Posts Tagged ‘Promotion’
I got the Promotion Blues
Promoting the blues is a difficult task that has sometimes paid dividends and sometimes only disappoints. I’m a blues fan by default. The music I really like just happens to be rooted in the blues. Because of this I have a taste for blues but it must be seasoned with a bit of rock to really grab me.
As a promoter I have tried to brand the type of show I do so that I could build a relationship with my customers. I have with a few exception booked acts that I want to see. An act that I feel will impress people whether they have heard of them or not. Hopefully they trust my judgment and will attend because they have discovered artists by virtue of attending one of my shows. I began this venture under the title of Route 66 Blues Project. I later changed the name to 79th Street Sound Stage so as to not limit myself to promoting the blues exclusively.
I recently booked Ana Popovic who is a blues based female guitar player from Europe. I had heard of her through blues societies and through the Blues Foundation when she was nominated for a Blues Music Award I had only heard some of her albums and explored her website. I liked the fact she had many influences both Jazz and Rock but it was bluesy.
I had a decent turnout targeting the blues community for the show. The problem is a decent turnout is under 100 people. If the show had sold 100 or over I would have been ecstatic. The blues I have found has a limited audience. I think I made a mistake promoting her as a blues artist. I was asked believe it or not to refund the ticket price to someone who thought Ana wasn’t the blues. The rational was when asked why she wasn’t the blues the best they could come up with was because she used a wah wah peddle. Sacrilege I suppose.
Now I don’t pretend to be the authority on what is and isn’t blues. I don’t promote blues acts exclusively. In fact my most well attended shows have not been considered blues acts at all. I think the problem with trying to define the blues hurts the genre by limiting its appeal and dividing the fans that already exist. Instead of being able to depend on a supportive fan base of a genre you have hope to appeal to a certain segment of the genre’.
How do you overcome the pitfalls that come with promoting the blues? I guess the answer is distancing yourself from the genre’. I promote music. You call it what you want. I hope you call it good. You can call it blues if you want but all you’ll get from me is that it is bluesy.
Ana Popovic
Oklahoma City Limits First Show Jason Ricci
I heard about a new club on the south side of town earlier this spring. I was very hesitant to go have a look because of the location.
Kim who bartended at the Route 66 Road House was starting work there and she kept insisting I would like it. At her urging I stopped by on may way from the airport upon returning from visiting Colin in DC.
She gave me the owners cell and name. Jim Ury. The name was familiar and after she explained why I knew I already liked the guy. He used to own a club named Teddy’s who booked a lot of Texas acts. A mutual friend of our Jim Suhler couldn’t say enough good things about him. He also did the concessions at the Zoo Amp for years. Another mutual friend David Kelso also spoke highly of him. We had met at a show at the Road House where I was introduced to him by one of the waitresses that worked with him at the zoo as well
Music Marketing Philosophy
Published originally at Jolt Music Network
My social networking theories date back nearly 30 years although I never realized exactly what I was doing at the time. The marketing techniques I used my entire life building a successful career can be translated to building a business today in the music industry.
I built a business entirely by word of mouth with the goal of building a loyal customer base that would support my career choice for a lifetime. I was a horrible self promoter who still believes to this day that if you have to tell some one how good you are you probably aren’t worth a shit. If you are any good others will do that for you. I took care of producing a quality product and let my customers take care of spreading the word about my service. Read the rest of this entry »
The Road To The Royal Albert Hall Part 5
I remeber his first trip to Europe and how well he did. The Rockpalast appearance latter released on DVD. The feeling that he was really going to break there first. Something about American Blues Based artists being better received much better there than here. I don’t know all the pieces of the puzzle that came together to make not only the date possible but to sell it out in 6 days. I only know that it was a much deserved that Joe made every lucky break he recieved. My friend Mike Williams has a saying about the harder I work the luckier I get. Well that my friends is Joe.
The Road To The Royal Albert Hall Part 4
Aubry Harris contacted me because he knew I was a fan in OKC 90 mile to the north of Ardmore. He had booked Joe to play an after party at the Tivoli Theatre in downtown Ardmore. He was selling VIP tables and I was more than happy to buy one. During our conversation he said while talking to Joe’s manager my name had come up and he encouraged me to pursue booking Joe in OKC again. Something he probably later regretted but that is a whole other story.