Throwing events is hard. Clearly it’s a pivotal part of a music scene, people need to throw events. Somewhere along the way I became one of the people involved in event promotion.
On Jun 30th we (Shobiz514, Rust & I) took a stab at the biggest event we have thrown. We booked Jo Dolo & Syla as headliners and filled the lineup with Montreal people. The mission was put some bread behind this event and see if we can get the city to pull up and show that love.
The TL:DR version is some people showed up and showed love. This was a brilliant moment to learn some expensive mistakes related to throwing events. Let’s discuss the Canada Day Special event we did.
I only took the one blurry pic that is the thumbnail of this blog. My life has been a mess the last couple of months, so bear with me.
Feezy Tip: Take notes at the event
At events business is being conducted in an environment where most of us are not sober. Feezy was dropping some gems on us, like a fatherly figure who has been there and spent that, and the biggest one that stood out to me was to take notes on your phone.
There are many things that will take place over the course of an event you throw. Perhaps you find out that you forgot your cashbox at home. Or you realize you don’t have a photographer handy. I actually gave someone a pickle patch last week at a show, they were supposed to etransfer me after and had I been on my Feezy inspired note taking game, I would have got that 10$. Since I can’t remember who it is, that is 10$ gone.
Improvement comes from looking at your wins and losses. Even then, outside of money, which can always be earned again, most things aren’t losses. Most experiences, even the painful ones, come with value. Often that value is derived in what you learned from the experience.
This is where Feezy Da Main Man’s note taking jewel shines. If you can walk out an event with a bunch of actionable notes that will make your life easier in the future, you got something valuable for your money.
We did not hit the minimum required audience threshold
When you book Belmont on a Friday or Saturday, you are supposed to hit an audience threshold. We did not hit that threshold. We certainly tried, but did since we success meant hitting that threshold.
Here are some things we learned. Some may be self-evident.
When you print physical tickets, it’s important to give the tickets to the artists. There were several artists who did not get their physical tickets ahead of the show. Big blunder.
Use a tracker of some kind to make sure your logistics are on point.
Tickets should have a price on them.
When you make a flyer design, the date & time of the flyer must be prominent. Keep the design a good half inch from the edge Also make sure your design is in the right size.
The good price guy may not be the fast guy. If you want good prices, prep in advance. The good price guy can give you some drippy stuff if you plan correctly.
An hour is not enough time for sound check.
Looking really stressed as the promoter will throw the vibe off.
If you don’t clearly communicate all expectations with artists, you did not succeed at the organizing part.
I both got hired and fired from a job during the promo run for this event. This messed with me and as hard as I went trying to promote it, I did not do it with rhyme & reason and thus, I know what I can do differently next time.
Promo is a lot of work
To spam the DMs or not to spam in the DMs, that is the question. More accurately the question is, am I better than that behaviour. The other morning, I started a spam campaign, copy/pasting the same generic message to folk in my DMs. The message ending with a link to the Eventbrite. I felt weird being “annoying” like this, but then I got the results.
I think I spammed 75 people. Two people responded in a negative way. A good half the people ignored me. Thankfully the next time I go spamming I’ll see that and move on. The rest of it was positive. I asked people to share the Eventbrite link and a good chunk of people did. This effort generated about 100 clicks back to the Eventbrite page. At least a couple of people I spammed said, “I was unaware of this event until you DM’d me, Thanks for doing that”.
We did the radio promo with DMS, Ill Groove Garden and The Morning Detour. Shame on me for forgetting about HitStory. I’m cool with them too, yet I plumb forgot to reach out to them.
The flyer part requires a whole strategy unto itself. You print them out, then what? You must actually go talk to people or you end up with a stack of filter. The content part takes effort too. To edit all those individual videos is work.
Overall, I think we went hard on this event. Online it had hype, that was dope. But that hype did not convert.
Maybe it cost too much?
The tickets were 30$ + Eventbrite fees in advance, so 36$. Then it was 40$ at the door. There was also an Early Bird special where all in it would have cost you 25$ but only 3 people took advantage of that.
We priced the show based on what we felt we needed to so that we could turn a profit. We didn’t do our due diligence into market research and consider how a lower price point would attract more people. Given the penalties associated with not enough people coming, I think we focused on the wrong thing.
To secure your relationship with the venue, you need to make sure people come in. All of the footage avoided the crowd, which instantly tells people watching your video the crowd is not big. This is not something you can hide with the magic of camera angles, people aren’t stupid.
