Throughout 2017 I have been looking at music promotion models and figuring out the best way forward in a changing market. This means talking to a lot of seasoned performers as well as some established promoters and people in the music business. What is increasingly clear is that its definitely a time for new thinking in these tougher economic times. People are increasingly looking for a more complete experience, and hosts and promoters should avoid dismissing this at their peril. I ran a series of polls to ask people what they looked for when choosing to see a live performance (excluding A list artists) and it produced some very interesting feedback.
The Small Change Diaries launch party was a beta tester for a bigger project. We focused on ensuring that all attendees received excellent value and added value to make it a really memorable evening. We were also keen to reach a wide section of the public and not any niche music enthusiasts. The uke community like to play, but don’t always make for the best appreciative music audiences. With this in mind the evening had a range of seasoned performers who provided a wide range of music. There were deliberately no strum alongs etc so popular with some audiences. This evening was only about creative musical entertainment of the best possible kind with an emphasis on mostly original music.
We released over 200 tickets to the event and had a full house on the night with some additional last-minute attendees. The physical space was a terrific mill and great attention was paid to giving all attendees seated accommodation, inexpensive food for all tastes and a full bar as well as free parking. Everyone received the new “Lullabies for Cynics” CD as well as the original SCD CD on arrival. In short this was a no risk event for the public and the onus was on the artists to provide a great night out. Music started at 8pm and ran until 11.15pm. We ran this as a “pay as you feel” event to ensure it was affordable for all. If an event is 20 – 30 pounds, this makes it a very expensive evening for a family and worse still there’s no food options provided.
The feedback on the vent was excellent and highlights for me were hearing Phil Doleman and Laurent Zeller playing together for the first time and Jessica Bowie and Astraluna doing harmonies on “Not one of us” which was one of the encores. In 2018 I’ll be looking at a new platform that will showcase events in UK and USA with an emphasis on offering the best possible music from some really excellent artists.
