Starting A Party

[ringworm]

What's up everyone. I'm going to be starting a party in February and I'm looking for some advice. There are practically zero house/deep/techno parties in our city at all and it's been that way for quite some time. Closest parties to us are about 30 minutes South on Tuesdays (weekly) and Wednesdays (bi-weekly I believe) and then we have Los Angeles/Hollywood about 40 minutes North of us.

As of now I can take over a Friday night once a month or possibly a Thursday once a month. As much as I would love to take the Friday slot, we would have tough competition with the big nights up in LA. However doing a Thursday makes it hard for those who have work Friday morning.

I have a location locked down that is perfect as far as I'm concerned. It's a fairly well known dive bar with a dance floor and stage on one side separated by wall with the bar on the other. I haven't gotten the capacity number yet but I'd guess with 75 people on the dance floor and another 50 spread throughout the bar side it would be full. Which is why I love the place, even if we don't have a great turn out it won't look empty. I'd much rather prefer an intimate venue as well. It's very easy to find and get to as well.

They have a system but I'm not sure how happy I will be with it. I have a big sub and access to 4 PAs. More than willing to spend the money on rental equipment at first then upgrade if needed (not too concerned with it right now). I have a djm800 and xone 92 and access to cdj 2000/900s. They have a pretty cool light set-up in there already and two of the walls are fully mirrored which gives a cool vibe on the dance floor.

As for price in thinking $5-10 depending on who is playing. Breaking even is really all I'm concerned with at this point. All profit will be made from the door minus $50 for security. Myself along with my friends who will be helping and who are just generally involved have been to countless parties over the past years and many of them do their own parties/small festivals in other cites and play out all over the place. Getting talent is something I am not too concerned with.

So, with that, what advice or pointers can anyone add who has experience with this type of thing? Any info is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Daily Crisis]

My advice is if you want to do it, do it

[William Gibson]

Yea man, it dosnt sound like there is much left besides getting people to go. You got a spot, talents not an issue, equiptments not an issue. Sounds like you need a few thousand flyers and a backpack and your set....

[Nas525]

Sounds like you have a good set with all equipment and sound. The Djing side of everything is done! but now you have to go into the business world. that is a totally difference place. Is the Bar allowing you to use the liquour? i would imagine that they would for their own profit. But do you get apart of that profit?

Another question is, how high is your demand for people wanting to go to that type of club. I know you mentioned clubs like 40 mins away. But i would look for people wanting to go to that type of club in a 20 mile raduis of your club spot. im just saying that if people want to go to the clubs they wouldn't mind driving half an hour to go to an insane club for the night.

Another thing is advertising? what do you have in that area? im sorry but flyers wont be enough, try calling radio stations close they would love to talk about the new opening and maybe even have you talk with them for a bit.

Otherwise besides that you seem ur crazy good to put this on.

[ringworm]

Thanks for the replies. As for the bar they serve beer and liquor and have fair prices as far as I know. However, I will receive no money from the bar, all will be from door sales. This is another concern for throwing a friday night party... harder to book people who could be playing bigger parties and the cost will be higher I'd imagine. I was leaning more towards Thursday for this reason and also being able to snag talent that is in the general area (within a couple hours) before the weekend hits. Also, as mentioned above, making a drive to LA for a big night may be much more desirable. Having said that, I think the Thursday may not be available any more (long story).

As for demand I think we would be able to have a pretty solid turn out between our friend groups and music crews along with a major university being 5 minutes away.

Advertising would primarily be online through social media, word of mouth, and putting fliers up at the college to begin with. Radio stations are a good idea though, we have a couple that play good music.

I guess my main concern at this point is having it on a Friday, but if that's all we can get right now we're still going through with it. Any further comments are appreciated

[Nas525]

If you have that major college there. Ur honesty set! That's perfect and teens like that love the bar and music. Does that college have a radio station or something that all the kids look up for news? I would be all over that if I was you. It seems like your biggest target market would be the college kids that's what I would focus on the most.

A $5 commission to get in doesn't seem to much at all.
Do you think you can make up for lost profit? I mean I'm not sure what your missing in this point I know PA system. But for the rest of the talent is that free or will you pay for them? There's a lot of stuff that goes into this all the little things count

[Official Alokin]

build up hype for your event as soon as possible , get people talking by having talent that people know booked ahead of time. Get flyers up in universities and hand them out, go mad on social media. Get 1 radio station involved, maybe bring out a radio personality as well, always helps. And lastly have a drink special.

[DJ SB]

What venue?

[Sambo]

Id there's no venue in that area doing Deep House like you said, then you owe it to yourself to organise this event. Bring your core group of friends, get them to bring their core group of friends so there's a baseline of people, and then flyer/facebook the hell out of it. Use a tag line like "blahblahs only Deep House night"

also like above, getting a mention on the radio would be good. Also look into setting up a camera (ala Boiler Room) so that you can upload footage of the night online, so people can get an idea of the vibe.

Also price wise, go $5 advance, $7 on the door. You only need ten people to buy in advance and you've got the security covered, and anything else is profit for the night.

ALSO make sure you agree on the bar tariff. People won't enjoy paying $5 to get in but then having to pay $10 for a drink. Even though you can say "Well what the bar charges aren't my problem", for the people going to your event, it definitely is your problem.

ALSO ALSO hash out a contract with the manager for various issues, for example him cancelling, you cancelling, him changing the bar tariff, him cutting off your set, what happens in case of a fire/power cut, who's responsible for promoting the night, providing security, if there'll be any organised transport for the partygoers, all that nitty gritty.

ALSO ALSO ALSO Do you have to have PPL in America? Here in the UK, it's a massively overlooked thing although it's dirt cheap and it covers your ass if one of your DJs drops the bass too many times and launches a CDJ into the crowd and kills one of the punters.

[dkokkos]

where you from?