[Dixielandjazz] Advertising suggestions to get MORE people to the gig...

Tue May 15 09:15:09 PDT 2007

I completely understand - One of the big problems is time to do these things 
and gas money to drive around.  I have tripled the amount of time that I 
have been putting into it and there has been a corresponding jump in 
bookings and since a lot of them will lead to other bookings it has been 
worth it.

I would like to build up my e-mail list and I have included a blank on my 
contracts but no one fills it in.  How do you get them?  Right now I have a 
list of about 15 that I send ads to but I recognize that you need hundreds 
of names to do any good with it.

Trouble with flyoverland there are no festivals within hundreds of miles of 
St. Louis.  We used to have one that drew thousands literally but I guess 
someone wasn't making enough money.  The last one here was very good 
musically but turnout was not good.  Part of it was moving it to St. Charles 
MO which has it's own waterfront fests and river tradition.  St. Charles 
while a good setting is small potatoes compared to St. Louis.  I think the 
last one was in 1999 but I could be off a year or two.

About the only thing happening is the Jazz club sponsors a monthly concert.
Larry
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jeanne Brei" <TinPanAlleyCat at cox.net>
To: "Larry Walton Entertainment - St. Louis" <larrys.bands at charter.net>
Cc: "Dixieland Jazz Mailing List" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Monday, May 14, 2007 5:57 PM
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Advertising suggestions to get MORE people to 
the gig...

