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Comment by richrichardsson | Hacker News Reader

> If you’re going to a festival, and theres a roadpony thing going on to have you play a venue that is local, of course you would just go do that as well.

Assuming the festival contract doesn't specify exclusivity in the weeks surrounding (something that's actually quite common in my experience).

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Exactly. It’s not as easy as saying “oh look, people want to see us” as it is bureaucratic red tape that a festival has to adhere to. Also, just because people want to see you perform doesn’t mean a venue does. Some venues will only take certain artists, others lack the space, all while more and more smaller to medium sized venues are closing. Music as a business is evolving to just digital content and marketing. It’s sad.

Yeah, there are things to consider. Everything also depends a whole lot on band size, country, city etc.

Regarding venues, being from a city with around 1 million people, it’s pretty much always a solvable problem. Theaters, movie theaters, music venues, gallerie, stadiums, rented stages... it is, in my experience, a very solvable problem. If it’s a big band, you throw money at the problem, if it’s a small gig, make something fun out of it. The concert only gets better if you put the act somewhere fun or unexpected. I’ve done shows in wine cellars, on ferries etc.

Sure, alternative venues are a lot of fun. I used to play in an open space, in a square, at the end of a cul-de-sac, coffee shops... these don’t necessarily warrant something like the OP’s solution though. I haven’t been in music in quite some time but when I was I would have killed for an app that connected me with venues rather than with fans. I had my own avenues for that. A website, MySpace, mailing list. Now I imagine it would be Facebook and SoundCloud and the like... I played punk music and because of that, venue selection was limited to those with the insurance coverage ;) Any mom & pop place quickly turned us down.

Cheers, sounds like good fun :) many venues these days are pretty much automated. Live Nation has direct access to the calendar of the most populat venue in my city. They dont consult the venue, they just add bands to the calendar. A venue-connecting app would do nothing for you in that (maybe specific, but not uncommon id wager, given live nations size) example.

This is a good point. However, I'm sure if you presented proof to a venue that you already have a large number of paying showgoers ready to see you in this city if you perform in the near future, convincing the venue to book you will be much easier than just an estimated head count or trying to use the numbers from your last area performance.

We're planning on working assistance to cover the venue/promoter costs as well. So given that the demand is high enough for the performer, I don't see why the venue would turn them down if they could present info like this.

Thanks for the feedback btw!

Very good point. You definitely have leverage showing up to a booking meeting with head counts. What guarantees do you have they show up though? I played a few gigs where we thought we would have more numbers. In fact that experience lead to us youngsters turning towards getting a college education instead of playing to an empty room. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for what you all are up to. My experience was 20 some years ago so it’s totally different now.

Yeah, that is common. I guess it also depends on the definition of “local”. If you’re flying from spain to play in Hamburg, playing in Berlin is not “local”, but would still make good business sense.

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