Putting on a Rock Show

No matter where you hail from there are usually plenty of local bands and venues. Putting on a local rock show that is profitable is quite another story. However, there are some tried and true approaches that can actually net you a decent return.
1. How to Put on a Profitable Local Rock Show
o 1
Find the club and make arrangements for the date of the show. The first step is finding the right club. This involves calling different venues and visiting them in person. You want a club that will allow you to control the door take (what you charge patrons to get in to see the show). In a perfect world you will also want to negotiate with the club about getting a percentage of bar profits for the night; this is where the real money is. Always book a Friday or Saturday night show for the biggest turnout.
o 2
Scout and book bands with a large fan base. Make sure that you keep your bands in the same genre. Finally, offer the bands a flat fee plus a percentage of the door and you will easily get several large local bands to sign on.
o 3
Create the marketing posters and fliers and distribute them. See resources below for a Web site that lets you design and order great posters online. Make sure that you include all of the venue information as well as dates on the posters. Print out plenty of fliers for the bands to hand out prior to the show. Make sure that you place posters in conspicuous places throughout the club and anywhere else that you can think of.
o 4
Post free online ads. Sites such as Craigslist.com and Myspace.com are great for posting events. Let all of your friends know. Tell them to network. Spread the word as much as possible and you will get a greater turnout.
o 5
Offer bands pre-sale tickets. It's the best way to get bands to draw big crowds. Give them a large percentage of the tickets sales they generate as motivation for selling them.
o 6
Talk to and secure potential sponsors. It is always wise to talk to companies that may be willing to sponsor your event, create banners or fliers if their logo is on them and offer drink specials all night at the concert.
o 7
Secure a reliable staff for the event. Usually you want to go with a good friend that you can trust who will take in money at the door. This way there are no accounting issues to worry about. Make sure that you have a decent sound technician or that the club provides one for the event.
o 8
Promote the show as much as possible. Tell everybody that you know and have them tell everybody that they know. The more people that know about the event, the more people will show up

Play SOLD OUT Shows

Promoting your band’s website locally is about getting more people to come to your gigs (if you don’t gig, don’t bother), it’s usually only locals who’ll turn up and support you. By promoting your band’s website locally you are also promoting your band locally - it works best if you’re hands-on, real world, for instance, if you want to get a link from the local press or local radio, it would help if your band proactively supports a local charity.
Local is the area around your favourite venue (the venue you like and play most) or your town. Get a map. Find the venue or town centre. Draw a circle with a radius of about 25 miles (about 40 kilometres) around the venue or town centre. That’s local. 25 miles represents the distance people would be prepared to travel to see an independent band in the UK. Because of the transport infrastructure and familiarity with commuting, you can have a 35 mile radius around a London venue (same in most large cities). Bands who operate in large cities have a big advantage - of course you don’t have to target everyone!1. Swap links and get involved with local: businesses, charities, record shops, fashion shops, cafes, pubs, clubs, venues. Get links from local: press, radio.
2. (Legally) Hand out, post, pin up, stick and drop (accidentally!): flyers, stickers, business cards, button badges - in and around: schools, colleges, universities, record shops, fashion shops, cafes, pubs, clubs, venues and churches. Include your band’s name, website address and free gift details.
3. Team-up and collaborate with 5 or more local bands of the same or complementary genre and promote each other online and offline.
4. Use the networking communities (esp. Facebook, MySpace, ReverbNation) to communicate with the locals. Always make your website The focal point.
5. Create a mailing list / database of fans, friends and family, target those within your locale and ask them for support. And don’t forget, if you can’t make it locally with the support of your fans, friends and family, you’re not going to make it anywhere!