> Hey Larry,
>    Bands just can't NOT afford to advertise their gigs -- especially when 
> they're not playing "mainstream" music. But it sounds like you at least 
> make the effort for your gigs -- may I suggest Xeroxing some flyers and 
> taking them around to: ballroom dancing studios (each town usually has at 
> least 2-3 studios that will have a bulletin board for places to go 
> dancing), yoga studios (usually have bulletin boards and you'll be 
> surprised how many yoga devotees love music with melodies), and 
> elementary/junior high & high school band directors? They usually have 
> bulletin boards and kids need to hear this music! Maybe the band director 
> will Xerox enough flyers to give to the kids to take home if your concert 
> is outdoors or free. I think every jazz club should call the local junior 
> high school band directors and ask if they can put on a program or invite 
> some of the kids to the Sunday jam -
>    Also, you can't underestimate the power of the web! Every time I land 
> in a new city (right now I'm in San Francisco for a month), the first 
> thing I do is google "swing dancing", "dixieland", "trad jazz" and "lindy" 
> plus the city to find the Calendars that SOMEONE is creating for that 
> town. San Francisco has several because they have SO much fabulous jazz --  
> of course, they also have RaeAnn Berry, who is an incredible ambassador to 
> trad jazz as well as a member of the DJML -- she not only gave me a sheet 
> of ALL the trad jazz gigs in the San Francisco area with the websites, 
> addresses, phone numbers and gig dates - she passes them out to anyone she 
> MEETS at the gig who's enjoying the music. Every town should be so lucky 
> to have someone like her.
>    Most of those sites are eager to have someone let them know they have 
> an upcoming show -- especially if there's a dance floor (ie, 
> www.sflindyhop.com and  www.lindylist.com are great sources to know where 
> to go). And it helps if the band has a hotlink to their website with mpgs 
> of their music to check out what they sound like before I go -- especially 
> if there's a cover involved!
>      I spent last summer in Toronto enjoying their FABULOUS swing and trad 
> jazz scene - LOTS of wonderful bands playing every week -- and not only 
> did I sit in and sing with most of them - Jeff Healy hired me to sing the 
> following two weeks since his singer was off doing festival work (there's 
> multiple festivals all over the Toronto area all summer long -- it's 
> HEAVEN!)
>    If you'd like to see my blog about the San Francisco jazz scene-- check 
> out: http://jazzinwithjeanne.blogspot.com and be sure to check out some of 
> the band's websites -- most of them do have mpgs so you can hear their 
> music - and that really raises the probability that I'll go see them. Of 
> course, with the lineup of musicians in Philadelphia, I would have gone to 
> see them in a heartbeat if I'd been within 100 miles!
>    I hope that helps sell out all your upcoming gigs!
> Jeanne Brei
>
> Jeanne Brei
> Tin Pan Alley Cat Entertainment
> Las Vegas, NV
> http://www.jeannebrei.com
> NEW! I'm on YouTube! Click here to sing John & I singing! 
> http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=tinpanalleycat
> EVEN NEWER! Check out my BLOG! http://jazzinwithjeanne.blogspot.com
> http://www.viewnews.com/2002/VIEW-Jun-28-Fri-2002/Summerlin/19044673.html
> 12/13/05 Radio Interview on "Coffee With Caryll": 
> http://www.alltalkradio.net/main/modules/Audio_Archives/Coffee%20With%20Caryll/coffee121305.MP3.
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Larry Walton Entertainment - St. Louis" <larrys.bands at charter.net>
> To: <tinpanalleycat at cox.net>
> Cc: "Dixieland Jazz Mailing List" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
> Sent: Monday, May 14, 2007 11:53 AM
> Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Is this typical? - Advertising
>
>
>>I think that the problem of poor turnout is advertising.  Bands just can't 
>>afford to do their own advertising because of the work and cost involved.
>>
>> Recently my band played at the Scott Joplin House here in St. Louis. 
>> They have a club next door called the Rosebud and as venues go it's very 
>> nice. The club holds about 60-80 people.
>>
>> I advertised via e-mail to everyone on my list and requested that they 
>> forward my e-mail to their friends.  I don't know if anyone did it or 
>> not. As far as I could see no one from my list showed up.  Most everyone 
>> on my list is a musician which may have played a part in it.  I have a 
>> small e-mail list to clients and venues.
>>
>> I printed color flyers that were put in several places as well as at the 
>> Joplin House prior to the concert.  The members of the band passed some 
>> out too.  I mailed out a few but I suspect the groups I mailed them to 
>> needed them a month earlier to act on them.  I should have gotten them 
>> out earlier but that just wasn't possible.
>>
>> It was pointed out that I didn't have a notice in the Get out St. Louis 
>> column of the Post.  That is free and comes out once a week on Thursdays. 
>> One of the audience reminded me that I wasn't there.   I also didn't 
>> notify the Jazz Club for a notice.  This one I didn't do because I wasn't 
>> a member yet and didn't know they did that and when I found out it was 
>> too late to make the newsletter.
>>
>> In spite of all my shortcomings on the concert we had almost a full house 
>> which was good but could have been better.
>>
>> I was disappointed with the internet advertising the venue did.  We were 
>> supposed to be on the web site announcement but never made it even though 
>> I called and reminded them.  I was assured that it would be done. 
>> (NOT!!!) They did send out, so they say. an e-mailing.  Does anyone read 
>> those things or does it just become so much spam? At this point I don't 
>> know how much good e-mail does but since it's more or less free it's 
>> foolish to not use it.  If anyone wants to see what my e-ad looked like I 
>> can send it off list.
>>
>> Even the amount of advertising I did was a fairly large effort and while 
>> I could have done more and directed things a bit differently the result 
>> wasn't as good as I had hoped.  As time goes by I will refine my efforts.
>>
>> I sent out about 85 postcards on my list before the rates went up.  Lets 
>> see if I get any calls from those.  I ended up booking 9 jobs from that 
>> list before and generated 2 calls for NY eve.  The cards were aimed at 
>> some Tuesday nights we are free, summer concerts and July 4.  The other 
>> reason is that I want to keep my name in front of the people that hire 
>> bands.  That's the expensive part of advertising.  While I did well with 
>> the last mailing you have to keep it up.  The post cards cost right at 
>> $28 for everything. You have to factor in the work involved but postcards 
>> are inexpensive if you aren't sending out thousands and have a targeted 
>> mail list.  All I have to book is one job from the mailing to more than 
>> pay for it.  But like the lottery I might get lucky.
>>
>> I'm sort of wondering if the leader and musicians in this group as well 
>> as the venue were hoping to magically draw a crowd on the names alone 
>> without doing anything much else?
>> Larry
>> St. Louis
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Steve Barbone" <barbonestreet at earthlink.net>
>> To: "Larry Walton" <larrys.bands at charter.net>
>> Cc: "Dixieland Jazz Mailing List" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
>> Sent: Monday, May 14, 2007 9:52 AM
>> Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Is this typical?
>>
>>
>>>A sad story from one of the local Jazz Society e-mails, about their 
>>>monthly
>>> concert, this one in a church venue for Mothers Day. (Reminds me of the 
>>> last
>>> time they presented Tony DiNicola and Kenny Davern together with a 
>>> monster
>>> quintet and drew about 110 people)
>>>
>>> Good example of why OKOM needs an infusion of youth in all phases of the
>>> genre.
>>>
>>>
>>> -----start snip
>>>
>>> Hi ---- MEMBERS:
>>>
>>> This is to those that missed the best concert of the year in any music
>>> venue!!! You missed out on a great climax!!
>>>
>>> Dan Levinson got down on his knees before the last tune and asked Molly 
>>> Ryan
>>> to marry him. She said yes, but was speechless for a long time 
>>> afterward.
>>>
>>> The music was great, the root beer was plentiful and received well, the
>>> venue had many good remarks made, the CD sales went well, but of 75 
>>> there,
>>> about 25 were TSJS members. Luckily we have some members that 
>>> "subsidized"
>>> the concert with funds, food for the band, ads in the papers, and such. 
>>> That
>>> is only 10 % of our members, which total is an all time low since 1995. 
>>> We
>>> had a band made of 8 band leaders.
>>>
>>> ------ end snip
>>>
>>> Who was in this band that drew only 75 people, 25 of whom were from the 
>>> jazz
>>> society?
>>>
>>> Dan Levinson, leader/reeds; Randy Reinhart, trumpet; David Sager, 
>>> trombone;
>>> Mark Shane, piano; Vince Giordano, guitar/banjo/bass saxophone; Brian
>>> Nalepka, bass; Kevin Dorn, drums, Molly Ryan, vocals.
>>>
>>> WHAT A GREAT PITY THEY THERE WERE ONLY 75 PEOPLE IN THE PHILADELPHIA 
>>> AREA
>>> SUPPORTING THE MUSIC OF THIS GREAT BAND. AND ONLY 25 FROM THE JAZZ 
>>> SOCIETY
>>> WHO WOULD TRAVEL TO A DIFFERENT VENUE, JUST A SHORT DISTANCE FROM THEIR
>>> USUAL AMERICAN LEGION HALL. For those who think the metro area that I
>>> operate in is a gold mine, think again. I'll bet Dan's band would draw 
>>> more
>>> people than that in any town in the boonies you can think of.
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>> Steve Barbone
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>
>>>
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>>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
> 