Welcome to my journal. I am assuming you are here because you are bored or you are genuinely interested in what I have to say. Either way, welcome! Hopefully you will read something you consider interesting, insightful or humorous. So say hello and stay for a while. I don't bite - haven't figured out how to do that via IP yet - and I generally tend to be forthright and difficult to offend so please comment. Your words give me things to think about when bored at work.
As the debate continues after what Ad-ver-sary and Antigen Shift did, I would like to make it very clear where Death Disco stands. Simply put, Jairus and Nick are right. They were right to use the platform they were given. They were right to raise this issue directly to the fans and bands that they were accusing. They are right to demand better.
If you only take one thing from this entire episode it should be to think critically about the messages you support with your actions and your dollars. Every action, every transaction is a vote for the kind of world you want live in. Saying "WE DEMAND BETTER" doesn't mean you can't like Combichrist and Nachtmahr. It is not us trying to tell you want to think or what to do. Far from it. This is a call to think critically about our scene; about YOUR scene. Our art, our music and our dress is how we represent our beliefs. "WE DEMAND BETTER" is something that everyone can live. As fans, DJs, musicians and inhabitants of Earth we can choose to accept our world as is or we can work to make things a little better for everyone around us. Sometimes this process requires some tough love and hard internal reflection but if "WE DEMAND BETTER" we have to do that. ~ Ryan "DOLSTON" Clark
Note: Respect for all and freedom of artistic expression is something we at Death Disco try to foster with every show we do. We hope you will take those ideals with you to the club, the internet and coffee shops where you will talk about this. To join the debate with us, head over to the Death Disco Facebook page or hit up Ad-Ver-Sary and Anitgen Shift's pages. If this subject has touched a nerve with you make sure talk about it with your friends and family. The issues of equality and artistic expression are universal after all. Mood: hopeful
Attrition Ayria Dark Digital Death Cartel The Delta Theta Projekt Dope Stars Inc En Esch & Mona Mur Encephalon Glenn Love iVardesphere Left Spine Down Modulate The Promonium Jesters Slick Idiot and maybe more!
Nothing is confirmed but that looks like a pretty good first half of 2012. What do people think? Mood: pensive Music: The Divine Madness - Push
This weekend is the four year anniversary of Death Disco. We launched on a Sunday night at Cafe Dekcuf on a cold Sunday night. Four years later, we are running every Saturday and Thursday night at Swizzles and promoting a ton of great live shows. Not bad for some drunken bravado on my 32 birthday. To everyone how has and still does support and believe in Death Disco, thank you very much. It has been, and continues to be, one helluva ride. Mood: accomplished
Rules for Being a (Successful?) Indie Promoter Part Two
November 14, 2011, 06:06:pm
Well, hello again! Or at least, I hope it is again. After writing my first piece on promoting, I said I would write more and for some reason people actually wanted to heaer more of what I have to say and since I am an attention whore I am more than happy to oblige!
Today I want to talk about you or, more accurately, hard learned lessos about trying to stay sane and balanced while working as an indie promoter. A lot of what I am talking about here I had to figure out on the fly. I wish I had thought more about this part of the game when I first started so pay attention. This shit is actually important.
#1 - BE PREPARED TO BLEED Promoting is time consuming and financially draining. It is essentially a high risk, low reward endeavor once you start counting the dollars and cents of an event. For an average live music show I will sink about 40 manhours into the event prior to the show then another 6 to 10 hours the day of the show, minimum. Basically it is about a 10 to 1 ratio of time spend in prepeartion vs the actual event time. And that is for a show with only three or four bands. Forget something like CORROSION which ran two days or Dark Carnival that had international acts, artists, dancers, etc.
On top of the time, there is also a lot of money that goes into a show. Posters don't print themselves. Food and drink needs to be purchased for the acts and staff. Sound techs need to be paid. Venues need to be rented. Facebook ads aren't free either. Plus their are the incidentals that you may not think about. Parking, for exampl, can get pretty expensive depending on the day. For example, Canada Day, I ended up spending $100 on parking! Tape, coffee when out postering, gas, etc all add up and cut away at your bottom line. Given that the "industry standard" is that the promoter will make a 15% return on a show if they are at a near sellout so you can see how this could get pretty tough financially.
