Ever rent a hall and promote your own show?

[LateGreats]

A friend in another band just asked if we'd be interested in renting a hall with them and throwing a party/show type deal. Anyone ever do this before? What are the positives and negatives? For all the complaining about not having places to play originals, this idea never occured to me, so I don't have the first thought as to where to begin.

[squealie]

I've been kicking this idea around for a long time.

 

On the surface, it seems like a GREAT idea...

 

... then you start to think about all the liability.

[Timmylikedthing]

It works.

 

We've done it.

 

Make sure the hall rental is cheap.

 

Make sure sound is cheap.

 

Make sure you promote the crap out of it.

 

Tim

[pickinatit]

 

I've been kicking this idea around for a long time. On the surface, it seems like a GREAT idea... ... then you start to think about all the liability.

 

 

I've been thinking about this too. I would bet that if you talk to the people that rent the hall, whether it's a VFW or Firehouse, or whatever venue you're considering, that they can tell you what you need to do as far as temporary license from the state or local authorities with a tax number, and also fill you in regarding liability issues and how to protect yourself in that regard.

[callous]

Yes. My old band's biggest success was a concert we put together and promoted. Issues:

 

Liability

Ticket sales

Venue preparation

Equipment/power

Extra work beyond setting up and playing

 

It's tough and it can be tricky, but if you're committed, you should try it.

[bassred]

Ten years ago we used to do this all the time. thee was no scene for original music, so we made one. there were about three people who did it, so there were show every couple of months, and we'd have 3 or 4 bands play.. I'd get the all rented by a friends father, was only 18 and couldn't sign the paperwork) and we'd throw together a sound system (ask around, plenty of folks will help you keep it cheap) and then I'd charge one dollar per ban, plus one more for me (I still usually took a loss). so if it was 4 bands on the bill, it was $5 to get in.... I'd get flyers made up and totally cover all the places I could pt them up, give about three weeks lead time, then go back and re-post them a week before.... When we got lder and started playing covers and kamking money the scene just stopped, even though we had told some of the newer guys hot to put ona show.

 

We never worried about insurance, I think a few of the places had their own policy hat was part of the rental cost and the other places couldn't care less, they just wanted to get the $$ for that night....

 

Event insurance is pretty simple to get, bu it's costly. I'd ask around at the hallsyu want to rent and see if youare required to hold your own policy.

[dogtownmax]

a band of mine did that, but at a club.

 

we basically rented the back rooms of a dance type club, which had a small stage set up, prob for gogo dancers or something.

 

it worked well because we got paid better than the usual fee, and we paid the other band pretty well. the club handled the alcohol sales and had insurance and all that.

 

really it was pretty similar to getting booked by the club itself, except we got more money and _risked_ more money, as we had to pay the rent up front. we could have lost instead but did pretty well.

[Prowler]

This can definitely work, but like everyone's already said, it increases your risk significantly. It also depends on how ambitious you want to be with a show. If you're just renting a firehall, throwing a couple powered speakers on stands and running most of your volume from backline, this can definitely be done on the cheap. If you're planning on getting a more significant PA and/or lighting rig, you'd better be damned sure you've got some people coming out.

 

Also consider staffing. If you'll need to hire a tech for example, or if some tech savvy folks in one of the bands can handle setting up and running whatever gear you get hold of, and are willing to do so for no charge. Security staff may also be a consideration, depending on the venue and the size of your show.

[EVHoYEAH]

Yeah we did this last month and it is definately not easy and requires alot of effort, time, and not to mention money on promotion. All in all we lost our

[crossways]

We did that a couple of times.

 

I agree about having a soundman...and a tech to help out.

 

I will add you need help (reliable) at the door. Someone who is going to control the flow and get the $$.

 

You should be able to someplace pretty cheap.

 

Since Fall is coming...consider finding an old barn up there in CT. You might have to run generators...maybe not. Or a temp power service, which is not too expensive and less noise more power.

 

But it woul dmake a cool venue....I think anyway.

[ratthedd]

My band has been talking about this for years. We're tired of hearing the bar managers say how great we are and rave about how they never have people stay all night when other bands show up and how they made more $ than usual and end up only paying us $500 or less.

 

Here's some things to consider that we've discussed but never followed through with:

 

If you have connections with an American Legion, VFW, or some other organization that owns their own hall, you can probably rent it for dirt cheap through a member.

