organizing a battle of the bands. input desired.

[slpntrx5]

okay, so im thinking of organizing a battle of the bands-ish type thing in my community (wow, that sounds really stupid for some reason...) and i was wondering how i could make it an enjoyable experience for everyone? anyone whos ever done this, please put forth all information you wish to. im just basically wanting to know if you were in one of the bands, or in the audience, what would you like there to be or whatever? haha im bad with words...

[PECOAE]

You could start by getting a bunch of bands you know and asking them first if they would play, and having a running time.

Set a number of songs for each band that will more or less cover that time.

Find a venue.

Get reasonable advertising in the community, i.e. schools are good, school websites are good, word-of-mouth spread to friends is always good.

Get equipment and ask each band what they'll need, set a budget for what you're paying for venue and extra amps, etcetera and what the bands are bringing.

Get refreshments and if you want, have a cover charge to cover cost of venue and refreshments.

Have some sort of incentive for the bands to win; a first, second, and third prize. Usually something related to renting studios and making albums, at worst, just get some gift certificates to some music store or something.

This is just a few ideas, I might set up one myself, but Manhattan's notoriously short of venue options.

[Aus_rock_god]

Nice one dude.

First thing you need to do is book a venue.

A public hall, or a school, or your local theatre is a good place to start.

Venues for community events are usually $20US per hour for just the space. Some venues will have a PA system and lighting there, some won't.

Expect to have to pay more for a venue with its own PA, but these places are generally better than a space with no PA, because:

1. It's less running around you have to do.

2. Your overheads tend to be less hiring a space with all the gear your need, then when you hire a space and all the gear seperately.


Next, you need to figure out the hiring costs for everything you need. This may include:

- Speakers
- A mixer
- Compressors
- Equalisers
- Microphones
- Monitors
- A dimmer rack
- A lighting desk
- Lights
- Security

It sounds insane, but you need at least one security guard for every 50 people you expect to show up.

NOW, what you have to do is put all your overheads into a grand total. For example.

Venue: $300
Security: $150
Additional lights: $100

Total: $550

(this would be a very cheep gig)

Now, get the grand total for this, and divide it by 100

550 / 100 = 5.50

When you work out your ticket price, try to aim to get 100 people in before you start making profit. This is the safest thing you can do for your price. 100 people is easy.

So you'd be able to get away with having your tickets at $5.

Next, what you need is some prizes and prize money.

A good idea is to give the winning band the profits for the night. Also check with your local music and cd stores and see if they will donate a little somthing.

You'll also need some volanteers for judges.

Music teachers, guys from the music store, guys from the CD shop and frontmen from top local bands are good people to ask.

Last, but not least, you need some volanteers to run the door, run the sound and light (some hiring companys will only let their dudes run their equiptment) and backstage. Ask your friends.


NOW, you need some bands.

Ask around you local band network, and see if any bands you know want in. Then, stick some fliers up, with some contact details, asking for local band demos or set up a time and place for an audition.

Figuring who should get in and who should go back to the garage is pretty easy.


Once you get the bands going. Advertise that the battle is on.

Print up some posters, and give them to the bands in the show, and post them up yourself. This is why having the profits for the night as the prize is a good idea, because the more people that show up, the more the prize money will be.

Hit schools, shopping malls, anywhere where kids are.


Have fun:thumb:

[EinzingerIsGod]

The above advice on organizing is right on. My advice to you is if this gets going, be sure to advertise for this. Put flyers up everywhere. You need to make sure you at least break even on this, and if you're going to put the effort in to organize things you deserve to make a little cash yourself. So be sure that everyone knows about this.

[mullets suk]

make sure that the sound quality is good. i went to a concert the other day and the quality of the vocals sucked, cause the sound guy did a crappy job. so make sure you get some one who can run that stuff really well.

Also is this the same stuff that you would need if you wanted to organize bands to play at a small event, like 4 bands for the night.

i have a venue for bands to play. but i was wondering, if your puttin on an event, what is the cut for each band and the venue owners??

the sound shouldnt be a problem cause this place has the sound boards and everything. Also how much in advance should the idea of band come and the actually show??

[slpntrx5]

well i wasnt gonna organize this as a real "battle". it was just gonna be a way for some local bands to play and also make a little green in the process (after I break even, of course.)

[EinzingerIsGod]

well i wasnt gonna organize this as a real "battle". it was just gonna be a way for some local bands to play and also make a little green in the process (after I break even, of course.)

You could have it be more of a local festival-type set up rather than the battle set up. You could make it a day long event and allow bands to play 30-40 min sets. We used to have stuff like this here a few years ago when the local music scene was at it's peak and they were great, and alot of fun to play.

[Seafroggys]

i played a festival at my old high school. I felt out of place because I was the only college aged person who played, as the rest of my band still went there. It was also lame because we were limited to 3 songs.

