Alternative Venues

in starting out with getting gigs, and building up a fan base, i'm finding more and more it's a huge financial risk to take your event to a club on the initial gigs. i've been looking up event spaces around atlanta, and even the cheapest is ~$700 for a 5 hour slot with a PA included. with a small fan base this is a huge risk as it would mean either: 70 people @ $10/head or 140 @ $5/head, and that's just breaking even. so i'm wondering if any of you out there have found a good (read: cheap, cheap is good :D) place/method for hosting events in places other than the typical club or bar. although i'm all for putting up the money and risking it all for a little exposure - money is hard to come by these days so the loss would hit a little harder. any help/tips is greatly appreciated, thanks in advance.

when i was promoting events it was in a smalltown so i imagine the politics are a little different than a big city like atlanta. but this is what we did for a couple of our events and I'm sure it might work for you anyways:

the only venue we could afford with our tight budget was this Yoga Studio/Tae Kwon Do Dojo a friend of ours ran. It's probably not the norm that many people would lend these kind of spaces for parties, but it's an option if you know the right people. So I guess my advice is to try and getting chummy with people who own spaces like dance/film/yoga/martial arts studios who want to make a little extra pocket change.

I think this is an ideal way for you to do some of your first parties since you expect less than 200 guests which would fit these spaces perfectly. Also you will be able to rent the space for much cheaper than designated venues/halls that were built for events. Low cost venue is a good thing because you're probably going to want to spend most of your budget on Audio/Lighting equipment which can make or break a party.

don`t you have warehouses or squats in Atlanta?
Other than that, team up with people make a diy pa and establish it as a party brand.

What I did to get a fan base and for people to take notice was:
1) rent out a venue such as a hall for a night (this usually cost me around $200)
2) create an event on facebook and told everyone I knew.
3) sold tickits to the event to cover cost of rented gear and for the hall.

Then you got everything covered with some change left over in your pocket. My first event like this was a Halloween party and it was of the hook! Sence Halloween is coming up again I am tempted to do this again.

There is also camping areas, thats what we do for psytrance parties(Doofs) here in Australia - the people who attend these events are hippies though so they like being in nature n stuff :p

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Originally Posted by BentoSan

There is also camping areas, thats what we do for psytrance parties(Doofs) here in Australia - the people who attend these events are hippies though so they like being in nature n stuff :p

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That's my kind of scene! I am lucky that if I ever get up the nerve to actually host an event, a local bar will let me do it for free. I am playing there right now one night a week, but with a bit of an issue, its free pool night and the old folks who come in prefer country. I'll play a little to start, but then its off to what they call "elevator" music. I had a guy offer me $20 to play one more country track just before I packed up. /sigh - oh well, at least I am getting to learn in public!

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Originally Posted by duerr

Yoga Studio/Tae Kwon Do Dojo

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excellent advice brother, i'll definitely look into this as there are a lot in my area.

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Originally Posted by derjay

don`t you have warehouses or squats in Atlanta?
Other than that, team up with people make a diy pa and establish it as a party brand.

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i've been looking up warehouses but most are used for commercial storage, the more swanky ones are hard to find/get in touch with an owner. but this was my first idea of a spot.

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Originally Posted by Abyrne7

1) rent out a venue such as a hall for a night (this usually cost me around $200)
2) create an event on facebook and told everyone I knew.
3) sold tickits to the event to cover cost of rented gear and for the hall.

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this was the plan. however as our first event showed, people that say they're coming on facebook don't always come. we had about 100 people "definitely" coming, with about 150 "maybe".. and about 20 people showed up tops. twas a bummer. it was a good thing we didn't pay anything for the venue.

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Originally Posted by BentoSan

There is also camping areas, thats what we do for psytrance parties(Doofs) here in Australia - the people who attend these events are hippies though so they like being in nature n stuff :p

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i'd love to throw a party like this..logistics are the only issue. i read a long discussion on djforums about the legalities of this and it seems like a big risk for me and my gear, do you get permits and go through the legal motions or just go and set it up?

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Originally Posted by djhipnotikk

i'd love to throw a party like this..logistics are the only issue. i read a long discussion on djforums about the legalities of this and it seems like a big risk for me and my gear, do you get permits and go through the legal motions or just go and set it up?

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Its usually in the middle of nowhere so doing everything exactly to the book hasnt been much of an issue as the cops dont really hassle us too much unless there are noise complaints- theres been a bit of an internal push in the community to do things more by the book recently though.

They are a pretty cool crowd of people, slowly getting to know the guys organizing the events better over time and getting to know how things run, still kinda early days though, but i have made friends with a few of the people organizing stuff which is nice.

Speaking of which i am heading off to EarthDance tomorrow, its gonna be a blast - ill be back on sunday !