 

Some venues (like an AL) will allow you to bring in your own booze. You only need to have a liquor license if YOU SELL THE BOOZE. There is a way around the law by charging for entrance or selling cups/glasses and giving the booze away for free. Buy a keg or two and a crap load of plastic cups and you're half-way there.

 

There are people who do all the legwork for charity events. You can partner with a charity, like the American Cancer Society, and split the profits in some way that acceptable for all involved. If it's a charity event, you can also run raffles and 50/50 to raise even more $. Local businesses will donate merchandise and services for auctions, local radio stations and newspapers will run ads, etc., taking your advertising costs down to $0.

 

We've been wanting to do this around February and make it a sort of mardi gras event (we're gonna call it Party Gras, or Freeze-Fest), because in Michigan there's damned near nothing to do when it's 20

[gtrjones]

We used to do the bar thing... the arrangement was we'd bring in a crowd on a saturday or sunday afternoon. They'd get all the bar money, we'd get all the door money. Run bands from 2-7 or 8... It worked pretty well, until the club changed hands, and it's been hard to find another place that wants to work with us that way.

[bassred]

 

..... If you have connections with an American Legion, VFW, or some other organization that owns their own hall, you can probably rent it for dirt cheap through a member. Some venues (like an AL) will allow you to bring in your own booze. You only need to have a liquor license if YOU SELL THE BOOZE. There is a way around the law by charging for entrance or selling cups/glasses and giving the booze away for free. Buy a keg or two and a crap load of plastic cups and you're half-way there. ...........

 

 

That's what we would do, someone you know has an uncle who's a member, they get the hall for a cheaper price....

 

Be very careful skirting around the Liquor laws... If there is anyone under 21 in attendance you need to have a license and you need to have a way of marking that person as under-age... and mke sure they aren't drinking.

 

It's easier to let the hall handle that, they've got the license and training to do t responsibly.

 

 

Charity events are great, but most of the time you'll end up making very little $$ and you'd have to use it as a tax write- off with receipts from the charity (If you claim any earnings from music on your taxes)

[Opus Antics]

We did that once. Rented an Elks Hall, and paid the Elks to handle the bar. We promoted it pretty well, and set up an evite for direct invitations to help track how many yesses and nos we were getteing. It looked like we had 100 confirmed attendees. Not bad for a new band that's not at all established. But we only ended up with 50ish people who actually showed. We lost money on it, but that was because we had very expensive sound. It was still a good experience for us.

 

We'll probably do it again next summer, but at that point we'll be able to cut out the huge sound expense. Maybe we'll clear $500? I'll let ya know next summer.

[BeefStewBoy]

We used to do this about 20 years ago. We'd rent a dance hall that could hold about 500 people, then line up about 4-5 bands. The band that managed the gig got most of the money and headlined. The other bands would play about 45 minutes each and get paid about $150 for their time. The headlining band usually ended up with at least $800 at the end of the night for about an hour and a half of playing and managing the whole gig. But, we were all in high school, and with fliers, etc... we would pack those places. This went on for several years, and we'd have one of these gigs going about ever 3-4 months. In general, a band would come up with doing one of these when they needed new equipment, IE... when we needed to get new PA speakers, we promoted one of these gigs. I think we charged about 5 bucks for tickets. None of these were original bands, we were all hard rock/heavy metal cover bands.

[orangekick]

We used to do this all the time. The only time that it really worked was when we had all age shows and enough of the bands with ties to kids still in school. Too many of the oder crowd wouldn't come out for much if there wasn't an option for drinking. We'd always get a security guard and piece together a decent vocal PA. The places were never big enough to warrant micing everything.

 

Good times.

[HuskerDude]

It's a great way to put on cheap shows that can still make you a little scratch. Rent a hall on the cheap, get a few bands together, assemble a PA from whatever the bands on the bill have available, grab a couple of lights is you want to get fancy.

For sound, if you keep things simple, you don't need to hire anybody. Just use the PA for vocals and get somebody from one of the other bands to run your sound, with the expectation that you'll do the same during their set. Get a girlfriend or a buddy to man the door, and you're set. We used to do these without "lighting rigs", we'd literally take floor lamps from our homes and put them on stage, along with an area rug, and called it a "set". It looks great, like actual set dressing, and it lights you pretty well; plus it's significantly less cheesy than a whole light bar suspended over the stage with color washes and all that nonsense.