#2A - FIND A BALANCE... You really have no idea how important this is. I have learned this lesson harder than any other. My inability to find a good balance early enough in my career as a promoter has been at least partly responsible for my last two relationships failing. So, when I say you need to find a balance between this passion, your personal life and your work life. There is no choice.
One of the single best ways to develop that balance is to build a team of dedicated and passionate people to help share the work load. When you realize that a show which runs about 5 hours will take 40 to 50 hours of back end work, being able to pass along tasks to other capable people will free your time up for other things. The trade off for more time is always more money though so make sure you keep that in mind. Even if you are just guest listing people to your shows, those are paying customers that are now not passing you cash.
You also need to develop some very good time management skills. You will need to set reasonable deadlines and follow through. This is your own show so no one will kick your ass to do the work. Setting deadlines an d adhering to them will also allow you to find time for others things, like spending time with friends, doing laundry, eating and sleeping. These things are seriously important and, if you bollocks up your deadlines, things you will have to sacrifice to try to get your show ready in time.
Financially, you can always look at finding investors (who will want return on their investment), sponsors to help add value to your event (making more people want to come), getting sponsors (so you can trade advertising for dollars) or look at doing door deal with your acts to mitigate your risk. Please note that each of these options you will be trading maximum gain for lower risks.
#2B - ...AND KNOW YOUR LIMITS Part of developing a balance is to know what your limits are. No one but you can tell you your limits but yourself but pay attention to the signs that you maybe approaching your limits. Frequent illness, irritability and insomnia are really good signs that you have surpassed your limits and it is time to stop for awhile.
Financial limits are also important to establish. It is really easy to keep throwing money at shows and never see them come back. Decide what you are comfortable with doing. If a band comes back with a number to do a show that you feel uneasy about say no. You are under no obligation to do a show, at least until you sign a contract.
#3 - NOT KNOWING IS NOT A REASON FOR NOT DOING Eventually you are going to come to a situation that you do not have the skill set to handle. Your first instinct should be to go to the team you have built and see if any of them have the skill. If they don't, you are left with two options. First, you can pay someone to do what needs to be done or you can do it anyhow.
More often than not, the second option is the one you will choose. Specialists are expensive and we have already covered how little money is actually out there to spend. So take a deep breath and start learning. If you seriously know nothing about the skill you need to develop start learning. The internet is full of advice, some of it even useful.
If Google didn't get you a useful answer, ask someone else. Talk to your venue or one of the bands. Odds are, they have run into something similar. Ask you parents, your spouses and your friends. You will be surprised how much people actually know and who they know when you come to your inner circle for help. And if that hasn't panned out, ask me. Yes, me. Odds are if you are still reading this you have some interest in what I am doing and may have even been tricked into thinking I know what I am doing so ask me. You obviously know how to get a hold o f me since you are reading my blog.
#4 - YOU ARE ALWAYS RIGHT This wording is stolen directly from Troy Hilton of DSoL and is something he said to me when I was at a very stressed out point during Dark Carnival. He managed to put a simple truth in perfect perspective better than I could have becuase, at the end of the day, if a decision needs to be made whatever decision you make is the right one at that exact moment. Experience and hindsight may change what your decision would have been but in that exact moment, where something went completely wrong and you had to make a call you always make the best call you could. Don't be scared of the responsibility. Don't be scared of making a mistake. People are looking at you to make a decision so do it with the confidence that you know you are right and people will act on that decision.
#5 - Take FIVE MINUTES You are probably going to here this one again in another post but it is damn important. You got ito promoting events because you were a fan so make sure you still are. Find five minutes to just get away from everyone else and just enjoy the show. Go thrash around in the mosh pit. Scream loudly along to your favourite song. Wander into a back corner and appreciate what you created and the joy you have given all in attendance. Promoting is a pretty cool thing to do. Take the time to appreciate your creation.