We priced our event based on our expenses and that is not the right way to do this. Figure out what you should charge at the door and then work out what you can afford. While a lot of things in art are passion projects, if you are financing your own event and don’t want to lose money, it’s on you to budget accordingly.
You cannot expect ticket sales, you can simply throw your hat in the race and try and get people to come out and play. At the very least, clearly set expectations for the venue owner so they can staff accordingly.
The show inevitably started
We wanted the show to start at 9:00, it started at 9:30. It may be worth just having these shows start at 10:00 PM so people can just pull up and there isn’t this long awkward waiting for the show. I know, I criticize others for being late, I deserve the same criticism (let the other platforms know I’m no hypocrite).
Another Feezy point worth mentioning is reinventing the wheel is a silly endeavour. This guy I worked with Elias used to call this idea “fighting gravity”. While we all desire positive change and new habits, there has to be an in between for the utopia and the actual behaviour patterns.
We ultimately pushed back the start time to wait for more people to come. I’m never certain about this move. The longer it takes for your show to start, the more people blow through their drinking budgets in boredom waiting.
My PRSPCTVS on the show are all over the place.
I did not spend as much time watching the show as I would have liked. I found myself all over talking to people. I filmed snippets of most of the sets for my vlog. Since I was performing during Chris, Shobiz514 and my set, none of us made the vlog (coming in like a week or so).
DJ Blaster did his thing holding down the vibe before the show started. His ability to read a crowd always sets a vibe and holds it. He was the show DJ for most of us as well, (Artists we should get our own DJs real talk).
A brief Breakdown of opener sets
Rust started the show off and did a proper set, bringing Shhvelly on stage with him to perform. Rust gives a clean performance where he enunciates each syllable with energy.
Will E. Skandalz, Chris Chrome, Shobiz514 and I did our part of the KIL Team set next. I feel like we brought our energy and did what we do.
The Regulators & Jimmie D set came off like a full Wu Tang Clan experience. They had many features and it felt like a big family takeover. When they perform there is an infectious draw to the stage.
Anu Budz came extra with the smoke machines and Tesla wheel. Personally, I like extra. Fresh’Era dropped a confetti bomb and had a dancer bless the stage. They came with the theatrics, and it was nice.
King K LV came correct and brought a solid performance. His energy is powerful, and his songs engage the audience as he spits his bars.
Handro gave a solid performance. For whatever reason the audience chose this set to go outside, but Handro performed as though everyone stayed. He really did his thing and showcased his talent like a professional.
Unfortunately, I missed the Natasha Marie set as it was in that moment Feezy was giving Shobiz514 and I life lessons. One of those lessons is usher the crowd to the stage, don’t be afraid to interrupt them.
Smoking Ink killed their set, their chemistry on stage creates a perfect balance. It worked as a great bridge to the headline set.
The audience seemed to enjoy the performances.
Jo Dolo & Syla are headliner quality
We asked for an hour long set and they came through and delivered. I heard Syla call Jo Dolo his twin before and seeing them on stage together it all made sense. Their set has a sense of choreography and direction that shows how much effort they put into this.
It’s not just the music. They understand how to interact with the crowd and create moments. They have a playfulness they are willing to put on full display and to great effect.
During the songs they move, dance around and perform as though they are on a stadium stage. As an artist watching, it was one of those take notes kind of moments. I appreciate good expertise and showmanship.
Their music is versatile covering multiple subgenres of Hip Hop while maintaining a modern, dance-oriented sound. Their set feels pop (in a well-liked and marketable way) and belongs among any artist you see at an Osheaga or Rolling Loud.
They are some of the best performers I have seen in the city. They delivered on exactly what they were supposed to do.
Some final thoughts on roles before we go
You cannot play every role. When working on a team, each person should understand their role and how it contributes to the greater mission.
Sometimes that will be very clear as you are asked to play a particular role. Other times as new roles appear and remain unfulfilled, since no one steps up.
You also can’t neglect your role because you are feeling like a whiney wanker. If you are trying to make success happen in your life, taking days off comes at the cost it does. I’m not advocating against mental health days, I am saying that you need to clearly understand the roles you agree to so that you can make commitments you can manage.
This whole experience has me considering how to move forward again. To me success comes from the ability to move forward, smarter. We will learn and achieve that.
Live Long and Prosper Everyone
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