bryface
Offline
vancouver, canada

so, in the wake of blip, i've been thinking at lot about the work involved in negotiating, securing and preparing a venue for a chip event.   i don't know all that much about what's involved, but i've been getting more interested in the prospect of setting one up if the opportunity arose.

my event noob questions are as follows:

1) In general, any lessons learned when trying to "pitch" chip events at a venue?  any suggestions as to what to do / what NOT to do when trying to secure a location?  particularly for locations where it's clear the staff doesn't really understand chipmusic?

2) Profit and venue cost.  What's your philosophical approach to breaking even vs. earning a profit?  Where do the profits/proceeds go, if any?

3) Sound system.  what do you consider as the baseline audio/video system setup at a venue?  what's some useful equipment for a venue to have?

4) Maintaining a relationship with a venue.  If you plan to have an ongoing series of shows, what are some things to keep in mind in keeping the venue owner/staff happy?

5) Promotion.   What's worked well?  what hasn't?   if you have any budget whatsoever, what percentage do you spend on promotional materials?

Obviously every venue is different in its requirements, and every chip event planner has his own vision about what an event would look like, but it'd be really helpful to get some insight from those of you that have done this.  i'm interested to see the various approaches to these questions.

edit: derpy grammar

Last edited by bryface (Aug 15, 2012 11:33 pm)

Russellian
Offline
Harrisonburg, Virginia

I'd really like to know some of this stuff as well. Trying to set up a VA venue and would love any knowledge on the topic.

ant1
Offline
uhajdafdfdfa

there was exactly one of these guides you describe either here or at 8bc

maybe it was at 8bc and got lost forever though sad boohoo

bryface
Offline
vancouver, canada
ant1 wrote:

there was exactly one of these guides you describe either here or at 8bc

maybe it was at 8bc and got lost forever though sad boohoo

maybe the thread should instead have been "how to do set up an online repository for chipmusic in order to start a discussion about setting up chipshows"


if anyone has a cached copy of such a guide, that'd be awesome. 

EDIT: my initial searches didn't turn up anything, but some more specific searches turned up these threads:

http://chipmusic.org/forums/topic/2458/ … hip-night/
http://chipmusic.org/forums/topic/2126/ … your-area/


i'd like to hear from some of the folks who had a hand in some more recent shows though, like BRKfest or any of the west coast shows in LA or Seattle.

Battle Lava
Offline

Things to think about/Answers:

1) Why do you need to pitch it as chipmusic? What about all the "chipmusic isn't a genre it's a medium" rabble rabble. It can easily be pitched as "Dj music" which any club is going to be ok with.

2) Good luck making any substantial profit. Money you make is going to go right back into throwing other events. Most likely.

3) Ask if they have a projector/don't assume they have a projector. Don't assume that even if they have a projector they have anything to project on to. Ask if their is an in house sound guy. Scope out the venue first.

4) Bring people to the venue who will buy lots of drinks and you get to come back. Which brings us back to question 1- this is really all they care about, frankly, since they are a business and not a cultural center. Though, if you can get shows at a cultural center....

5) The number of people who say they are coming on facebook will not be the number of people who come. Personally I think word of mouth will be your best bet. So find a creative way to get people talking.

Not at all to be taken as absolute fact in any way but, yeah, my 2 cents from throwing shows, playing at shows, etc.

BR1GHT PR1MATE
Offline
BOSTON

OOH, i would be happy to answer and questions. i think there is a TON of misapprehension about setting up shows that could be easily smoothed over with a little bit of advice.

Per your questions:

1. There is this idea that many in the scene have that venues are going to be like "thats not Rock And Roll so im not booking you :[" and that hasn't happened a single time in my 3 years of booking chip shows all over the east coast. Honestly, from my experience venues and bookers are generally PUMPED to do something interesting and new, provided you dont act/look like a total flake and dont totally screw them over. They dont have to "understand" anything beyond that really.

The most important things to do when pitching a chip show to a booker or venue is to is to have all of your shit together and at least ACT like a professional. This means having artists lined up already, giving 2 or 3 months for promotion time and having some sort of crew to show up so the place isnt just you and yer moms. For clubs, its not some big confusing thing: they need a minimum of X people there buying drinks or tickets to be able to pay the sound person / rent, and if you can do that for them, then you are awesome in their book. For first contact, i would recommend having a nice little booking letter that has a short paragraph about "what is chiptune" and "look at these other successful chiptune shows/artists", with your intended artist list, SUPER short bio and links to each artists' bandcamp / soundcloud.

2. Costs and profit vary from venue to venue. For a legitimate club with a decent sound system, you can expect to pay from $300 - $700+ for a night, whether thats upfront or taken from the door. I would STRONGLY suggest doing zero-cost DIY or "random bar with a PA" type shows first to gauge interest and start to build an audience before throwing down on a decent club. And thats not including paying artists or anything. For one B8B show specificcally, i paid upwards of $1300 out of pocket for venue / promotion / artists travel money. Granted, I made it back on that particular occasion, but if you want to do it big, dont be surprised to lose a bit of money. Its for the love. My personal philosophy for proceeds is to 1. give as much as possible to traveling artists / "headliners" to cover their expenses 2. cover as much expenses as you can and if possible 3. local artists. FWIW, for B8B shows despite often being the largest drawing band on the bill, I have yet to actually "make a profit" off of a show. But thats not what its about.

