno and Carson... but that is a big triangle with not alot in between except vacationers. There's nothing in Reno or Carson worth playing that would help us out. Sacramento is the obvious spot for us but, like I said, it's a hundred miles away and even assuming that we haven't "aged-out" of the top clubs there, nobody in the band is really that interested in travelling a hundred miles to play until 2 in the morning (which means getting back home at 4 or 5) for $150 per man. Not when we're booking as much as we are WITHOUT having to do that. That other side of that coin, of course, is that we are competing with a lot of bands who DO play those clubs and have spent years building their names and reps. They can easily get $1000-$2000 more per gig than we do simply because people go into the negotiation assuming that they will have to pay big bucks to hire Joe and the Hot Shots. Of COURSE they will because EVERYBODY has heard of THEM. Again, not a BIG issue. We're working a lot and getting good money. And there are certainly other bands like us out there who do this without doing public gigs. So I'm not worried about it. There are other ways beside public exposure to close that money gap and we're working on those. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wheresgrant3 Posted July 20, 2011 Author Members Share Posted July 20, 2011 There's nothing in Reno or Carson worth playing that would help us out. Sacramento is the obvious spot for us but, like I said, it's a hundred miles away and even assuming that we haven't "aged-out" of the top clubs there, nobody in the band is really that interested in travelling a hundred miles to play until 2 in the morning (which means getting back home at 4 or 5) for $150 per man. Not when we're booking as much as we are WITHOUT having to do that.That other side of that coin, of course, is that we are competing with a lot of bands who DO play those clubs and have spent years building their names and reps. They can easily get $1000-$2000 more per gig than we do simply because people go into the negotiation assuming that they will have to pay big bucks to hire Joe and the Hot Shots. Of COURSE they will because EVERYBODY has heard of THEM.Again, not a BIG issue. We're working a lot and getting good money. And there are certainly other bands like us out there who do this without doing public gigs. So I'm not worried about it. There are other ways beside public exposure to close that money gap and we're working on those. Very true... nothing can beat the price of a referral. And honestly... not to say you can't still burn it up in a club, if the travel vs pay isn't worth it than it's not the best format for presenting your product. I question the local wedding bands that struggle to get club gigs... is that really helping them get exposure into new crowds? In most cases it's family, friends and former clients that show up. They are great at what they do in the professional market... and the 'nightclub' side of the business is always less than professional. Still curious though... with all of those casinos on the South Shore if there are any decent Friday and Sat shows available. Shame given the built in attraction of the lake and resorts built around it. I know the business is very seasonal. Still when I was in South Tahoe all I wanted to do was find some live entertainment and I couldn't find any. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted July 20, 2011 Members Share Posted July 20, 2011 Very true... nothing can beat the price of a referral. And honestly... not to say you can't still burn it up in a club, if the travel vs pay isn't worth it than it's not the best format for presenting your product. I question the local wedding bands that struggle to get club gigs... is that really helping them get exposure into new crowds? In most cases it's family, friends and former clients that show up. They are great at what they do in the professional market... and the 'nightclub' side of the business is always less than professional. Still curious though... with all of those casinos on the South Shore if there are any decent Friday and Sat shows available. Shame given the built in attraction of the lake and resorts built around it. I know the business is very seasonal. Still when I was in South Tahoe all I wanted to do was find some live entertainment and I couldn't find any. There's one semi-decent club in Tahoe: Cabo Wabo. But horribly tiny stage and we've pretty much aged out of that club anyway. Other than that, there's a couple of casino stages but I don't really consider those to be the best showcase for what we do anyway. Might even do more harm than good. The only time the lack of public gigs is really an issue though is when a potential client says they'd like to see the band first and I don't really have anything to offer then besides maybe try and stick your head in at some other private event. We've lost a couple of gigs because we couldn't give people a proper "showcase". Oh well. It's always something.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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