[EinzingerIsGod]

i played a festival at my old high school. I felt out of place because I was the only college aged person who played, as the rest of my band still went there. It was also lame because we were limited to 3 songs.

That sounds like a terrible "festival" set up (3 songs I mean). A festival should be long enough to give each band at least 30 mins, and maybe a longer set if there's a band that works as a headliner.

[mullets suk]

i didnt want to start a new thread for this since this thread was here.

how much should bands get paid to play a show. or do they even get paid.

im hopeing to put together a show of 4 bands with tickets at about 6-7$. The place im holding it should have all the sound and lghting equipment already installed so thats not a problem. Also about how much should go to the house??

i dont plan on taking any of the profits so thats not a factor.

[EinzingerIsGod]

I've played in bands at all sorts of shows:

-Free
-Pay to play
-Sell your own tickets (with a minumum amount to sell to play)
-Paid shows where the band has made anywhere from $40 to $300 dollars

It's up to you how to set it up. One way that seems to work is to have bands that enter sell a certain minimum of tickets. This will help cover your expenses. You can then split the money you make of selling tickets at the door and consessions between the bands.

[mullets suk]

ok cool, ill proberly end up using just pay a set amount, or pay them part of whats made at the door.

if i do pay them up frount, ill get the two semi bigger bands any where from 50-75$ and the smaller one 25-50$.

that seems fair, if all in all i would have to sell tickets at a higher price. the venue hold about 100 people and can be modified to go up to 200. so lets say im paying the bands 150$/6=25...wait i can do that. hell booking one band will give me at lest 20 people automatically.

Ill prolly do the paying a set price cause it'll give me a set goal and everything,sweet.

[Aus_rock_god]

i didnt want to start a new thread for this since this thread was here.

how much should bands get paid to play a show. or do they even get paid.

im hopeing to put together a show of 4 bands with tickets at about 6-7$. The place im holding it should have all the sound and lghting equipment already installed so thats not a problem. Also about how much should go to the house??

i dont plan on taking any of the profits so thats not a factor.

I normally take 10%-15% of the gross profits for myself and divide the rest between the bands.

Talk to the venue, they will give an amount.

Never set the ticket price until you know how much money you'll need to break even.


As for how much you should get paid as a band, the fairest way is this:

At a pub: $100 dollers plus whatever profit is made from the door OR a flat rate of $400 and a bar tab. If a pub wants you to pay to play, tell them to go f*ck themselves. There's plenty of ways to get a gig without spending money.

At a festival: Usually a plus rate of $400 and a percentage of the profits for young bands, $1000-$4000 plus a percentage for the headliners.

Battle of the bands: Normally only the winners get paid.


IF ANYONE IS PUTTING ON A GIG TO MAKE A PROFIT, AND THEY'RE NOT WILLING TO GIVE YOU A CUT, TELL THEM TO GO F*CK THEMSELVES.

I know promoters do it a lot, in tough times or when they're greedy. One of my rival promoters in my area gets unsigned bands to play for free, pays the venue $300, charges $10 at the door and keeps all the profits to herself.

I egged her Mercades Benz last night.

That kind of behaviour is unprofessional. If a promoter is that unconfident that they can put on a show, make enough money for a months food and rent for a month and give the bands more than they get, they should look for a 'real job'.

If your band isn't getting a bigger cut then the promoter, suspect that the promoter is in it for all the wrong reasons. Musicians have to make a living too, even if they're an unsigned band, and bands usually divide their pay up amongst themselves.

If the promoter keeps $700 for themselves, and gives the bands $200 each, it means that each member of a 4 peice band, who work just as hard as the promoter, somtimes 3 times a week, PLUS rehursal, get $50 each.

The more bands I put on the bill at my shows, the less money I make, just because I know that the bands split their profits.

The best paid show I put on, I got $800, and I gave all the bands $1200. They all play 4 times a month minimum, and I only work once a month.

Any promoter and organiser who thinks they can stay in this game by keeping all the profits is kidding themselves. It's karma baby.

As a band, if you take yourselves seriously, and want to do this for the rest of your lives, you have to be willing to demand your cut if whoever is putting on the show is making money for themselves, unless it's a charity gig, or a church gig or somthing along those lines.

In a nutshell: Don't pay to play, and if you're playing for free, ask where the money is going. If the money's going to a charity, by all means play. If the money's going to one person, tell them to sit and rotate.:thumb:


Sorry about the rant, but I'm sick of seeing bands get ripped off. Since there's at least two dudes here that might become promoters, I thought I'd bash that into your skulls real early, and warn anyone who read that about how you can get ripped off real easy in this industry.

[jurialmunkey]

The moral of Aus_Rock_God's story I guess is that you should educate yourself before you just go jumping into things so that you don't get exploited.

