[Dixielandjazz] The "Business" of Music

[john petters]

Tom said
> Most of those folks in the Symphony "ARTS" arena often make lots of money
in 
a totally different Business of some sort, yet have no clue that their
dearly 
beloved Symphony should be made to operate the same way any other business 
does.

I have been waiting for 40 years for those Big Donors to drop off some big 
>check in my business, but they just never seem to show up.  :))

The do not show up over here either Tom. 

In just under one month, I will be staging the biggest residential
traditional jazz & Swing Festival in the UK. In previous years, I have been
paid to organise and play it by the venue. This year the risk is all mine. 

We will have 20 live sessions in two venues (both non smoking)As well as my
own jazz repertory company that consists of George Webb, the father of
British Jazz, Annie Hawkins, Ken Sims, Dave Bailey, Mike Pointon, Ken Sims,
Martin Litton, James Evans, Trevor Whiting, Allen Beechey, Keith Donald, Val
Wiseman, Campbell Burnap, Nick Dawson, Lord Arsenal and Roy James, we have
Phil Mason's New Orleans Allstars with Christine Tyrrell, Bob Kerr's Whoopee
Band, T J Johnson's Bourbon Kick, Hugh Rainey Jazz Band, Dave Moorwood's Big
Bear Stompers, The Dixie Jazz Bandits with Mary Lou Lambert, Sir Alan's Jazz
Band, Pete Allen and The Jive Aces. Included in the proceedings will be
centenary tributes to Red Nichols, Eddie Condon and Jack Teagarden, a Bechet
set, a couple of jam sessions, Swinging Down Memory Lane - the American
songbook, a parade, a gospel & Spirituals session, a jazz quiz, a jazz forum
and a jazz lecture. 

Why am I telling you all about this? Well some of you might like to come. 

The other reason? 

This is a big risk. No safety net. There are many festivals in the UK. In
fact it is the latest craze. Everyone thinks they can run a jazz festival.
Some can, some can't. So how is the Pakefield "Now You Has Jazz Jazz Jazz
Festival" doing? Last year we had about 620 people. This year, so far we
have 598 with another month to sell. 

Do I just book the acts and sit back and take the money? 

No sir! 

Assuming I've booked a good programme,  I then design a four colour glossy
DL size brochure and have 25,000 copies printed. 6,000 of these immediately
go on a targeted mail out to our jazz mailing list. This brings in the first
flood of bookings which add the already large amount of folk that re-booked
last year. Then there is the problem of getting the brochures out to the
artistes that are appearing in the hope that they will put their backs into
putting them out on their gigs. 

Guess what?

Some do a great job, some don't bother. This is where the great scheme falls
down, because they don't bother, there may not be a festival next year if
the numbers failed to come in. They get paid anyway, but can't see further
than the current gig fee. They fail to see that by distributing the
publicity they are not only making me money, but ensuring that the gig runs
again next year where they may well get another booking. So some musicians
fail in the "Business" of Music. 

As an aside, it is an expensive business recording and producing CDs these
days. I pay my musicians a good rate. Some take a box of CDs and sell them
on their other gigs. They make money and I make money. Everybody wins. Some
refuse or can't be bothered or fear it will stop them selling their own CDs.
This is nonsense. I regularly sell two or three different CDs to customers
on gigs. Again these folk fail in the "business" of Music.

Next job is to get the brochures out to the jazz clubs. Then put them out at
every one of my own gigs and hard sell the event to the customers. My
"business" is not just to play my drums but to market my festival. Then
there is the jazz press - this is costly but does bring results, although
nowhere near as many as my direct mailing. 

Then there is the continued follow up on other mailings throughout the year.
Then there are the people who booked last year who I did not get on my
mailing list and others who went to similar events hosted at the same venue.


Finally press and local radio and any other thing I have forgotten. 

I should add that we have a free phone credit card booking line. At 22:45
this evening a customer called - so there is rarely any peace, although I
did let the answer phone get it and will return the call during office hours
tomorrow!

We take the credit card bookings, process cheque payments, generate customer
invoices, print contracts, maps, reminders.........

It is a full time job for a year. Multiply that by four festivals a year,
plus a host of self promoted gospel concerts, Riverboat shuffles, monthly
jazz club dates and a host of theatre and private gigs and that is the
"business" of music for me. If I waited for the phone to ring for someone to
book my band I would starve. I have to make my "business" of music happen. 

However if I wanted to play modern jazz of freeform jazz or fire in a pet
shop music, I could have applied to the Arts Council, turned up, played to
an empty venue and come away with a fat fee!

In my "business" of Music, there is no such thing as a free lunch. Never
take anything for granted, especially last year's success, because you are
only as good as your next show.    
John Petters
Amateur Radio Station G3YPZ
www.traditional-jazz.com

-----Original Message-----
From: dixielandjazz-bounces at ml.islandnet.com
[mailto:dixielandjazz-bounces at ml.islandnet.com] On Behalf Of
TCASHWIGG at aol.com
Sent: 07 February 2005 19:15
To: dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] The "Business" of Music


I believe that if I wanted to go to the Symphony I would go out and buy a 
ticket to do so, If I don't care to go to hear them no amount of additional 
advertising dollars spent is going to persuade me to go buy a ticket and
attend.

I am a firm believer that if you can't sell enough seats to cover your 
operation expenses perhaps you have just gotten too big for your britches
and should 
move into a smaller venue with a smaller operation if need be, to maintain a

solid sense of operating it like a business.

In a case like Baltimore stated in this article, I say if they have 40% of 
the seats empty, simply go out to the schools and or the streets the week
before 
the performances that have all those empty unsold seats and give the tickets

to folks who cannot afford to buy them.

This way they would have enough folks in the seats to keep the paid
customers 
warm during the performance, and they more than likely would convert some of

those folks into eventual paying customers.  Much more effectively than
taking 
out Full page Advertisements in the Newspapers which should be doing their 
part with lots of editorial articles to help promote the Symphony rather
than 
just selling them advertising.

For any event that needs publicity, there is always available editorial 
space, but you need to get your Public Relations Director motivated to go
out and 
hustle for it.  I have seen far too many of them just simply buy advertising

space when it was not necessary.

Ever notice how well the Newspapers cover the BIG Opening Night GALA and all

the beautiful people have their photos all over the paper the day
afterwards.  
Would be much more effective if they had the big Gala a week in advance of 
the opening night to get some advance Promotion and Publicity about the
event 
they want to sell tickets to.

Many of those Beautiful people make donations and attend the Gala's to see 
and be seen and thrive on getting their photos in the newspapers as VIPs.  A

good number of them also do not attend all the concerts either, but only the

important ones where they can be seen and be a STAR.    "Everyone wants to
be in 
"SHOW BUSINESS"


If Art is so Adamant about Art for Art's Sake, then perhaps Art should buy 
all those empty seats and give them to kids hanging out in the hood in
Baltimore 
with nothing to do.

Musical Content

"You're So Vain"

Cheers,

Tom Wiggins
Guest Conductor for     "Saint Gabriel's Celestial Brass Orchestra"

Now where did I put that Gold Plated Baton ??

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