Type

hi ya!

how to promote a gig? what should i do? i would like to see some of the Type artist play live shows over here in Dublin. I'm willing to pay travell and accomodation expences just to see some of the acts live. i have no clue how many people would turned up and what would be attendance, but i think there would havet to be some. so what should i do to promote small gig here in Dublin? how does it works? what should i expect from artist? does label have some control over artists touring and terms and conditions for live gigs. should i bother? is it big hustle to bother just to bring artists into town? my goal is to bring act into town and see it live and not trying to take some money of it. is there any manual on the internet of how to promote gig?

to be exact, i was refering on William Fowler Collins and Erik Skodvin. would be nice to see them live over here.

cheers.

rich.

not certain but you might just try contacting the artists individually.

The first thing to do is to check the artists' websites and see who handles their live bookings. Some people do it themselves, others use an agent. The labels dont usually handle the live side of things. Then, contact the relevant person to find out about what dates the act is touring, or would be willing to travel to Dublin, and how much cash they would like. They'll probably ask that you lay on some food and/or drink too. Some acts may also ask that you provide equipment for them, so that they don't have to take it by plane, etc. This could be things like a mixer, amplifiers, drums, piano, etc.

Assuming those bits work out OK, then you need to find a venue. Not sure what the situation is in Ireland, but in the UK a venue has to have a license to allow live music. If the venue has it's own sound system then that helps, otherwise you'll need to hire one of these, plus an engineer to run the thing. 

Then you have to thing about having another act or two, and/or maybe a DJ, unless your main act wants to play for a very long time. It's usually really helpful if there are acts in the area who are good, will draw a crowd, and won't ask for much cash. These are rare and precious beasts.

After that, you might want to sell advance tickets. Websites such as www.wegottickets.com are good in the UK - again, I'm not sure about Ireland. If there are good local record shops then these might sell tickets for you too. Otherwise you can just charge on the door. Posters and flyers in the right place are very helpful for letting people who might be interested know about the gig. Social networking sites, local forums, etc will also help.

On the day, you'll need to make sure that someone is at the venue to meet the artist and that your engineer has everything in control to get a useful soundcheck in for all the people playing before the doors open. When the doors are open you'll need someone taking care of the tickets and cash on the door. 

It might sound like a fair bit, but if you're prepared and organised it's not too difficult. The main problem is getting people to come!

I would come!

Hey dude,

great to see someone trying to bring some acts over. Are you going to Jean Cantu in April? I would love to help you out in anyway I can.

Tonfil(at)hotmail(com) is my e-mail.

http://www.williamfowlercollins.com/

(Erik and I actually played on a bill at Cafe OTO in London last year and did a last minute live collaboration at the end of the evening...)

footage of Svarte Greiner/WFC: http://vimeo.com/10366194

-WFC