Industry news & advice blog

There are probably tens of thousands of artistes, whether solo or band, who play simply for the pleasure of it, thousands who have dreams of local success and maybe more, and then the determined hundreds who have a plan.  

Every large village will likely have a pub where the occasional live music events take place, but venues that can really help an acts career are few and far between, and the competition to play them is huge.

Many are, not surprisingly, in the big cities, but others have developed a strong reputation for helping new acts, and among them is The Duchess (cap. 400) in York.

“The bulk of our programme is touring bands and the local acts fill the gaps in the week, or play on weekends,” says the venue’s promoter Joff Hall. “It’s about giving local bands an opportunity to play on a professional stage and share each other’s audience, with each act contributing 30 or 40 people to the overall audience.

You Cried Wolf, Jonny Gill and Shot Down Stay Down have all been given showcases at The Duchess this year.

“We’re very against the pay-to-play idea. We will give the acts a stack of tickets to sell and our share covers our costs,” explains Hall.

He adds, “When there is someone emerging through the local scene, I email people in the industry to come down and we’ve had a few that have been signed up.”

Promotions manager at The Fleece (cap. 450) in Bristol, Tim Bailey, agrees that the wider industry appreciates the help of venues such as his in spotlighting new talent.

“Bristol is quite a small city, but all the major promoters such as SJM, Metropolis, Live Nation and Kilimanjaro use the venue and local acts often get support slots for the bigger bands,” says Bailey, “And if I see an act I really like, I will definitely tip off the agents I’m working with.”

Last summer, the venue held a Best of Bristol Season, which saw 21 shows over three months, with ticket discounts offered for people seeing more than one show.

Bailey acknowledges that financial constraints limit the number of showcases The Fleece can sustain.

“It’s important for the venue and the city as a whole, but it varies from month to month how many local acts we put on. During the touring season the number of available dates is very limited.”

He says artistes are on pay per head deals, with the venue giving them a number of cheap tickets to sell directly to their fanbase if they want to. If the show does well, the venue will pay more as an incentive to future shows.

As an example, The Fleece hosted a showcase by local acts Marmalade Sky, Moreton Vue, Bosc Monitor and Ryan Curtis on 20 January, with tickets at £5. Bailey says the show attracted 250 people and “between 70 and 100 people looks reasonable in here”.


Talent Academy

As operator of a national venue network that includes the O2 Academy Bristol (1,700 and 350) and London’s O2 Academy Islington (800 and 250), Academy Music Group works with independent promoters, as well as staging its own showcase events an offering support slots to develop emerging artistes via its Academy Events division.

“We work with a collection of promoters around the country who put on showcases, so there are definitely the acts out there and the market seems to be strong,” says head of Academy Events Carl Bathgate. “There’s not as much record company support for artistes, emerging or otherwise, so it’s often the best option for them.”

He says showcases are an important first step for young acts because, “A lot of the advice is to go and build you own fanbase, and showcases give the opportunity to attract other bands’ fans too.”

The Asylum Bar and Venue in Birmingham consists of a 600-capacity club and 200-capacity bar.

Promoter Jack Daniel Davis says local acts are used to entertain audiences in the bar before an established act plays the main room.

“If it’s a small band we’re not expecting to make anything from ticket sales. We do it before a club night to get people in a couple of hours earlier and spending at the bar,” he says.

“It suits the bands because it’s the only way most of them get anyone to come to see them, without relying on friends doing it as a favour. If you’ve got a reason for people to come, like having cheap drinks, and then they like the band it’s good for everybody.”

Getting people to turn out for new acts has always been a challenge, but it’s clearly more difficult in a tough economic climate. But, without enterprising and innovative venue operators and promoters continuing their quest, the flow of talent through to concerts, arenas and stadia would dry up.

For more business news on the unsigned and emerging live sector see the NXT pages in LIVE UK.

LIVE UK is a subscription-only magazine with a 50% discount available for artistes, people managing and/or promoting unsigned acts and for operators of venues with a capacity of under 350.

For more information or a sample copy, call Fiona West on 020 7486 7007, [email protected], or go to www.liveuk.com

PLEASE NOTE: LIVE UK does not review music or performances.