Tuesday 15th May 2018
urbandevelopmnt had another great turn out at ‘How Lit Is Your Live Game’ #IndustryTakeOver seminar last month, with a very inspirational relevant and informative panel; Whitney Boateng, Aisha Abdulhameed, Jeffrey Antwi, Chris Cooke & host Roberta!
Soooo… courtesy of NHAM of course, I got to the Red Bull Studios a little later than everyone else, you know them awkward stares when you enter a room full of people listening to the panel and then all eyes dart your way? yeah… anxiety ya bastard. Fortunately I clocked my NHAM ladies Francesca and Neha who gave me the reassuring ‘hey hun, all is good smiles‘ you the real GS!
The panel were Speaking about marketing and how useful social media is as a business tool… It is a common topic of conversation at most of the events I attend , but I was quite keen to listen to one of the panellists talking about offline marketing as I do believe it can help you grow your network immensely. It seemed like the room was in full agreement that word of mouth is a more validated way of marketing in some areas in the industry.
Jeffrey Antwi who has over 7 years of solid working background within music, events and production management spoke about how he first started off with a free event because he was more concerned with building his brand first rather than making money, he gave a great example about how to do deals with venues and if you do have to put money in for a venue then do it, because your being given the opportunity to prove that you can bring business and you have to show promoters that you can bring money, be smart and make room for negotiations and give yourself the chance to play around with figures.
when thinking about or planning an event you do have to be a bit wary and considerate of costs, make sure you know your budget and exactly what you are paying for, this can include the cost of venue hire, sound, rigs, lighting, production and security, all of which may or may not be included in venue hire and might need to be outsourced.
Make sure Your audience connects with the music
Who’s responsibility is it to put the set list together?
Artists and management.
Make sure you are checking where your demographic is and build from there, do your research, ask people and pay attention to views/likes and streams and the insights they provide.
You really need to identify your fan base, start small because you cant always pack out venues with friends and family on the guest list.
Around 2000 of a persons 20,000 followers are active.
How do you price tickets and negotiate artist fee’s?
Whitney – It is based on how much an artist or and act is going to be paid, there will be a higher end fee for a more popular artist, how much have you paid out for an artist, venue hire and promo? you should be looking to make that money back plus profit but it will take time. How much I offer depends on my judgement, I don’t ever offer a price that I know will get turned down.
Jeffrey – you dont wanna price it so people cant affird the tickets and you dont want to price it too low so that you are’nt making any money. You also need to consider what the booking fee is from ticketing sites.
Use your initiative.
Sometimes you have to prepare for a loss in order for your brand to grow, might have to borrow money from family and friends, or use student loan to pay for the costs which will allow the event to be free and not ticketed.
Speaking about merchandise at events, someone asked a question what level artist do you need to be to sell merch?
(I dont know why but super saiyan popped into my head…)
Artists make money from different income streams rather than just PRS and tickets, you have to look at all possible avenues of income.
If you’re going to do merch then do it properly! Make sure it is visible to your fans and not a hidden stand at the back of the rave.
Make sure your DJ is promoting, be visible, be smart.
What is the best way to get booked for a festival?
It’s about fanbase, whether or not you have commercial appeal, your social media stats (as im learning…)
If your fanbase has demand, festival promoters will generally contact the artists management or representation. Your agent should be actively promoting you and trying to get you bookings.
As long as you have 1 fan or 1 client – you can build on that.
Let the work speak for itself.
What advice would you give to smaller acts trying to get their foot in the door?
You can’t open every single email, just continue to do you and they will find you when the times right. Agents are not crucial at the early stages of the start of your career, but there is a stage you will come to if you have persisted and are talented where you will need an agent. And it will be crucial.
Try and do as much live shows as possible, go to lots of open mic and networking events, good ones to to go to are ‘I LUV LIVE‘ & ‘The Den‘ and ‘SLCTD‘ until you feel your at a point to do your own show.
Make sure you always tell people who you are and where they can find you and listen to your music.
Any member of staff in the buildings/venues you hire all talk, so get known by everyone in that venue, the management, the cleaner, the electrics guy?
BE VISIBLE – You never know who’s in the building!
Don’t be shy to ask for contacts, everyone loves making contacts, theres so much everyone can help everyone with.
SGX
