house concerts and 21st century touring

This is part one of a new series to help new and existing house concert presenters make the best decisions when choosing performers for their house concerts.

Basics:

Be picky. There is so much fantastic talent available that there is absolutely no reason to book an artist that you aren’t thrilled about.

Consider:

• Genre: Do you have at least twenty friends that would ALSO be into this kind of music? Face it, if you love jazz, but you don’t know anyone else that does, you’ll have a tough time getting an audience for the show.
• Act size: If your space is small (30 or less people), you’ll probably want to stick with solo acts and duos, since larger groups will take up valuable seating space and limit the size (and comfort) of the audience. Drum kits and horns can require a group to use a sound system which can also take up valuable room.
• Energy level and content: There are some fantastic artists that are very low key and rely on the power of their words to connect with the audience. If you and your friends and likely guests need an act with more physical energy and liveliness, you should keep that in mind. Also, some acts may include mild profanity, political songs, or suggestive material, and it’s important to let them know what is or is not acceptable in your home. 

Options: 

1. Seek artists on your own, tracking down acts you know and enjoy, and contact them through their websites or management. Also, you can use sites like CIYH which list hundreds of talent artists who LOVE to perform house concerts. 

2. List yourself on the web so artists can find you. 

• You can create a website or myspace page if you like, but there are some disadvantages to this. First, you are likely to hear from many more artists than you care to, and many of them will not be appropriate for your tastes, despite the details you provide on that site.
• You can list your house concert “series” at ConcertsInYourHome, which provides an ideal template for you to attract the right kinds of artists, and to easily indicate how receptive you are to booking requests at any given time. CIYH also filters out many unprofessional artists, and other types of visitors that you might not prefer to have contact with.
• Join the “weekend circuits” program at CIYH, where we can help you collaborate with other hosts in your region, and guide only the most stellar talent your way. 

Fun Tip:

Get some friends involved in helping you choose the act. Once you’ve chosen a handful of artists that you are interested in, have a “listening party” with friends who might be interested in attending your shows. It’s a great way to get people involved, committed to attend, and eager to help you promote your event to their friends as well. 

In the next post, we’ll talk about choosing the best date/time for your events. 

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Every host at CIYH can easily communicate to artists how Receptive/Responsive they are to artist emails. This is so important and so helpful to both sides that I want to make sure you understand and USE it.

A Green Light

This means the host is both receptive AND responsive to artist emails for bookings. Specifically - the host is very likely to listen to at least one song and respond within a week or two, whether the response is affirmative or not.

A Yellow Light

This means that either receptiveness or responsiveness may pose a challenge to the artist. Here are 7 GREAT REASONS for a host to make their booking light yellow.

1. Quality: They are very picky. That means they aren’t likely to help out a new act, or to book an act they’ve never heard live. Perhaps they only book acts recommended by people they respect.

2. Specific: They are very genre or type specific. Maybe they only do bluegrass, or only female singer-songwriters, etc.

3. Slow to respond: They may review artists on a periodic basis, possibly creating a folder in their inbox that they go through on a monthly basis. Maybe they make decisions by committee or listen in groups. Slow = more than 2 weeks.

4. Shy to reject: These hosts are uncomfortable responding to artists they don’t want to book. They are afraid to hurt feelings, and aren’t comfortable using a form email that says - “thank you for contacting us. Unfortunately, we don’t feel your act is a good fit for our series.”

5. Booked: While they still want to regularly check out new talent, their schedule is extended to a point where they don’t want to make more commitments.

6. Slack: Let’s face it… some of us are just disorganized - admit it or change it. Use that yellow light.

7. Taking a SHORT communication break: They simply need a few weeks without house concert obligations. Vacation.

Some hosts feel guilty about using the Red Light option. Don’t! If you realistically aren’t engaging with artists at this time, you are DOING THEM A FAVOR BY SAYING SO. The truth can set you (or a lot of your time) free!

A Red Light

1. Taking a REAL break. These hosts need more than a few weeks to not think about music or house concerts.

2. Not interested: These hosts joined the CIYH community, but prefer to seek out performers on their own. Maybe they’ve been hosting for a long time, and only book acts they are familiar with.

The “HIATUS” option.

This is like a “leave of absence” for hosts who need an extended break (a few months or more) due to a move, baby, or other major life changes. Hiatus hides the host from CIYH listings, but preserves their information so they can come back very easily when the time is right.

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None of these choices affect a host’s ability to promote their events, or make changes to their listing. The booking light is simply a tool to save valuable time for hosts AND artists. Please use the booking lights!

As of today, we have:

• 196 hosts with a Green light - how many of you respond to every inquiry within 2 weeks?
• 110 hosts with a Yellow light - are you really interested in hearing from artists at this time?
• 41 hosts with a Red light - no one is contacting you from your host listing - is that still the way you want it?
• 6 hosts on Hiatus - we hope to see you again soon!

Please log in to your host profile and “make that change.”

-fran

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I’m so excited to bring you this news. It’s taken several months of planning and a bunch of work, but the flyers are ready to go! Click the image to see it.

CIYH hosts can now log in and create these very easily, at the same time that they enter their shows into the new house concert calendars.

This works even if you promote shows for non-CIYH members, but it’s soooo easy with our artists because we already have their photos on file.

Once created, you simply email the URL to your mailing list. Soon we’ll add tinyURLs to make it even easier. They can RSVP directly from the flyer, click on artist links, and skip to your upcoming show flyers - all from the same page.

A big, heartfelt “thank you” goes out to our member artists - their membership fees funded this work. It simply would not happen without them.

Your fan,

Fran Snyder

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