INDUSTRY RESEARCH : VENUES
WHAT CAN A VENUE DO FOR AN ARTIST?
Performing at the right venue can be the difference between a huge payday and cancelling a tour, both the artist and the promoters have a lot to lose if they make the mistake of playing a venue that's not appropriate.
There are many different categories to consider with capacities, stage types, costs and popularity. Up and coming unsigned local artists generally play at bars in their local communities. These venues tend to have capacities of 50 to 250 and might have an open mic night or a house band. These venues are a great place to develop your stage presence and get used to the logistics of performing live. The income is not the major driving force at this stage unless it's the weekend and even then it will probably just cover the night's expenses.
When a local act gets tired of opening or closing a local bar and they have a big enough fan base and budget they will venture into moving to a venue like a casino, ballroom, auditorium, hall, playhouse or even a hotel, market or zoo where they might have an audience of 250-1000. If the band can deliver the entire audience themselves they may be able to run their own shows but this is rather difficult to do while playing at the same time. At this stage the band can begin to build the stamina and momentum needed to master their own music and get a manager to help them grow.
Now, the more enterprising artists will use a manager or booking agent from the start and provided their chops are up to par will get entry into larger community sponsored events like performing arts centers, county fairs, small theaters, cabarets, pavilions, band-shells, amphitheaters or outdoor festivals which offer multiple bands and stages. Local festivals will need to fill 3 or 4 stages and can potentially drive 1,000 to 5,000 attendees providing the opening acts with a large audience. Entry into these festivals can cost a band from $500 to $1500 but it is a well worth expense as they can exploit their attendance socially, gain new fans while making themselves available to possible label and publishing scouts at the festival. Unfortunately, these events are held yearly only so if the band can plan ahead the momentum from these events can lead to A&R representation or publisher interest if nothing else it can lead to participating in even larger festivals like SXSW in Texas or Boonaro in Tennessee.
Moving to the big shows requires that you be signed and managed by a large label or publisher that can sell thousands of tickets to the larger theaters with capacities of 5 to 10 thousand seats. Hockey arenas and national baseball fields accommodate from 20 to 60 thousand patrons and the largest football fields have capacities from 60,000 to 100,000 fans. Go NFL!!! The biggest seating venues are found in car racing with the Indy 500 holding upwards of 250,000 paying customers. Certainly very difficult to entertain that many folks :-)
So, indeed the right venue can do a lot for a new or established artist. Sometimes just knowing that your favorite artist played there also is reward enough, ie CBGBs, Troubadour or House of blues.
