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Gig Promotion


johnnydee

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Hi Guys,

I'd Really Appreciate Your Suggestions.

I'm Putting On A Gig At The Tunnels Shortly And Am Looking For Promotion Suggestions. I Have A Great Band And Support Act Lined Up But Need To Know The Best Ways Of Selling The Tickets.

I'd Just Like Your Comments On The Which Areas Work And Which Dont. Advice I've Been Given Include Both:

"Posters, Flyers and Selling Your Tickets In One Up Is A Must"

And

"Posters, Flyers and Selling Your Tickets In One Up Wont Work, You Wont Sell Any Tickets For An Unknown Line Up"

Many Thanks

Johnny Dee

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It depends on the scale of the gig, but if you get the basics right and the right lineup it shouldn't be too difficult.

Posters all over aberdeen is a must really, make something eyecatching, and stick em up everywhere that will let you... flyers are in my opinion a good idea, but only when handed out selectivley, you cant just stand on union street and hand out a few hundred flyers to a gig 99% of the folks wont want to goto. Target places like one-up on a saturday afternoon, outside gigs of a similar genre when doors close and everyone piles out, ect. i'm sure you get the idea!

As for the ticket thing, if it is a local lineup, or relativley unknown bands i personally think tickets are a waste of time and money, no reason you can't just get folk to pay at the door.

i've put on a fair few gigs over the years, some very successful, some complete failures, so good luck, and i hope everything goes well for you! there are plenty of other members on here who will probably have better advice than me, but if you have any more questions, or even need a hand with anything, feel free to PM me.

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I know the feeling, but it really does depend on the turnout you expect and how big the bands are...

It is pointless selling tickets to a local lineup that isnt going to sell the place out to be honest!

I put on dopamine a few years ago in tunnels, sold about 15 tickets and proceeded to shite myself, ended up with over 200 through the doors on the night though.... :up:

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Tickets are only essential if you think the gig has a possibility of selling out, so you don't hazard any health and safety issues, and get the whole event shut down.

If you're worried no one will turn up, then you mustn't have much faith in the band(s) you're promoting, which I'm sure has happened with most promoters. A pretty obvious way of tackling that is just putting a local band on the bill that people want to see, and will attract an audience. Mixed bills can be scoffed at, but if the local band you're using to bring people through the door can attract a completely different audience to the headline band, then it's an additional chance of getting more people through the door again.

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hi

original, i have more than enough faith in the talents and abilities of the acts lined up, both are fantastic, which is why i'm doing this. the main band have previously sold out king tuts but have never gigged in aberdeen, my point is i'm not niave enough to think that just putting up posters will be enough to draw in a crowd. believe me though these guys can play

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Guest Gladstone

My tuppence worth:

Putting posters everywhere in Aberdeen that will let you do so is a waste of time and money.

No matter how eye-catching a poster is, if once the person sees the pretty poster and looks at it and hasn't heard of the band before, they'll forget about it by the time they get home.

You can spend a lot of money getting posters printed, and a lot of time going round the whole of Aberdeen sticking them up, but I just don't think it's an effective use of your time and money. Get a few posters and stick them up in "select" places, where people who might go and see an unknown band will see it. One Up is a good example, especially if you're going to sell tickets in One Up. BUT, for an unknown band you'll be lucky to sell more than a handful of tickets in One Up.

Depending on what you're break even figure is, you're probably as well not having tickets for a gig at Tunnels if it's for completely unknown bands. Couple of fairly popular local supports, and you should be okay.

Facebook Events is a pretty good tool for promoting gigs.

And - speaking to people. Don't send a generic text to everyone in your mobile contacts and expect them all to turn up. It's far better to go through your phonebook and pick out the people who might be interested, and give them a buzz, or send them an individual text! I used to do the former, and all I succeeded in doing was probably annoying the 90% of the people I texted that had no interest whatsoever in a gig at the Tunnels on a Tuesday night or whatever!!

Mass generic promotion doesn't work in my opinion - i.e 3 gazillion posters around town, 300 texts to everyone in your contact list, 500 emails to everyone in your contact list etc etc. More concentrated promotion is better - i.e. targetting people who will be interested, and spending a bit more time and effort focussing your promotion towards them. Generally - don't spread your promotion too thinly.

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