Preselling tickets for shows in other cities

[ChrisTanakaCanwell]

My band got on a sweet show in Seattle (which is about a 5hr drive from here) and the venue wants us to presell 50 tickets, which is going to be pretty tough since we're nobodies and we've never played over there. I'm trying to set up something convenient online where people can wire us the money through Paypal, give us their contact info, and we can mail them the tickets. Has anyone done something like this before?

 

[bryan_kilco]

Honestly, I would just about pull off the show. It's hard enough to presell 50 tickets at a local gig, IMO, let alone a gig 5 hours away from home. But if you think you can pull it off, go for it!!!

 

[ChrisTanakaCanwell]

Yeah it's a pretty stupid move on our part We can't seem to catch any breaks around here though. I was wanting to drop off too, but our bass player really wants to do it and is just going to absorb the financial loss for us if we don't sell enough. I was trying to set up a physical merch thing through bandcamp or stereokiller but I'm hoping there's a better way (not having to list it as something that it's not, like a t-shirt or whatever)

 

[bryan_kilco]

Paying to play sucks. I've done it numerous times. It's a tough call. Between "this will get us new fans that are out of the area" and "we payed $300 to play to 10 people who didn't buy any of our merch"......or......"screw it, it's not worth the money loss/gas/food/room"......

We got offered a gig about 5 hours away in upstate NY. We would have had to buy our way in, and we almost did it.....then everyone came to their senses and realized it'd be a reallllly stupid move.

 

[smy1]

Yeah, don't do it. Unless it's a show with a massive guaranteed audience. Then you could consider the ticketcosts a "buy-on" of sorts.

 

[ChrisTanakaCanwell]

Paying to play does indeed suck. We already committed so we're stuck with it now :/ It's not a huge show or anything but the headliner is one of my favorite bands and two of us were going to drive over to watch the show anyway

 

[colonel kurtz]

paying to play doesn't just suck - it's just plain fucking wrong, and shouldn't be tolerated by any musician who respects their own music and the effort/time/money that went into creating it

the only reason that shit goes on is so that lazy-ass promoters can jack naive kids out of their money, knowing that tickets are already sold whether they make any attempt to promote the show or not

 

[bryan_kilco]

paying to play doesn't just suck - it's just plain fucking wrong, and shouldn't be tolerated by any musician who respects their own music and the effort/time/money that went into creating it

the only reason that shit goes on is so that lazy-ass promoters can jack naive kids out of their money, knowing that tickets are already sold whether they make any attempt to promote the show or not

Pretty much!

"You want to open for [insert famous/national act band name here] on a Tuesday night? You'll have to sell 100 tickets."

Basically, the national act barely has to lift a finger to move any tickets, get the longest set times, and get paid the most......while the openers will pay out of their pocket/band fund just to get a decent spot, force feed friends tickets, get cut short on set time, and not make any money.

I'll sell tickets if I have to, but being required to sell 50-100 tickets just to play is fucking outrageous unless you have a huge following. The best deal I've ever seen at a local venue, after selling 30+ tickets and forking over for the remaining 20 or so, making the venue $500, they threw us $50 back.

 

[colonel kurtz]

honestly, for the amount of money that bands are being asked to put up front to "pre-sell" tickets, they may as well just book their own damned venue, buy a bunch of booze, and throw a rager for everyone they know....would go a hell of a lot farther to get your name out there than playing in front of 20 random kids from hours away in the opening slot of a tour for a small national act

 

[ChrisTanakaCanwell]

It is pretty stupid, but unfortunately the buyers at the venue have to make sure you're going to be worth having, and I haven't had much luck putting on shows myself. We usually break even and it's way more work. And the smaller gigs where we make a little bit of money are even more pointless because we're always playing to our same friends and the venues are really unprofessional with the promotion/sound. I'm not so naive that I'm going to want to be doing this all the time, and I hate to support the whole pay to play thing, but I'm just hoping to bust ass and break even/make a small profit since I'm running out of ideas.

 

[bryan_kilco]

always playing to our same friends and the venues are really unprofessional with the promotion/sound.

Sadly, these type of small shows at shithole bars paid my previous bands more $$ than any bigger show we've played.

 

[scorpio01169]

My band got on a sweet show in Seattle (which is about a 5hr drive from here) and the venue wants us to presell 50 tickets, which is going to be pretty tough since we're nobodies and we've never played over there. I'm trying to set up something convenient online where people can wire us the money through Paypal, give us their contact info, and we can mail them the tickets. Has anyone done something like this before?

You have a PM I may be able to help you.

 

[amarshism]

Never payed to play, never will.

 

[ChrisTanakaCanwell]

Well I'm glad everyone else is somehow able to make money playing metal! Around here everyone seems to think you're a dick if you play stuff that's not scene or radio friendly and want to have your logo on the flyer, or compensation for playing, or not play at 1 in the morning, etc

 

[bryan_kilco]

Well I'm glad everyone else is somehow able to make money playing metal! Around here everyone seems to think you're a dick if you play stuff that's not scene or radio friendly and want to have your logo on the flyer, or compensation for playing, or not play at 1 in the morning, etc

Well, follow your gut, man! At least you're in a city. Try living in the middle of the sticks, closest "city" is just a big town about 30 mins away, with like 2 venues within a 50 mile radius!

 

[ChrisTanakaCanwell]

Well, follow your gut, man! At least you're in a city. Try living in the middle of the sticks, closest "city" is just a big town about 30 mins away, with like 2 venues within a 50 mile radius!

True! I try not to dwell on the scene here too much because I know I could just move, but I should have done that before I went into debt and signed a multi-year lease on my studio

 

[smy1]

Guys, I think you really have no clue how things work in the reality that is "non-internet-forum touring".

Buy-ons and pay-to-play might be some of the smartest things a new band can do. Every label does it for their bands to get them on tour with big-name acts and every bigger act rightfully sells their opening spots. Unknown bands usually don't do anything for the promoter or the main act. They just steal time and space on stage and half the time think they are actually owed money or hospitality. If the opening band wants a part of the audience that the main act spent time/money/effort in building then paying for it is as legit as taking out an advertisement in Metal Hammer.

Are you gonna tell me that taking out ads is wrong too?

 

[JeffTD]

I understand the frustration that a promoters job, by definition, is to get people out to the show and that him passing the bill on to you sucks dick, is unethical, and is part of why promoters will generally be regarded as scum to just about anyone who has toured. That said, what Sami has said is on-point and accurate (as always); it's a nice idea to never pay-to-play and I hope to god I never have to, but that's not as viable as it used to be.

 

[FischmungaXTR]

Someone has gotta absorb the venue hire charges (which are pretty extortionate in some places). Look at it this way, the bands are just pooling their money so that the promoter can pay for the venue for them, and if all goes well the bands get some return on their investment.

back on topic, did anyone mention bigcartel?
eg. http://steeltrooper.bigcartel.com/

also, if you go on facebook, go to 'people you may know', narrow that selection to seattle, then start chatting to people!