01001: How to put on a concert
By: omnicolorRecently, some friends and I decided to put on a concert for some local bands. We've learned alot about how bureacratic everything is, and how annoying it is to have to work through a bureacracy. Anyway, I thought it would be a good idea to extract some of my ideas on this into an article.
My first and most important piece of advice: If for some reason you are crazy enough to put on a concert, DON'T! It's a pain in the ass, with no real tangible rewards. However, if you decided to ignore that, please follow the rest of these. I can't promise that it'll go smoothly, but I wish I had followed them. My concert would have gone much more smooth.
Here's some other things were trying. You might want to emulate a few.
Record the concert. We're making a recording of the entire time on a four track that a friend lent us. All the bands get a tape of their set. Then, using a CD burner of another friend, we're going to do CD's. A blank CD costs $5, you can sell it for $10. It does take time, but if you're dedicated, it can work.
Videotape the concert. If it's good enough, or if you're a good enough video editor, you can sell it too, though people wouldn't buy it as readily.
Take pictures. We're planning on putting some of the pictures on a web page, and maybe making a printed booklet of some kind, either to go with the CD and video, or for sell by itself.
Have a raffle, I know it sounds cheesy, but you can by some cheap ass yet still desirable prize, and sell tickets for a dollar. If you make more money in the raffle then you spent on the prize, you've got more profit. Of course, if you spend alot on the prize, it cuts into your profits. There's always the option of having someone donating something. Then you make 100%.
Wet T-shirt contest. I don't think this would work at all in a high school concert like we put on, but it's worth a try. Have a jar for people to put money in, and give the winner a large portion of the proceeds. Have people pay to do the water.
Although our concert did not come off, we're starting to plan another one in a more remote location, and hopefully this one will be better planned. Instead of the concert we had planned for so long, we ended up having a small cook out with a band and a guitarist. We asked for donations, and made about $150, so on the whole, we lost about $450. Not bad, but we were lucky to have been able to cancel out of the costs that we incurred. But at least we DID something. We decided on something, and set out to do it. We failed, but we still tried. Most people are so apathetic that they do not even attempt to do anything, so I think we did succeed at something.
My first and most important piece of advice: If for some reason you are crazy enough to put on a concert, DON'T! It's a pain in the ass, with no real tangible rewards. However, if you decided to ignore that, please follow the rest of these. I can't promise that it'll go smoothly, but I wish I had followed them. My concert would have gone much more smooth.
- Plan ahead of time. I suggest for the sake of getting everything planned out, pretend that the concert is actually one month earlier then it is, and hold yourself to that deadline. Decided your schedule as early as possible. We had a band come in not four days before the concert, and then another come in immediately after it. We couldn't seat the second one, and there was some hostility about it. Decided what food you want, and check out prices ahead of time. Go looking for equipment ahead of time. Not only will this save you the headaches of worrying about it at the last minute, you'll get a better choice of equipment for the same price.
- Advertise. This part is hard. We were lucky and got a great deal on copies from a small copy shop, plus a presale ticket (which we hadn't even thought of selling before hand.) We found out that with all the equipment we needed, we needed a huge amount of people to show up. The more people we had show up, the more food we thought we needed. For a concert the size of ours, you'll need more then $2000 in either spending cash or profits. We had to raise the ticket price because of the need for security. Whatever you do, do not let the bands do their own advertising, or if you do, tell them to make sure to include your concert line's number on there. Our concert was shut down due to an attempt by one of our bands to get some advertising, putting the show in the public domain, as well as notifying the powers that are against teens having fun.
- Network. This also comes with just trying things. If you have ANY friends, use them. Whenever you buy something, see if they'll give you a discount. If they won't give you a discount for mentioning their name at the concert, go for bulk discount. We got a GREAT discount from Key Kopy on the fliers we made. (if you're in Northern Virginia, check them out: 14100-A Lee Hwy, Newgate Shopping Center, Centreville, VA 20120, 703-830-5151) The lady basicly felt sorry for us. Then for some free advertising, we got a couple of flat bed trucks from a local farm. All of the bands agreed to play for free. We gave them some free advertising and playing time, they played for free. If at all possible, barter for everything you can. Trade services. Money can be your last choice if you are careful. We weren't, and now we are broke. Your friends can be a great asset to your staff. They are all going to ask to get in free, so put them to work. We had a staff of about 10 people, and their payment was getting in for free.
- Make sure you have the concert in a place where people are not close enough to complain. We had Deepwoodstock in the middle of a suburban subdivision and ended up with many problems with the locals. In the 90's, people will bitch and moan about anything, even if it's nothing more then a bunch of people having fun. But I'm not going to go off on a rant about the state of the world today.
- Food is a pain in the ass. We did hot dogs. Having thought about it in retrospect, it would have most likely been cheaper and easier to get a side of beef or a pig and roasted them there.
- Budget, budget, and budget. Figure out how much you are willing to spend. Add $500 for incidental expenses, and you might have a conservative estimate. Plan to lose the money. I wish we had. If we get shut down, we're out alot of money. Put up a donation jar. Charge for everything. Sell everything. If you want to be extremely cruel, do the PCU thing and charge $2 to stand and $4 to sit. Food is a big money maker.
Here's some other things were trying. You might want to emulate a few.
Record the concert. We're making a recording of the entire time on a four track that a friend lent us. All the bands get a tape of their set. Then, using a CD burner of another friend, we're going to do CD's. A blank CD costs $5, you can sell it for $10. It does take time, but if you're dedicated, it can work.
Videotape the concert. If it's good enough, or if you're a good enough video editor, you can sell it too, though people wouldn't buy it as readily.
Take pictures. We're planning on putting some of the pictures on a web page, and maybe making a printed booklet of some kind, either to go with the CD and video, or for sell by itself.
Have a raffle, I know it sounds cheesy, but you can by some cheap ass yet still desirable prize, and sell tickets for a dollar. If you make more money in the raffle then you spent on the prize, you've got more profit. Of course, if you spend alot on the prize, it cuts into your profits. There's always the option of having someone donating something. Then you make 100%.
Wet T-shirt contest. I don't think this would work at all in a high school concert like we put on, but it's worth a try. Have a jar for people to put money in, and give the winner a large portion of the proceeds. Have people pay to do the water.
Although our concert did not come off, we're starting to plan another one in a more remote location, and hopefully this one will be better planned. Instead of the concert we had planned for so long, we ended up having a small cook out with a band and a guitarist. We asked for donations, and made about $150, so on the whole, we lost about $450. Not bad, but we were lucky to have been able to cancel out of the costs that we incurred. But at least we DID something. We decided on something, and set out to do it. We failed, but we still tried. Most people are so apathetic that they do not even attempt to do anything, so I think we did succeed at something.
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