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So
you’re in a band and you think
you’re ready for NYC?
GIGGING
BANDS: The New York Experience
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So
you’re in a band and you think you’re
ready for NYC? Here’s what you can
expect… According to Martin’s
Atkin's new book, “TOUR:SMART”
there are anywhere from 741 to 1235 bands
playing in New York City every week. As
I’m writing this, on a Friday evening,
there are 374 bands playing in NYC (according
to http://www.going.com) and that isn’t
even tapping into the plethora of shows
that didn’t bother to post on the
site.
| There’s
FIERCE competition in NYC. |
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There’s
FIERCE competition in NYC and in response
to that, a lot of promoters create nothing
more than what I like to call “meat
grinder events”. Every club in
NYC wants a party every night of the
week and they want people buying drinks
ALL NIGHT. BRING IN THE BANDS! When
you come to play a show in NYC one of
the first things to expect is no money.
It’s common practice in NYC for
promoters to only pay you IF you bring
in at least 10 to 15 paying customers
that ask specifically for your band.
Bring in 15 or more, you get half the
door amount for those patrons. Bring
in 14… NOTHING. Did I mention
you’re also playing with anywhere
from 6 to 9 other acts on the same night?
Now the promoter can call it a FESTIVAL
and thus a PARTY. Great right?
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You’re
gonna have a TON of people there
to see you rock the fuck out right?
Wrong, wrong wrong. |
You’re
gonna have a TON of people there to
see you rock the fuck out right? Wrong,
wrong wrong. Here’s how NYC rolls,
Band #1 brings in 15 of their friends
to see them play. Band #1 finishes.
Band #1 leaves. Friends of Band #1 leave.
Band #2? Rinse and Repeat. The people
you bring are the ONLY people that will
be there to see you play. Some people
would like to accuse all the others
acts on the bill for being total asses
for not hanging out and supporting the
other bands. Honestly, 75% of the time
you’d probably be right but even
if all the bands wanted to stay and
party the whole fucking night with you
THEY CAN’T. This is NYC and space
is something you find between people
ears but NOT in clubs. 10 bands worth
of gear won’t fit in most small
clubs so when you’re done playing,
you need to get the fuck off the stage
and out of the club. Most promoters
won’t even allow bands to load
in more than an hour before they are
supposed to be on stage. There’s
no room. The club and promoter make
out great though. Every band brings
in a few people, 8 out of the ten bands
won’t break 15 people because
everyone they know is out at one of
the other 374 shows going on in the
city that night. Meanwhile the promoter
keeps most of the door and the club
gets all of the bar. You can make money
with merchandise right? You can’t
sell merch because there isn’t
any room for merch and if there is room,
it’ll be in the part of the club
that everyone avoids because it smells
like shit and piss… literally.
Sounds pretty bad right? It can be.
How can it all be avoided? COMMUNITY.
| It
smells like shit and piss…
How can it all be avoided? |
|
Contact
the bands on the bill that play directly
before AND after you. Trade promotional
materials and share your audience. Hang
out a LITTLE longer before the next
band arrives, share gear if possible
and there’s more room for everyone
(the promoter can’t kick out as
quick either if that’s your amp
on the stage). 45 people drunk off their
asses trying to dance through your set
is a hell of a lot cooler than your
15 buddies from work (no offense to
work buddies of the world). Hell, some
of them might even like your stuff.
Wanna survive in NYC? Know people! Makes
friend on message boards, call bands,
whatever… just know this: If you
don’t know anyone in NYC when
you play, stay the fuck out… New
Yorkers eat their young.
-Chvad SB, t.o.t.s.
