Corporate Gig

Just got a booking for a pretty big high street clothes store (big in the US, just launched here), to play their press evening next week.
I'm looking forward to it as I did their launch party a few months ago and it was a great party after all the business was done.

However, this time they've said that they want the music to 'reflect what they play in store'. I've been emailed their instore playlist and apparently someone is bringing a USB stick with some mp3s on...

I'm starting to get a bad feeling about it, as I'll basically just be playing through a playlist, but it might still be fun.

Anyone had any gigs like this? Got any horrific stories about jumped-up marketing managers making their life hell that'll make me feel even worse about the gig?

Is there any way to get the tracks before hand? If not maybe show up extra early and prepare a bit. I'd be a bit weary about it for technical reasons. Aside from that, playing music on the fly is fun!

Maybe explain to them that you have no idea the quality of the files on the USB stick and you've been burned in the past with sub par music provided for you. Tell them if they give a list of songs you'll be happy to build a list around those, but don't play their crappy 99k torrented tracks.

Get them to burn the mp3s to CD so that you dont have to use someones dodgy USB stick.

They said the files will be mp3, but i think they should be decent quality as its coming from their instore playlist, which im assuming is gonna be okay...
I was thinking of getting there early and copying them off the stick before i set up, as i wont have a free usb port once im set up anyway.

Ive got the playlist as a text file so will prob buy all the best stuff that i havent already got. You gotsta speculate to accumulate!

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Originally Posted by Alex Wild

They said the files will be mp3, but i think they should be decent quality as its coming from their instore playlist, which im assuming is gonna be okay...

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I really doubt that, most crappy in store speakers make it hard to tell the difference between bitrates. I would ask them to make sure you're getting at least 320kbps on the USB. If they don't know, get the music yourself.

What I mean is, I assume that a fairly large company would be buying their music (therefore in a decent format) and not ripping it all to play instore across all their branches.

I wouldn't bet on the music being legit or quality. Couple days ago I was in a clothing store in the mall and heard a black eyed peas track that had the DJs name drop in it. Music downloading is still ok to do for a lot of people. Its become so common and easy that whoever is putting that usb drive together may not care where the tunes come from

Yeah, I hear ya. I've been going through and getting the ones i think are worth having and I'll deal with this USB gizmo when I get there...

spend a day there and shazam every song they play

Congrats on the gig! May i ask what store it is? I am in the US and currently trying to get some in-store gigs like this in order to get some more cash and build a more professional setup.

^ i think puma in boston does something similar often