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As a local artist, you must assume that no more than 1% (probably far less, actually) of the population in your home market has ever heard your music. So if your promotion efforts (for a BigTime Entertainment show or any other show you play) are going to yield any results, you must come to terms with the fact that you are promoting almost exclusively to people who know nothing about you, as an artist, whatsoever. You will find that there is only one group of people that will come see you play without first knowing your music—that is, the people that know YOU!
Your friends, relatives, co-workers, and classmates are the only people that will want to see you play without ever having heard your music. They know that YOU are an interesting, cool, funny, deep, or inspiring person—so they know to expect the same from your music, even though they haven’t heard it yet.
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After an hour-long discussion, the club owner admitted that Faded’s only chance of getting on a show that month would be for Kintz to book the show himself. “Despite the criticism we heard from the booking people in town, we liked our music and so did most of our friends, so we figured we’d give it a try,” explains Robertson. “Booking the show ourselves was work-to say the least-and was much more of a headache than we expected… But we really didn’t have any other option.”After that first show, Kintz and Robertson booked one show per month, for almost an entire year-giving Faded a consistent opportunity to put their plan into action. “After we’d done about 10 shows, the club’s management explained that business was slow and the club might have to close-unless we could book more shows,” says Kintz. “We offered to give it a try, because if the club closed down, it would screw over our band and all of the bands we had become friends with-also a lot of our favorite touring bands might not had anywhere in town to play.” So, out of necessity, BigTime Entertainment was born.
Faded broke up in mid 2005 (when their drummer/producer chose to leave the band to start a family), but not before Faded became the highest drawing BigTime Entertainment artist of all time. More than 250 Faded fans came out to their last show and gave Kintz and Robertson the experience they had initially set out to create-”a real stage with screaming fans in front of it.”
“We were sad to see Faded come to an end, but the fun we had and the work ethic we learned from being in that band were priceless,” says Robertson. BigTime Entertainment’s mission of “connecting bands to their fans” was born out of a belief that every band deserves the opportunity to create a similar experience for themselves.
“Even though I wholeheartedly believed our music was good, the negative things those booking people said really bummed me out,” concludes Kintz. “The difference is, now I know our music was good, because we proved that at least 250 of our ‘closest friends’ thought so too.”
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“We called every booking contact we could find, but we just kept getting the clubs’ main answering machines-the ones where you can call in and hear a voice reading off their show calendar and giving directions to the club,” says Robertson. “We also sent emails all over the place, but we got very few responses,” he continues. “Those that did respond said they were looking for acts with a ‘more mature’ sound-or something else along those lines. Basically, they thought our music wasn’t any good,” he admits with a slight twinge of sarcastic sheepishness.
Kintz elaborates, “We literally heard from one club owner that he wasn’t interested because he was looking to specifically book Emo bands, but somebody else in town told us that our sound was a little ‘too Emo.’ “Understandably, this obvious paradox left both Kintz and Robertson frustrated, to say the least. “These criticisms hardly seemed constructive and struck us as a little too subjective to be dictating which [venues] we could play; it was hard to not feel helpless.”
After intermittent attempts that spanned a period of months, Kintz finally found himself on the line with a local club owner-thanks to a somewhat desperate, late-night attempt to reach someone by phone. “He told me that there was no openings on either of the two all-local shows coming up that month,” recounts Kintz. “He said that the only shows on the calendar that were still being booked were small and mid-sized tours coming through town, and he explained that the opening slots for those shows would go to bands with an established draw of at least 100 people.”
To be continued…
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Kintz and Robertson spent four years as a part of an alternative rock band called Faded. “Ryan and I had been playing in bands together since junior high, but most of them never even left the garage-probably because we couldn’t drive yet,” Robertson jokingly reminisces. “When we started Faded though, things went a little better-at least we started getting some gigs.”
However, as Kintz explains, not all “gigs” are created equal. “We grew up about 50 miles away from the nearest major city, so we didn’t even know that it was possible to play real rock shows-without being signed or on tour.” Faded spent about 18 months performing with surprising regularity at miscellaneous events around their hometown: several non-profit events, a handful of graduation and birthday parties, a couple junior high dances, and even a wedding-just to name a few.
Robertson recalls, “The more we played, the more we felt like something was missing-namely, a real stage with screaming fans in front of it.” So, Kintz and Robertson set out to devise a plan that would allow Faded to achieve its full potential. “We started scouring the Internet for advice about the music industry, and we even read books about growing your music career without the help of record labels, managers, or booking agents.”
After literally hundreds of hours spent studying a wide variety of literature and learning about the successes and pitfalls of some of the biggest names in the music industry (Motley Crue, Goo Goo Dolls, Poison, Dixie Chicks, Ani DiFranco, Sister Hazel), the plan was finally completed. The first item on the agenda was to start performing regularly in a major city-one that constituted a viable music market.
To be continued…
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Daniel Robertson and Ryan Kintz founded BigTime Entertainment in 2004 with the intent to fill a need they saw in their local music community. Their band, as well as many of their friends’ bands, was having a difficult time booking shows that were beneficial for their career and offered the opportunity they were looking for.
Since 2004, BigTime Entertainment has helped meet this need for over 5,000 bands (roughly 18,000 band members), and more than 170,000 fans have attended BigTime Entertainment events nationwide. It is BigTime Entertainment’s mission to help bands by producing fun, well-attended events where they can connect to their fans. Currently, BigTime Entertainment produces concerts in 10+ U.S. markets with an ever-growing staff of 40+ BigTime team members-all dedicated to fulfilling BigTime Entertainment’s mission. BigTime Entertainment also helps more than 30 all-ages venues to not only survive but also thrive-in an industry that has traditionally made it very difficult for local establishments to achieve longevity.
