Forget The Arenas, Support Your Local Venue

“The o2 is the most successful venue in the world”, says the press release, and by which of course they mean most profitable. I’m sure the majority of you who have been to the 02 will agree that it is by no means a great or particularly enjoyable experience. With a capacity of just over 5 billion, about 90% of seats are so far from the stage you might as well be watching the show standing 50 feet away from a 14 inch TV with binoculars held back to front. All those visiting the arena also get to immerse them-selves in a sound system so poor it could make Marvin Gaye sound about as soulful and melodic as Joss Stone singing through a paper and comb. Adding insult to injury the ticket prices are horrendous, and if you feel the urge to eat or drink in there prepare to bankrupt the family. To cap it all, it’s so far from civilisation you have to get a plane there, which, due to the breath-taking cost of parking, they have to ditch in the Thames United Airways style.

Anyway, right now I’d like to be able to say, “Forget that place, support your local dives”, but unfortunately, they are all shutting down. Which brings me on to my point: what is the future of the live scene for up-and-coming bands?

If the implementation of the live music license for all bars and venues didn’t kill of the local live scene then perhaps the credit crunch might just. I’m sure most groups, who aren’t idiots, accept the fact that the chances of getting signed and “making it” are incredibly slim, but now it seems that they won’t even be able to enjoy the experience of playing live. Most people’s expendable income is vanishing quickly and the odds of pulling a crowd in off the street are minimal. I can’t imagine anyone wandering into a venue and paying ludicrous door prices to see a band they’ve never heard of and probably never will again.

Of course this leads to a vicious circle: in an over saturated market venues are making no money and putting the prices up, putting the customers off. So who gets screwed? The bands of course. I myself have been in bands doing the smaller venue circuit in London and the whole process is a nightmare. Increasingly venues are enforcing unachievable rules for groups/artists who are just looking for a platform to perform the songs they have laboured on.

So what do the venues want from you? Well firstly, you can expect a venue with a capacity of 200 or so to expect you to bring 30-50 people mid week, anything up to 100 on weekends. Ok, that isn’t an unfathomable amount, but if you’re playing more than 1 or 2 gigs a month do you really think you can ask friends/family to pay to see you every time? Of course, friends/family or not, everyone pays – the extra money being made behind the bar means nothing. At best you’ll get a small guest list of free entrants, more likely you get a guest list with a £1-2 discount on door price.

Oh well, maybe you can just give your friends/family the money back from what you make? Unfortunately not, most venues only give a percentage of ticket sales to bands after an agreed number have come through the door – e.g. 50% of tickets after 30 people are in. It matters not though as the likelihood is you will have spent well beyond any earnings on alcohol and hiring gear from the venue. Still, you’ve worked hard, you have dedicated friends and you’re building up a name for yourself.... unlikely. Most small to mid sized venues do not let you play anywhere in London two weeks either side of their gig. Great.

I know the venues incur overheads not mentioned here, and more often than not allow promoters to run the evenings which of course puts more pressure on the door takings. All I’m trying to say is, in the midst of the credit crunch, in a contracting market, only the venues who can adapt will survive. Maybe more owners will finally be tempted to oust potentially greedy promoters and run the evenings themselves. Door prices wouldn’t be as crucial and could be lowered, improving numbers and bar takings.

Then again, why bother making a name for yourself as a great venue only to be crudely branded (HMV Apollo) or knocked down and replaced by a railway station? - Fair enough I can’t remember a decent band playing at the Astoria for about 5 years, but it was a great venue.

As a final note, not sure if this is genuine, but while typing this I received a petition against the planned compulsory restriction of noise levels in venues.  If this, as stated, is to unnecessarily low levels then assume the live music scene is about take another beating.