One thing that is very interesting thing to note about chiptune is that "headlining artists", unless they are Anamanagucci or I Fight Dragons or something, for the most part arent going to get any more people in the door than a local artist with a bunch of friends. Internet fame is not particularly helpful for local show draw.

3. Chip shows in the most basic form can be just fine with freaking laptop speakers or a loud boombox, but personally I get stressed if the system is smallter than like 1000watts with 15"s, at least one stage monitor and a sub of some sort. Having a stage mixer seems like the best way to do things so the sound guy isnt swapping DI's every act and when you clip or do something nasty its not hitting THEIR expensive compressor / rack stuff, just your shitty xenyx.

4. See 1. I think. Other than that, maybe communication? Not being "needy"? Having some sort of consistent turnout?

5. General promotion like flyering or whatever is a JOKE. You MIGHT get 1 person a show from something like that. Getting coverage in local papers / zines / radio shows can be beneficial, and is as easy as writing a few emails usually. Give those guys a bunch of notice ahead of time though, because their deadlines are usually pretty early. Just make sure that you have a bunch of people that WILL come, like say 20-30 (i mean, if you have 5-6 artists on the bill, thats 5 people per person... if you they cant manage that, then they shouldn't be playing shows yet probably), then do tons of word of mouth and get as many people excited about it as possible. Make it a THING. Also, having a chip/low-fi open mic before the show is HUGE for both attendance and community building.

Hope some of this helps? Ill answer any more questions too, Im more than happy to help people get their scene going big_smile

EDITED FOR MORE STUFF

Last edited by BR1GHT PR1MATE (Aug 15, 2012 11:29 pm)

ant1
Offline
uhajdafdfdfa
BR1GHT PR1MATE wrote:

having artists lined up already, giving 2 or 3 months for promotion time and having some sort of crew to show up so the place isnt just you and yer moms

hey is it really a good idea to book artists and promote it BEFORE pitching it to the venue?
not a rhetorical question, genuinely wondering...

BR1GHT PR1MATE
Offline
BOSTON
ant1 wrote:
BR1GHT PR1MATE wrote:

having artists lined up already, giving 2 or 3 months for promotion time and having some sort of crew to show up so the place isnt just you and yer moms

hey is it really a good idea to book artists and promote it BEFORE pitching it to the venue?
not a rhetorical question, genuinely wondering...

sounds weird right? usually for us we have a few artists in mind that we've talked to about putting together a show for a general time range: "hey were planning on doing a B8B show in late August, you interested?" Then send the booking stuff out, see what exact dates we get from clubs in that time-frame and if we have to make a few lineup changes and get this or that other artist on the bill down the line then so be it.

from our experience so far, chiptune booking isnt at the level yet where a lineup change is going to be an issue for a club

Last edited by BR1GHT PR1MATE (Aug 15, 2012 10:45 pm)

ChipsChallengeBand
Offline
Rochester, NY

You can't actually book them at that point... from reading BP's post I figured it was more like, "ask if they'd be interested in playing a show in the general timeframe and explain you're trying to set a legit one up," and then go from there.

EDIT: sniped while I was actually reading BP's post

Last edited by ChipsChallengeBand (Aug 15, 2012 10:49 pm)

dosPrompt
Offline
Melbourne, Australia

I actually have a doc somewhere which is full of things I have learned from putting on shows. They may not actually be relevant in every city all over the world, but they are probably worth considering. I can forward it on if anyone wants it, now I'm going to rush through this before I have to run a training session so it may be a little shaky til I get time to update smile



1) Venues here generally don't care as long as you are telling them you'll briong people to their venue - particularly for week night shows, likewise some venues just ask you to pay a fee and they don't care what you do with the venue. Look into places that do party room hire for birthdays and things - you will probably have to pay a little to use the room (or have a minimum spend which hopefully your punters will use) but they wont care what you put on

2) Everyone thinks its hard to make a profit. But that depends on how you pay the artists, how much the venue takes, and whether you're getting people in from other places. Also, what you charge on the door. Depending on the venue and the artists, you may not have a lot of expenses. If venue hire is free and your artists are just happy for a show to play (and an outlet to sell some merch) then to begin with you don't have a whole lot of profit. If there is some, sling it to the artists, or buy them drinks or dinner, or put it towards your next show.

3) Sound system.  We won't use a venue that doesn't have some kind of in house sound. Celsius is the one who makes the call on how good a sound system is by knowing the specs though. As for visuals, they're a bonus, but if its going to cost you extra to get a projector or you have to get someone in from far away to be your visualist, do you really need them?

4) Maintaining a relationship with a venue.  We have had shows at multiple different venues. Generally because WE have chosen to move on and not vice versa. We do get decent turn outs, and our crowds buy a reasonable amount of booze, but its mostly because a) they like the music and b) the crowd don't cause trouble. I think its really important to introduce yourself to the bar staff - not just the manager, let them know they can hit you up if they have any questions. if you can make their shift more pleasant, they'll look after you


5) Promotion.   Get your friends to come to your first show. All of them. Beg them if you have to because they aren't chip fans. They'll come along and have a rad night and tell their friends. Start a facebook page and a twitter feed and post on it regularly. Post on every 'what on' website that you can find. If your lineup has for example, someone who's pretty much within the DnB genre, post on forums that have that kind of flavour. Do the same on gaming forums - especially if you're already a member of those communities. Link people to that piece that good game did about Blip Australia so people understand what chip shows are like - lets face it, a lot of people aren't going to know an artist by name, or even what chipmusic is and a flyer wont let you explain it.

You have my email address, feel free to use it smile