You never can seem to sell all that you need to even though you know the interest is there. Most people don’t want to buy tickets that far ahead because, in all honesty, those folks don’t know if they will be busy around that time. That is the sticky situation that arises for newer bands. Most of your fans are younger and don’t have a 9-5 job with entirely free nights and weekends so selling a set number of tickets feels like a gamble to them. I remember only buying presale tickets for bands that were huge and were not likely to be playing around my city for quite some time after that particular show. It’s because I knew that if I missed a band that I wanted to see from around town, I just needed to wait a few weeks and I will have another opportunity.
Now on the band side of the equation, it is extremely frustrating to sell tickets to people that may not even know your show is coming up or even know the bands you will be playing with. It is understandably difficult for those people you speak to make their mind up right then and there and even more unlikely that those people will have the money with them on the spot. I have been in those shoes before when I knew a band I liked was playing a bigger show soon and I couldn’t get my hands on presale tickets and I was usually left waiting in line for my ticket at the door.
This way of setting up a show is also understandable. You want there to be some guarantee that the show you are booking as a booking agent will actually make a return on your part. It is a risk that you have to take and presale tickets help alleviate some of the stress you may be feeling all the way up to the day of the show.
Now this all brings me to my end point. It is a rough thing on bands that play frequently to sell presale tickets. The average fan will go to as many shows as they possibly can, usually burning their money reserves in the process. Then when a big name act comes into town with a $10+ price tag, most of the fans will be hesitant because they could save a few bills by going to the next, lesser priced gig. It isn’t something that is easy to consider for the average fan because, even if the show has bigger acts on the bill, they may be unfamiliar to you and your normal selection of the awesome local acts. So even if you have a substantial fan base, you can’t get all of them to go to every show. Fans need to make their money and the shifts they work are usually on the nights that you play. It’s why fans ask for days off for an upcoming show, they know it will be an awesome show and they usually work at those times.
I’m mentioning all of this because my band has an upcoming show with two very awesome bands and getting people to buy the presale tix is extremely difficult. Most of the people that I talk to say they will get paid the day before the show so I either wait until then, or they will just pay at the door. And because of this, you feel like you aren’t doing good enough on the sales.
In the end though, you are promoting your show and whether the people buy the presale tickets or if they pay at the door, the most important part is putting on a good show for those that do come.
So if you are in the Minneapolis area on Saturday, February 12th – my band Debbie Does Malice is putting on a show at the 400 Bar on Cedar with national bands, The Memorials and Just Like Vinyl. The Memorials is some sort of amazing experimental funk rock with former drummer of Mars Volta, Thomas Pridgen, and Just Like Vinyl is a hardcore rock/metal band with former member of Fall of Troy, Thomas Erak. Email me at RonaldJEllsworth@gmail.com if you want to support us and some other, very amazing music. It’s only $8, quite a steal if you ask me.
Keep annihilating
RJ Ellsworth 