We have been able to get hold of a nightclub in Bournemouth for a night (Friday) to host our own event. They said we could have the venue to do as we please as long as they can get the money for entry and bar profits (which is fine).
So far we have a group of DJs together who all play Techno & UK bass house. I am a graphic designer myself so I will be designing the posters and leaflets and promoting the event.
Are there any dos and dont for launching an event and any pitfills you guys may have come across.
I would try to negotiate a % of bar sales. Something comfortable. At a smaller local spot we did in Chicago for a bit, we would take 20% of bar sales after they hit $1500. The party would run from 10pm - 2am, so it wasn’t really hard to get enough people to hit $1500. It’s worth a shot.
DO NOT do the same style of music every Friday if it is a weekly. Try to pull different crews together to have themed nights based around what they bring to the table. Put together a promo team. Being in the UK, reaching out to other areas should not be a challenge.
Exactly. I would try to work out a deal where you get either of the 2. If it’s no cover, then you should get something from bar sales. You’re being pimped out by the owner right now.
edit/ You can make a password for anyone going to the party to say at the door, then for each head that uses the password you’ll get for example $3.
If he has never thrown a night before, profit should not be a concern. This is the first spot to fill on his resume. If the night is successful, then move to negotiate an exchange.
Being part owner in a venue in the past taught me:
If someone has no experience in hosting events, they need to prove themselves first
Measure profitability vs. cost always
This is just odd to me. What if he wants to throw a techno night weekly/bi weekly? What’s the issue here? Is he supposed to do techno the first week, and hip hop the second, and pop the third? What kind of following would you build being random like this? I can’t make sense of it honestly.
I don’t really follow this idea, sorry. If he picks a night where the venue has no party and hosts one.. What is the cost to the venue? They let someone else promote a party that’s supposed to bring new people in, they don’t have to do anything different then they normally would.
There should be some type of agreement where if the bar gets busier than it normally would that night, and does good behind the bar then of course you should get a kickback(like I mentioned earlier, 10-20 percent of bar sales if they hit a number that the owner is happy with)… I can see how that’s a smart move on the venue’s side since it will allow them to make even more if sales go up because of the party, but that’s a terrible move by the promoter. The goal is to make money for everyone, but he won’t get paid if he has a shit turn out since the bar never reached that % agreed upon.
I never understood the whole “do it for experience who cares about getting paid” argument… If the bar makes $1300 roughly every Wednesday night, and on his first night throwing the party they take in over $2000 there should be some type of pay going to the promoter(which can obviously be agreed upon before throwing the party).
Doing the same theme every night will wear out the venue for those that attend for that specific theme. YOu dont have to be random.
If you were re-doing the tile in your house on your own, would you pay someone who had absolutely no flooring experience to help you, or would you share a couple beers with your cousin?
The venue is taking a risk bringing in any new talent. This is why you should not expect any contractual obligations on your first hosted gigs. What if the bar normally does $3,500 on a wednesday night, but only does $2,000 on the night of your event? WOuld you want to cover their loss?
There are two sides to every coin. On top of that, the venue is most likely providing sound, lighting, a place to have his artists showcased, etc. I am sorry, but if I was approached by a fresh promoter and they asked for margin sharing off the bat, I would write into the agreement a responsibility for lost revenue, responsibility of damages to sound, lighting, equipment, and furniture, etcetera.
You have to remember that the venue is offering itself for free to him.
There are some points there that I didn’t take into account. I am actually considering starting a party of my own soon, so it’s nice to get both sides of the story.
The OP is hoping to create a BRAND, a brand needs an identity. It’s irrelevant to think about the ‘normal’ clientele as the OP is putting on this event for a specific sound, which will attract a specific audience.
I help to run a night called Footwork in Milton Keynes, we have a specific sound and a specific crowd. People come to our events because they know what to expect musically.
If they wanted to hear pop/hip hop/rock, they would go to a different event or, if they wanted to go to a night where they play all of the aforementioned then there’s plenty of venues that cater for that.
My words of advice would be: Don’t expect to make a lot of money. We started with local DJs but eventually started to bring in headliners of different levels - one time we brought in DJ Zinc, spent the best part of £2500 on the event, made a loss, but my word, did we have a bl**dy good time!
We always kept whatever was made on the door and the venue made A LOT of money on the bar. If I were you, i’d be negotioating to keep at least a little bit of the door for the first 2 or 3 gigs, and then come to the arangement that if it goes well, you take all of the door and they keep the bar takings.
Speaking from my own experience i would stick someone you trust to sit on the door with the door staff, at a night me and some friends organised we had a deal that the owners keep the bar and we would keep the door takings if we hit 200 people, through out the night we found out that some people were being turned away for the most trivial of things - one of my close friends was even searched, had his wallet taken from his pocket and was turned away because he only had £20 in there, it was only after the event that we found out that the owner was doing this all night, just be careful who you jump in bed with and be sure you can trust them!
make sure you have defined roles within your group, and keep it small. i’ve found that the more people get involved the worst.
imagine living with 5 room mates and one kitchen sink, versus 2 room mates and on kitchen sink. your 2 room mate situation is less likely to have a massive pile if smelly week old dishes. promo, a&r, and admin work are usually the three pillars. although at this stage it might be redundant to have these pillars defined, it makes scaling your party a lot easier and less chance for people slack off.
also, make sure that each artist you bring in is relevant to your brand and direction. you dont have a lot of chances to make mistakes, so don’t take too much risk without understanding the benefits of your choices.
and most importantly, have fun. if it doesn’t work out it doesn’t work out. try again. i think starting a club night is a great trial by fire with Entrepreneurship. it will give you a new found respect to anyone who can achieve success