ARTIST: SHOULD I SELL TICKETS IN ORDER TO PERFORM?

By Eric L. Mims J.d.


We've all been there before, you want to perform and you find a promoter who tells you "we are looking for artist just like you to perform at our showcases".

If you decide to go ahead with the purchasing the tickets, this is usually how it plays out for beginning artist;

You buy the 200 tickets for 200.00, then you harass all of your friends and family to buy a ticket for 4.00 or 5.00 each....some of them do, the rest say they will before the show, but you find yourself with 160 tickets left, two days before the show...so what do you do....you figure that you've already spent the money.....so you might as well give the rest away so that you will have a significant support for you in the audience, and that's exactly what you do. (right there, you have a 170.00 or 180.00 loss)

You say yes, pay the 200.00 or agree to provide the 200.00 to the promoter the night of the show, before you perform of course. Then you begin your selling rampage. You call all of your family and friends and ask them to buy tickets. Guess how many tickets you sell before the show, out of the original 200? You sell 30 or 40..why? because most of your friends and family want tickets for free and you know what you're gonna do? Give away as many free tickets to your friends, family, and fans as you can, because it's better to have the there to support you than not.

For most artist just starting out, you will be lucky if you sell 40 tickets to your showcase. The rest of the money will have to come out of your pocket if you want to perform.

The only time that I would suggest buying tickets to do shows is when the showcase has a headliner. By that I mean that a major act is going to perform at the venue and you are buying and selling tickets so that you can open up for that act.

This means two things. One, it is not likely that you will gain any new fans because these people are loyal to who they came to support, and two, once the artist that they came to see performs, these people are going to leave right along with that artist. So, if you perform near the end of the roster, the audience may be very very small.

Just make sure that you are opening up for an artist in the same genre as your music is in.

If you want to capitalize off of the situation and possibly gain some new fans, the people who are there to see drake need to be the type of people that like your type of music also. If you are a Rap artist, then you might not want to open up for a classical jazz headliner.

It's a little different though. For one, it will be more expensive, but it will be a lot easier selling those tickets, because people in general want to see major artist. In addition to that, it will build up your buzz, because people will feel as though you are making progress, and begin to support you, just because you are opening up for this major artist. As a matter of fact, you will probably get more fans, just because you are opening up for a major artist. Plus, you will be able to perform for this major artist's fans, who may actually become your fans also, since they are not emotionally attached to the major artist, like they are in showcases with no major headliners.

The difference is that the price will be much higher (1500.00-2500.00), but it will be easier to sell those tickets because your friends, family, and strangers will want to see the major artist perform, and they will be much more willing to support you because they believe that you are moving up in the music world. The other difference is that when you perform, you get to perform in front of the major artist's fans, and since they have no emotional attachment, it is ore opportunity to gain them as fans.

Peace!




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