“No one would let our band play,” explains Daniel Robertson (co-founder) of BigTime Entertainment, “that was pretty much it.” Apparently the reasoning behind the creation of BigTime Entertainment was just that simple.”We knew that the next step for our band was to start playing real shows,” interjects Ryan Kintz (co-founder), “instead of just [playing] barbeques, school dances, and fundraisers. But no one who was booking shows around [our market] wanted to give us a chance.”
To be continued…
Check also Daniel Pitoscia, Mitch Armata and Tudor Cisu.
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Big Time Entertainment realizes that the notion of a “headlining” band is very inappropriate for all-local events. Instead, BigTime allow each band to choose their timeslot for the night, and it gives seniority to artists that contribute most to the success of the show. This ensures that the bands working the hardest are rewarded for their efforts and that they have ample incentive to participate in the face-to-face (career building) interaction that ticket selling creates.
By way of band payment, Big Time Entertainment does not “play favorites” or reward bands for irresponsible behavior that threatens a venue’s survival or success. Instead, each band is paid according to the BigTime Entertainment Pay Scale, which dictates how much per ticket each band will be paid. Bands that draw very well are paid several dollars per ticket-often hundreds of dollars, in total. On the other hand, bands that draw poorly (and less than they promised before the show) will be paid proportionately less. This practice stands in stark contrast to that of the traditional all-ages concert producer, who may only pay the bands that he or she believes to be “talented.”
Because Big Time Entertainment goes to great lengths to ensure that each show is a success for EVERYONE involved, BigTime Entertainment is able to do shows on a consistent basis, in each of their markets. This consistent and reliable business is what allows many of BigTime Entertainment venues to achieve the level of success they desire.
Check also Daniel Pitoscia, Mitch Armata and Tudor Cisu.
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To achieve the greatest possible connection between bands and their fans, it is also BigTime’s job to encourage each artist to interact with their fans on a personal level. While they may not end up becoming “best friends” with each of their fans, they MUST give each of their fans the chance to get to know them, as an artist-who they are and what their songs are about.In contrast to the “traditional” all-ages concert producer, Big Time Entertainment does not consider it appropriate to act as a music critic. According to BigTime Entertainment’s philosophy, everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion because “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” Since two people can hear the same song and exhibit exactly opposite reactions to it, BigTime only means for determining the legitimacy of a band’s music is to use fan response as our primary indicator. If people like it, then it’s valuable; there’s no fairer way to critique an art form.
Unlike the traditional all-ages concert producer, BigTime Entertainment also understands that it’s role is not that of a Concert Promoter-since its shows rarely feature touring acts. Whether a bands fan base is 30 people or 300 people, the band members themselves are in a better position than anyone to promote to those people. Any attempt by BigTime Entertainment to take on this role would be both an overwhelming failure. Thankfully, the money we save can be passed on to the hardest working bands-which promote for their band far better than anyone else could.
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Today, almost every local all-ages show is produced in the following manner. A small(often one-man) production company will make arrangements to rent one of the all-ages music/art spaces described above—a new club that just opened downtown. Next, the concert producer will find several “cutting edge” local and regional acts, he or she believes to be so talented that booking them will ensure that the show becomes fantastic success. These acts are tired of playing small, smoky bars that are half full of middle-aged people and are anxious to play somewhere new–so they excitedly agree.
Now, since the concert PRODUCER mistakenly believes he or she is a “concert PROMOTER”, promotion efforts will ensue. What he or she doesn’t realize is that true Concert Promoters work only with well-known touring acts who have a large national(or at least regional)fan base but are unable to promote for themselves because they won’t be in town until the day of the show.
So, almost literally no one who sees the flier or ad will even remember them a day later–let alone, come out and pay to see the show. Because of this, these “promotion” efforts will yield little to no results–neither in terms of show attendance nor name recognition for the bands. In addition, the concert producer will not be able to pay the bands as well as anticipated, because he or she has wasted considerable funds on ineffective promotion techniques.
On the day of the show, both the concert producer and his or her “cutting-edge” bands will arrive at the venue. Everyone will set up for the show. In spite of the fact that they prefer to play second, the most popular band on the bill (which is not necessarily the most musically talented but is always the hardest working) will be forced to play the last timeslot of the night, because they are “headlining” the show. Thanks to this well-intentioned concept (which only actually makes sense for national or regional tours), the hardest working band will be penalized–in essence–by not getting any choice of when they take the stage.
The rest of the bands will draw a combined total of 15 people to come see the show, for a total show attendance of 100 (=85+15) people. Depending on the price of admission and the size of the club, the concert producer may or may not have enough cash left to pay the rent he or she owes the venue. If rent is covered, then the bands will probably split the rest of the money.
The bands may split the rest evenly, which seems unfair to the band that brought out 85 people, but this will make the other bands very happy. The band that brought out 85% of the crowd is probably not happy about being paid the same amount as the other bands–and understandably so.
At the end of this show, the hard working band (which is the only one of the bands that has the drive needed to achieve widespread success) is left wondering if the show was even worth playing, and the other unmotivated bands are anxious for another chance to get paid for playing an event that requires little to no effort on their part.
As the dust settles, the concert producer realizes that low attendance and unnecessary “promotion” costs have left him or her very low on cash. He or she then informs the owner of the venue not to expect any more shows for a while, because it will take quite some time to save up the needed funds to produce his or her next event. Sadly, most of the production companies who rent this venue soon find themselves in a similar circumstance, so the club will likely not survive long enough to celebrate even a one-year anniversary.
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