So, after going through all of this, do you still want to promote? If you say yes, congratulations. You are probably insane and awesome. It is crazy hard work but it is worth it. If you aren't sure you want to promote, then get your ass to a show and support the indie scene in your city's local artists. Mood: tired
Rules for Being a (Successful?) Independent Promoter Part One
November 08, 2011, 11:23:am
To start, I am not sure if I am the best person to be writing this. I have only been promoting for four years now and I am not sure if I actually qualify as a successful promoter. I guess that really depends on your definition of success. If it is that I can make a sustainable income off my efforts then no, I am not. If you call success the respect of the people you work with then I am. Keep this in mind as you read on. This is a road map that has cost me thousands of dollars over since Re-Vamp launched December 6th 2007 but it is also the road map that has lead me to meet some amazing people as well as some of my musical heroes.
#1A - THE BANDS NEED YOU MORE THAN YOU NEED THEM This is the most important rule I learned. It may sound harsh but it is true. Simply put, you don't need the bands. If you are an idependent promoter you aren't doing this for a living so you don't actually have to book shows and make money. This is not a license to be a dick which leads us to...
#1B - YOU NEED THE BAND MORE THAN THEY NEED YOU Okay, yes, this is a direct contradiction to what I just wrote but keep reading. When promoting independent music everyone knows everyone else. If you are a complete douche to the acts you will quickly find that people will not work with you in short order. If you treat people well, your reputation will grow well beyond what you ever thought possible and you will be in the odd position where you have more bands wanting to work with you than you can manage.
#2 - EVERYONE GETS PAID Nothing in this life is free and the further the band has travelled the higher their expenses will be. It is your job to ensure that the bands can cover their expenses at the very least. Gas, food, insturments and the like all cost money so make sure you are not unfairly shifting the financial burden onto the bands. Also, if you have people helping you make sure they get something for helping you as well. Comp some tickets to the kids you get to help poster. Buy a few drinks for your door girl. Do what it takes to make sure people helping you are not losing money to do so. Your the promoter, that financial burden is yours.
#3 - BE HOSPITABLE You need to think of one of your events as being like a party with your acts being honored guests. When you throw a party and people show up, you are there to welcome them, show them in and offer them a drink and some food. If your guests have travelled far, you make sure they have a place to stay at the end of the night.
At the very least, a couple of drinks of a local act goes a long way. For an out of town act drinks, food and accomodations should be arranged as well. SOme bands will want to take care of the food and lodgings themselves. If they do, make sure there is enough money in the guarantee to cover those expenses. If the bands want you to cover food and lodgings make sure you find out about any allergies or dietary restrictions. Last thing you want to do is layout a roast beef dinner for a bunch of vegans or hospitalize the lead singer becaause you billeted them with a friend who has cats.
#4A - BE A FAN Make sure you are a fan of the acts you book. Even if you have never heard them before you signed them to play you had better be their number one fan come showtime. Learn their music. Get excited about them playing. If you aren't ethusiastic about the band playing neither will your crowd. But when you are enthusastic your crowd will pick up on that and become excited too. Then come show time you will have a great atmosphere before the band takes the stage. Once the acts hit the stage the energy will hit them and they will perform to a level that will surprise everyone.
#4B - MAKE THE BAND FEEL LIKE A STAR This is a sub-part of the above, be a fan. Make your acts feel like a star. No one got into rock 'n roll to be an okay garage band. People got into rock 'n roll to be fucking Al Jorgenson, Trent Reznor, RObert Smith, Siouxie, etc. So whether your band is playing in front of 20 people or 2000 people make sure they feel appreciated. Unltimately they are letting you live your dream so make sure they are living theirs..
#5 - NEVER FORGET THOSE WHO DID BY YOU RIGHT In your career as a promoter, you are going to find bands that have done by you particualrly well or that you have just clicked with. Remember these people and pay things forward when something special comes along. It maybe weeks, months or years before something comes up but when it does the first people you should call are the people that have done right by you.
So there you have it. My five rules for dealing with bands as an indie promoter. There will be a couple of more parts coming up. We still have to talk about dealing with venues, your crowd, how to remain sane/building a staff and a final installment where I shout out a bunch of random things that don't really fit anywhere else so will end up at the end.
Hope you enjoyed the read and that it may be useful to someone out in internet-land.