As with most shows, keep things simple, and you'll have a better time and make more money in the end.

[tim_7string]

I remember doing this a while back (a long while; we're talking 1989-1990). My band would get a hall with a deposit of around $125 (usually some community center or American Legion building), then charge people $3 for singles, $5 for couples at the door. We played a usual 4 hour gig and made anywhere from $300-600, so it was always profitable. The only part that was a hassle was we had to promise to clean up the place right after the gig, so we could get our deposit back.

 

We had to have people we trusted run the door (taking money) & run security in case of drunken fights. We even had a guy run the merch table for us once, selling our band t-shirts. However, he left his post to get drunk and party, so people started stealing our shirts out of the box. Needless to say, we didn't pay him after that mess.

 

All in all (except for the t-shirt theft), the hall renting was a fun experience. It was kind of nice to go the DIY route. No gigs coming up? Hey, we can make our OWN gig!

[bassred]

I sed to love doing shows, it meant the music was getting out there, and because I was the promoter AND in the headlining band, I got mad props for weeks after the show.... cleaning up at 3 am was one drawback, but in the end, it was a drop in the bucket compared to the exposure and fun we got out of it!!!

[BeefStewBoy]

Yeah, it was loads of fun, and it ran anywhere from renting out a cheap rec center with no lights, to a full stage with pyro once. Fog machines were easy to make. It was a blast.

[Scafeets]

Yup - it can pay pretty well if you're willing to do the work. Did it a lot in HS where not having booze was a viable option. We would usually rent it from an organization (volunteer firehouse, CYO, VFW, etc) and let the organization sell soft drinks.

 

For older crowds, consider a VFW type of place and let the organization sell the booze and keep the money. You'll be on their license and insurance, which is a major plus. And they'll supply their own security to protect their license.

 

My three-piece band recently promoted our own outdoor biker event. We booked a big backyard and parking lot behind a restaurant. There was a custom chopper display sponsored by two mc shops. The restaurant sold the food and booze (and made out great!) and got the necessary special-event license, since it was outdoors. In addition to our band playing two sets, we hired belly dancers, fire-eaters and an acoustic duo to start things off. The event ran from 5PM to 9PM and everyone went home happy, asking about our next event.

[brassic]

To add to the above...

 

I've done it several times. I found it easiest to choose places that already had their own PA, bar staff, security and insurance. I had to organize the soundman/woman, door staff, promotion, etc. One thing I'd advise against is trying to run the bar yourselves. Every single time I've been to an event with inexperienced people running the bar it's been a disaster.

 

When choosing the location, I also take into consideration the sort of crowd we tend to attract. Being in a major metropolitan area, most of them don't drive so it makes sense for us to choose a venue in an area well-served by public transport. We also attract a lot of studenty types who don't have lots of cash, but like to drink A LOT, so choosing a venue with high bar prices or no drink specials is a no-no for us.

 

You should also consider what you want to get out of the night when you're planning your budget. Are you looking to make money, or build a fanbase? One of the most successful nights we did was mainly a fanbase/goodwill-building exercise, which we just paid for out of our pockets. The location was a private rehearsal studio inside some disused railway arches. It was very cheap to hire, but they were only insured for private events, so we couldn't charge admission. However, our agenda was putting on a special show to expand our fanbase, and for that it was perfect. It was a cool venue that most people wouldn't otherwise get to see, so it made the gig into more of a special event. We promoted it via our website, email list and Myspace page as a "Warehouse Party In A Secret Location" for about 2 months in advance, and announced the address about a week before.

 

In the end over 300 people turned up, and there's no way we'd have pulled that kind of crowd on a regular gig night. The other two bands were happy because they expanded their fanbase. We now have increased attendance at our own "regular" gigs and as a result can demand a better fee from promoters.

[corbind]

That's great!

[brassic]

We used to do these without "lighting rigs", we'd literally take floor lamps from our homes and put them on stage, along with an area rug, and called it a "set". It looks great, like actual set dressing, and it lights you pretty well; plus it's significantly less cheesy than a whole light bar suspended over the stage with color washes and all that nonsense.

 

My friend's band does this (original country/rockabilly) and it looks fantastic.