Promo Advice Welcome

[TheMightyGreg]

I'm trying to put on a breaks/tech house night with one of my friends and need to put together a proposal as the venue is fairly well known and wouldn't risk something that was badly organised or likely to flop. I've never put any nights on before and was hoping some of you would be able to offer some tips or advice on the kind of things I should be proposing e.g revenue split, pricing, demand for the music, target demographic, etc...

Cheers guys!

[Jenks]

Re: Promo Advice Welcome

a fair deal for both parties is you get the door, they get everything else. trying to negotiate a bar split sucks ass, and rarely happens unless you already have a successful night. there is really no loss for a club owner to give you the door, they make nearly all their money on booze.

i could go into a hundred other things, but maybe ask me questions or something so i don't write a research report here. i've been throwing a fairly well respected and successful techno night for years and could probably answer some questions for you.

[88Mariner]

Re: Promo Advice Welcome

i would first find out what the market was intersted in...that is...if the area could support a breaks/tech night. if youre in omaha nebraska, i'd probably have to say negative ghostrider.

[Jenks]

Re: Promo Advice Welcome

^you'd be surprised. there is a pretty well respected techno night in nebraska run by lunatik and crew. don't doubt the ability of quality sound to bring the right people out. some places are just waiting for it, and they don't even know they like it yet.

[TheMightyGreg]

Re: Promo Advice Welcome

Nice one

- How do you advertise the night? Flyers? Local press? How much do you spend?

- How do you select the DJ's you get to perform? Do you go for big names/talent/local jocks? We can't afford names so the DJ's are almost complete unknowns

- When you first started the night, how did you convince the venue there was a demand for a techno night?

Cheers dude, will proably fire some more over as they come to me

[TheMightyGreg]

Re: Promo Advice Welcome

i would first find out what the market was intersted in...that is...if the area could support a breaks/tech night. if youre in omaha nebraska, i'd probably have to say negative ghostrider.

I'm in London, so there's demand for pretty much everything

[88Mariner]

Re: Promo Advice Welcome

hah. forget it. you can't lose


I did some promotions back when i was a professional DJ.

I had acts like crystal method and reid speed coming to Indiana. So, if i can help beyond what I've said, let me know.

[Jenks]

Re: Promo Advice Welcome

hah. forget it. you can't lose

Actually he can lose. There is a lot on the plate in London, a lot to choose from. He'd have less risk in a smaller market.

- How do you advertise the night? Flyers? Local press? How much do you spend?

Flyers, yes- starting out you're going to want to canvas the city with them. Local press, yes- any clubnight publication in your area? seek an ad, don't say too much, leave people asking a few questions about it, make them come. How much do you spend? - no way i can answer this. Figure your total budget (what it's going to take to break even on the party) and you should be able to answer this for yourself.

- How do you select the DJ's you get to perform? Do you go for big names/talent/local jocks? We can't afford names so the DJ's are almost complete unknowns

Gonna have to answer this yourself, but you should know the sound you want to push. Whatever your passionate about. Just throwing a night to do it, without a strict music policy and idea isn't really worth it, no? Find a name that you can afford that allows you at least SOME recognition. They're out there, there is a comfortable medium.

You can't really go with unknowns, until you get some recognition, or unless the club owner likes you and your sound and believes in it and wants to help you push it himself (we had the latter happen.)

Are there local guys that have some name recog that could support your night, that you are also impressed with their music? Might be a good way to go from a $$ standpoint, and still get people through the door.

- When you first started the night, how did you convince the venue there was a demand for a techno night?

The venue was known for underground music, dnb, experimental, techy stuff, etc. No one was doing a quality techno night. We played different music than what was in the city at the time. You kinda have to fit with the venue. I wouldn't go to the mega club here in town and try to throw a night, it's just not my audience, and i don't want any part of that. Not knowing where you live, tough call on if you're in the right place or not. You should know that. If it's a place you hang out in all the time, probably a good place to start. If you never go there, how do you know?

[jeffrey collins]

Re: Promo Advice Welcome

WOW. We really need to keep this open. Will definitely help me out too as I start my promotions group. I've already got a great guy to run the lights/video projectors etc. And also to video the nights to help promote them online.

[88Mariner]

Re: Promo Advice Welcome

^i hope he's not a russain with giant lasers...

[FM]

Re: Promo Advice Welcome



The d'n'b night I help out with started similar too..venue/bartender gave us a chance, locals played to start, then expanded into booking some regional DJ's, then finally bigger names after the first year. It's been going nearly 4 years now, and it's a small cover with a little bit of the bar...both typically add together well.

In your case, I'd also see what other places are charging at the door, regardless of what's happening. A big killer is charging way more then everyone else, unless at that point you're bringing names in...then you would to help offset that cost. As well as keeping it relatively consistent with what the venue charges.

Make sure you make flyers consistently...try to book out people a month, 2, 3 at a time if rotating others through. Saves you a world of time & trouble and makes flyer design a snap (otherwise if it's just a few "residents" leave it at that).

Take the good nights with any off ones...if no one shows up, have fun. If the place gets juiced, have fun. Otherwise you're wasting your energy and making it pointless.

Finally, your proposal: keep it short and to the point. Not 8 pages long.

[AndyH]

Re: Promo Advice Welcome

Dont mention ur playing

[jeffrey collins]

Re: Promo Advice Welcome

^i hope he's not a Russian with giant lasers...

No he's not. LOL.

No he's more into using his cameras to give the people in the audience more of a close up of the dj's and things like that. Just little things you can do on a small budget to make a big impact.

I would dj my nights...but not all of them, with each particular dj...i have the right opener for them already in my head.

And with flyers...i've got that all covered. I do pretty nice flyers and am getting better, also my friend who is gonna help me out is REALLY good at flyer design.