performing at a venue

J

james_face

New member
Im a rapper looking to book my self for the first time at clubs and lounges how much should I ask for the guarantee and when should I expect to recieve payment also the what percent of the 80/20 split should I ask for and how many cds should I expect to sell average if Im good? thanks
 
This has to be one of the most unanswerable questions ever...

On unproven talent, I'd expect the guarantee to be $0 (if not actually "buying your own tickets" to perform). I have no idea what 80/20 split you're referring to, but I'd hope for the 80 part (unless that's the part that has the liabilities and expenses in it). How many CD's? Who the hell knows...? Maybe none. Maybe 3, maybe 10, maybe 100, maybe 1,000... Depends.

Suggestion: If you think you're sellable enough to warrant a guarantee from a venue, seek reputable representation. If you can score decent management, there you go - Let them worry about it. If you can't score representation, then you don't have much say in the matter.
 
Massive Master said:
This has to be one of the most unanswerable questions ever...

On unproven talent, I'd expect the guarantee to be $0 (if not actually "buying your own tickets" to perform). I have no idea what 80/20 split you're referring to, but I'd hope for the 80 part (unless that's the part that has the liabilities and expenses in it). How many CD's? Who the hell knows...? Maybe none. Maybe 3, maybe 10, maybe 100, maybe 1,000... Depends.

Suggestion: If you think you're sellable enough to warrant a guarantee from a venue, seek reputable representation. If you can score decent management, there you go - Let them worry about it. If you can't score representation, then you don't have much say in the matter.
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He's right. It would be hard to determine any of that without knowing level of talent and venues ETC ETC.
 
The way the live scene works for new acts nowadays, you will be lucky if they don't charge you to perform there.

Unknown new act? Until you get a decent following that you can guarantee will turn up, the venue won't guarantee anything.

Cheers

Alan.
 
Massive Master said:
This has to be one of the most unanswerable questions ever...

On unproven talent, I'd expect the guarantee to be $0 (if not actually "buying your own tickets" to perform). I have no idea what 80/20 split you're referring to, but I'd hope for the 80 part (unless that's the part that has the liabilities and expenses in it). How many CD's? Who the hell knows...? Maybe none. Maybe 3, maybe 10, maybe 100, maybe 1,000... Depends.

Suggestion: If you think you're sellable enough to warrant a guarantee from a venue, seek reputable representation. If you can score decent management, there you go - Let them worry about it. If you can't score representation, then you don't have much say in the matter.
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Picture perfect.
Especially the unsanserable questions part lol. We have dozens of shows a month, and I still couldn't come up with an answer.
 
witzendoz said:
The way the live scene works for new acts nowadays, you will be lucky if they don't charge you to perform there.

Unknown new act? Until you get a decent following that you can guarantee will turn up, the venue won't guarantee anything.

Cheers

Alan.
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This guy is spot on.

you'll have to get used to the idea of making the most out of the opportunity just to have you're music heard in a live venue. the money you receive will be made off of your merch, cds, shirts, whatever. expect to do nothing but lose money or break even for the first 20 shows. after you get a consistent folllowing of MINIMUM 40-50 people, then you MIGHT start making a bit off the door at some very small clubs. probably in the neighborhood of $20-$100, no more unless you really rock the joint, the ladies go crazy, and dudes buy a lot of drank. then you may make upwards of $100-150 a night, if you're lucky and the bar is generous (which they usually aren't).

good luck, though. :cool:
 
theCKWilliams said:
This guy is spot on.

you'll have to get used to the idea of making the most out of the opportunity just to have you're music heard in a live venue. the money you receive will be made off of your merch, cds, shirts, whatever. expect to do nothing but lose money or break even for the first 20 shows. after you get a consistent folllowing of MINIMUM 40-50 people, then you MIGHT start making a bit off the door at some very small clubs. probably in the neighborhood of $20-$100, no more unless you really rock the joint, the ladies go crazy, and dudes buy a lot of drank. then you may make upwards of $100-150 a night, if you're lucky and the bar is generous (which they usually aren't).

good luck, though. :cool:
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Hey your from Denton.. I'm in Arlington, I tend to go towards that direction quite a lot weekly. When we first played in Deep Ellum @ The Bone, your pretty much dead on. 50ish people and we pull $500 at the door, but thats only because our name is a little more established around Dallas. Now We play at places like AMPM, The Door in FTW, House Of Blues Dallas, City Tavern, Crystals in Arlington, Dream World in Arlington, Ultra Lounge, Club Flow, and a few other spots in Dallas. Now a days we or more of I pull in the upwards of $2500 per night on a good night, $1500 average, but I do pay my artists, but not much lol. Thats averaging 150-250 people & 100% of door and no bar. I also book artists outside of our record label who are established enough too which adds a lot more fans involved & lesser work. Merch... thats a diff story, we do real good on merch sales, specially when I screen print my own merch. And of course, we're talking with Universal on distro, but Universal always signs on everyone and their momma down here. I guess you can say it has a lot to do with how you talk to a venue at first.

Texas is a nice place to launch many careers.
 
yeah, good to know someone else has similar experiences around DFW. I've played with bands at every single venue in denton, Liquid Lounge in Dallas and a couple others around dallas/mid cities that i don't really recall. Same kinda scale about everywhere, though. Denton is a good place to get started because the club owners will book ANYTHING, at some point. Though, since it's a still a pretty small community, the pay isn't as much as you can get at other more well known clubs in Dallas/Ft. Worth but you ARE guaranteed a slot and a drunken, yet youthful crowd. Denton starts a lot of buzz... pitchfork's done some write ups about our lil "indy" community here... *blegh*
 
Massive Master said:
Suggestion: If you think you're sellable enough to warrant a guarantee from a venue, seek reputable representation. If you can score decent management, there you go - Let them worry about it. If you can't score representation, then you don't have much say in the matter.
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this dude's layin down some good advice, especially for larger venues. Generally, if you chose to represent yourself and try to get into a larger club for opening slots on National act shows, they'll laugh you back out the door. For starters, go it alone, get some experience, build the stage presence and performance skills at smaller clubs, put together a decent demo and THEN hit up management and go for big! i mean, take every opportunity you can but don't expect anything to happen overnight because you got to talk to some guy that works with some people at "Insert Giant Arena Venue Here" and can hook you up with a slot opening for "insert mediocre dinosaur rap regurgitated mega-star here" cuz, odds are, they'll again laugh you out of the building, again... and nobody needs to put up with that much rejection in 1 week. ;)
 
theCKWilliams said:
yeah, good to know someone else has similar experiences around DFW. I've played with bands at every single venue in denton, Liquid Lounge in Dallas and a couple others around dallas/mid cities that i don't really recall. Same kinda scale about everywhere, though. Denton is a good place to get started because the club owners will book ANYTHING, at some point. Though, since it's a still a pretty small community, the pay isn't as much as you can get at other more well known clubs in Dallas/Ft. Worth but you ARE guaranteed a slot and a drunken, yet youthful crowd. Denton starts a lot of buzz... pitchfork's done some write ups about our lil "indy" community here... *blegh*
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What I like about Denton, is that it's FULL of 18-25 year old college kids, with a college radio station ran by the students. We have/had Johnny Deformed, Gods Joke, and Clockwork bands signed & performing around dfw. Our very first shows were booked by Afton Live, then which we started booking our own shows. I also like the radio stations down here, got in good with 89.3, iON TV comes in the area quite a lot, Latin Live Mag, LIT Monthly, and Yumms apparell loves to support DFW's music scene. Rick Perry is a strong supporter of independent music. Texas Music Office is a great tool too.
 
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