how to promote a show (was: Re: Voices of Masada, et.al)

[Lord Degan]

Just some random thoughts on concerts, the scene, etc, from some nobody who
goes to the occasional concert.


1.  The best set of suggestions has come from Alex.  I seem to remember that
a lot more in the way of promotion went on 5 to 10 years ago.  Probably a
lot more attention needs to be paid to the college crown and twenty
-somethings.  

2. As far as venues go, Garfield Artworks is not bad.  I wonder, would it
help get the college crowd in if flyers and announcements for the shows also
contained transportation info, like what bus route will get you there and
back again from Oakland, South Side, wherever?  Is there a web site for
Garfield artworks with directions and bus routes?  I never checked for a web
site because I know where it is.

3.  As far as new venues, I went to one concert on South Side at the Brew
Space.  They had a pretty nice stage set up in the back.  Is that space
still there?  I saw "This Ascension" there a while back with Jordan Decay
and Alexx of Thou Shalt Not (definitely one of the best concerts I've seen
in years.) Are there still concerts at this venue? (Yes, I've been out of
touch these last few months).  Do concerts on South Side draw more people
than Garfield Artworks?   I remember about 20 people at the "This Ascension"
concert, and I thought that was woefully under attended given the quality of
the show. 

4. I know that the Night Shift at Ceremony have been pretty good about
announcing some shows and that shows are announced here on the list.  But is
Ceremony or the Pitt Goth list being promoted much?  I've met over a dozen
people at Ceremony in the last year who didn't know there was a Pittsburgh
Goth list.  And Ceremony doesn't seem to draw as many new people as it used
to.  I know that b-logs have taken some people away from the Goth list.  But
some of the decline in traffic here might be because people who used to post
often have moved and a lot of new people in the scene don't know it's here. 
   It seems that years ago, this list was a great way to get news of
concerts out to people.  Can some one tell me, has there been a decline in
the number of people subscribed to this list over the last eight years.

Any comments?

LD





>This is how it was done when shows were getting 400 people in 
>attendance in Pittsburgh.  I hate to be mean, but I think that a lot of 
>the issues nowadays have more to do with underpromotion than with 
>sluggish crowds.  Yes, audiences are stupid, lazy, selfish, and poor, 
>but that's why you have to work so hard to get them to come out.  I 
>dragged people kicking and screaming to see the Dresden Dolls 18+ 
>months back, and I know that for example that night made a *lot* of new 
>fans.  It was tremendously rewarding as a promoter to see people get 
>into something new, and had I just put up some posters at an outdoor 
>kiosk at Pitt that said "Bella Morte show on Friday," it would have 
>been a very different story.

>So yeah.  Whoever said "If you build it they will come" was not a 
>promoter.  Stop blaming the scene and start working harder.  The scene 
>is there for the [m/t]aking.

-Alex

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