The Future of Live Music in Brighton
As one of the last free venues in Brighton started to charge promoters for it’s venue hire, I started to question the future and sustainability of the Brighton Music Scene.
There once was a time many years ago that a pub would put on a band for the entertainment of the regulars and to draw in new crowds. It would be free to enter as it was just in the pub. ALL the bands would get paid from the takings of the night and the pub would promote the gig massively.
Then, pubs started trying to be live music hubs but they tried to get out of their obligation to promote by allowing outside “Promoters” to run their own nights in the pubs. This was working fine and everyone was happy; there was no obligation for the bands to bring at least twenty people because the night wasn’t costing anyone anything and their fans could get in for free and have a good night.
But now, we have pubs that have converted to venues. They won’t even attempt to promote a night, they’ll charge an arm and a leg for use of a damp room meaning that the promoter has to insist that the bands bring at least twenty people each just to break even. This then means that the promoter has to charge an entry fee, meaning that the fans are put off by having to spend money to see their friends’ band and after all this you only get four people turning up to your gig.
This is KILLING the Brighton Music Scene as greedy venue owners try and make as much money as possible.
Lets say you spend £200 on the room. Then lets say that 100 people turn up and buy four drinks each at £3… That’s an easy £1200 behind the bar plus £200 for the room hire. Two staff behind the bar for 5 hours at £6 p/h costs only £60. A sound guy will be about £50-100…
So who is it making the money? Is it the promoter who has worked hard to get people in the door, design and print posters, get the gig listed…? Is it the bands who, after all, are the one’s with the talent and that are providing the service?
No, it’s the venue that has, essentially, done nothing other than make an absolute mint out of other people’s hard work and talent.
I’ve now pulled out of the live event promotion side of music because I can’t afford to put on decent shows in decent venues. I now don’t go to gigs because I can’t afford to spend £5 to get in, then £3 per pint to see some bands that have had their souls destroyed because they can’t get people in to their own gigs. Is it because they’re a rubbish band? NO! It’s because people WILL NOT PAY £5 TO SEE A BUNCH OF UNKNOWNS.
I never thought I’d say this, and I can imagine it will end up backfiring, but I urge you to BOYCOTT overpriced unsigned band gigs. NOT because I want the bands to suffer, but because I want the venues to realise that THEY ARE THE ONES KILLING BRIGHTON’S MUSIC SCENE.
Do NOT pay more than £2 to see four unsigned bands. Do NOT encourage venues to think that they can get away with ripping off the bands, the promoters and fans.
SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL MUSIC SCENE BY GOING TO REAL UNSIGNED GIGS, not gigs where the venue has ideas above their station…
I couldn’t have said it better myself. There comes a point when the amount of money someone wants to make, makes it impossible for any money to be made and it’s so obvious why doesn’t anyone see it. What was wrong with a pub making money from JUST selling overpriced drinks to make a mint? It’s all about making the fast buck that is fast becoming a huge hole in the ground waiting for all new bands to fall into and die!
Found your excellent blog through Jo at The Argus – I strongly disagree with your argument here and especially your suggested solutions – so here’s a counter argument. (that’s half the point of blogs, right?)
First, free gigs are a terrible route to develop bands doing original material (especially quieter or edgier bands). Playing to a pub of casual drinkers and ‘winning’ them involves a very basic kind of showmanship and entertainment value, rather than being able to develop challenging music.
It also doesn’t encourage the band to develop their own following. I know the responsibility shouldn’t be on the band to promote their gig – but if they’re local, they should do everything to build a following. Ideally from a band’s POV, people should want to pay to see them, rather than assume they’ll be available for free in pubs.
Secondly, name and shame the venue – if they’ve annoyed you, specify them in this blog, otherwise you damn others by implication and let the baddies off the hook.
You want the space for free, arguing that they make a lot of money over the bar? But if nobody comes, they’ve not made any money.
Hire fees will cover bouncer, sound/lightman and equipment. Sometimes door staff. Your figures are way off – you can get very good scene venues in Brighton for well under £200 (The Freebutt or West Hill Hall for example) and you can negotiate – if your nights are working well, go back to the venue and agree a much better rate as a regular.
Average drinks spend won’t be 4 drinks at £3, it’ll be 2 drinks at £2.40 (for every boozer there’ll be a straight edger or skint person, especially if your crowds are young). Once you process these figures the costs are a much bigger proportion. Assuming you as promoter charge a bit (£3?) you’ll make your £150 hire back on 50 people.
Fundamentally the scene isn’t even dying (certainly not more than scenes around the UK for other reasons), in many ways it’s as vibrant as ever. Look at the number of Brighton bands still breaking through, alongside key leg-ups for locals like Great Escape, the fringe and Brighton Live etc.
It’s certainly not greedy venue managers who are killing it: If the scene has enemies they are: 1) the council for charging to flyer, 2) the SWAT-type privatisation of postering, meaning you can’t put posters up in shops etc 3) the brief invasion by the Barfly, which killed the Pressure Point and challenged other venues, before abandoning the town. 4) to a certain extent the successful indie promoters already operating – MV, Lout, etc – for (by necessity) locking out the very bottom, now they need to make money on their nights.
Finally (phew) yes £5 is probably too much for 3 unknown/local bands BUT if the night works (if the promoter has built up a big rep for the night itself for example) then good luck to them. Maybe don’t go yourself but why the fuck would anyone call for a boycott of gigs, because gigs aren’t working for them!?
£3 is above your ‘limit’ but perfectly fair and has a kind of balanced subconscious thing of paying £1 per band. I would happily pay £4-£6 if one of the bands is a larger local band. Restlesslist or My Device (for example) aren’t particularly known outside Brighton but shouldn’t be playing for less than £5 because it devalues how brilliant and popular they are.
It seems like this idea devalues music without solving anything, when arguably right now is exactly the time we should be pushing the perceived value of live performance up.
I do agree with you in the most part, but I don’t think you can blame anyone but the venues. If they didn’t charge to hire, then there would be DOUBLE the amount of people in the there.
I also don’t feel it would be appropriate to name and shame the venues that are clear exploiters until they have had a chance to respond (they are aware of the blog and I look forward to their opinions).
In addition, there are plenty of great promoters out there who do charge £1/£2 entry. They work hard, have great bands and the atmosphere in those venues is much better as people haven’t had to spend most of their money to get in.
It’s hard enough to get people together to see your band. Before the days of the internet, it seems that people were more in to just rocking up to a (free) gig and discovering a great new band. Now, it’s too much to have to sift through all the MySpace and Facebook invites from bands and promoters inviting you to some show on a Tuesday night for £5 in advance or £6 on the door!
I have in the past charged £5 on the door so I knew I’d only need 25 people through the door to break even. I knew the bands wouldn’t bother promoting the show hence the low expectation. I was proved right. I could not find any promotion done by any of the bands.
I then put on a gig for £2 entry (£1.50 in advance) and everywhere I looked I found promotion by the three artists.
I am up for more Open Mic nights. FREE Open Mic nights. They are the best place to discover talented artists, but we need to work out a way to do an Open Mic night for bands, not just sing/songwriters.
Awesome blog!
I thought about starting my own blog too but I’m just too lazy so, I guess I‘ll just have to keep checking yours out.
LOL,