You can always promote and organise a gig yourself but then you also carry the risk. Most of the people that you pay in the music industry; you are paying for their expertise in the area, their resources and their industry contacts. Building up specific networks is hard and time consuming. Bands hire people such as managers, promoters and PR people to gain their expertise, knowledge and networks and also to share the risk a bit. You can always learn how to do all these roles and do them yourself... or at least educate yourself about what their roles do so that you don't get ripped off or exploited.

[mullets suk]

to aus-rock-god. sorry if i pissed you off with the only 50-100$ paying the band. and i would never play a show where i had to pay or ask a band to pay at a show of mine. thats just messed up.

I went to a show the other day and one of the bands where getting paid $50. which i didnt think was that much but im no promoter and ive never put on a show so i didnt know how much bands get paid, and this was a touring band. while a lot of the local bands werent getting paid at all. i understood the local bands, but the touring bands getting paid 50$ which isnt enough for a full tank of gas really confused me.

i found out i wont be able to put on the show like i was hoping at this venue cause there just starting out and they dont want to mess up big time in the beginning. But man i really want to put a show together, even if i dont get paid i just want to try it out, entertaining people like that seems really cool.

also for a school stage, with mics, sound board, lights and the whole setup, about how much an hour would that go?? when it comes to PA systems im not very knowledgably so how much do they run, and can u give a brief description on how they work??

thanks

[Aus_rock_god]

to aus-rock-god. sorry if i pissed you off with the only 50-100$ paying the band. and i would never play a show where i had to pay or ask a band to pay at a show of mine. thats just messed up.

I went to a show the other day and one of the bands where getting paid $50. which i didnt think was that much but im no promoter and ive never put on a show so i didnt know how much bands get paid, and this was a touring band. while a lot of the local bands werent getting paid at all. i understood the local bands, but the touring bands getting paid 50$ which isnt enough for a full tank of gas really confused me.

i found out i wont be able to put on the show like i was hoping at this venue cause there just starting out and they dont want to mess up big time in the beginning. But man i really want to put a show together, even if i dont get paid i just want to try it out, entertaining people like that seems really cool.

also for a school stage, with mics, sound board, lights and the whole setup, about how much an hour would that go?? when it comes to PA systems im not very knowledgably so how much do they run, and can u give a brief description on how they work??

thanks

Nah, you didn't p!ss me off dude, it's all cool.

Some bands have to make do with their CD sales, which is some cases, turns out to be more than they earn for the night.

I'm just a big beliver in paying bands I like a lot of money so they can keep going.

You'd have to ask the school dude.

As long as the school gets somthing out of it, like the profits from the night, for example, and the opputunity for students at the school to be involved.

Another advantage is that you can get students at the school to help backstage, or with the sound and light, which keeps your overheads nice and loooowwwww. Also gives you some money to spend on some gnarly intelligent lights if you like, buy not having to pay for the personell. Boo-ya!!!

Write down what you want to do on paper, figue out a way they can get somthing out of it, and ask them.

To answer you question about PA systems, this is how they work, more or less, for a standard local gig.


.................................................. .......Rack->Foldback
.................................................. ....../
Microphones -> Snake (multicore)-> Mixer->Rack->Amplifier->Speakers
.................................................. ..............\
.................................................. ...............Sub Amplfier--->Sub

The microphones capture the sound on the stage, which go into a multicore (which is basically a big box that turns 22 leads into 1). The multicore then goes to the mixer. The mixer splits the signal into 3, to the EQ and the compressors for the foldback, and one to the eq and compressors for the front of house. The signal is split again, with the sub freqencies getting fed to the amplifier for the sub, then to the subwoofer itself, and the rest going to the front of house amplifier, then the speakers.

It's a lot to take in, but what a good PA system should do is give you the ability to control the foldback, front of house and sub seperately.

[mullets suk]

thanks for all the info. School doesn’t start for me till the end of the month, so it wont be until them that i can find out everything about the stage. i could email one of the music teachers but i dont really want to bother them....and i dont know went the front office opens up to ask how much renting out woud be. so ill wait till school starts.

As for PA's if i have to buy them my self then most of the money is going to end up going to that, so less profits and less money goin to the bands. so i dont know exactly how all that would work out.

how much would the sound guy usually. cause i may only be able to run it if one of the band teachers are there, if thats the case then i would just pay him.

when i school starts and i ask about the stuff ill post here more asking random stuff.

[Puzzle]

expect to need a security deposit.

Don't book the show late at night in even a remotely residential area.

[mullets suk]

ok ill remeber both those things.

i told my brother about what i wanted to do, and he just laughed and said it was a waste of money. He told my parents and they all just had one large laugh too. so if i do put this thing on i wont be able to get any help from them money wise. I told a few freinds and there all willing to help for free. so thats a plus.

[Seafroggys]

you have really supportive parents.