house concerts and 21st century touring

from ConcertsInYourHome.com to… what’s the vision?

For obvious reasons, I’m acutely aware of the challenges of the modern touring artist - especially those who create original works and feel they deserve an audience - a listening audience.

From that desire, my affection for house concerts developed into one of the most substantive music websites on the web. Never in my entire life have so many people expressed gratitude for what I do, and that inspires me to do more. Sure, not everyone benefits equally, but I know that those who “fit” and work and adjust and persevere typically have nice things to say about what’s going on. CIYH has not been perfect, but I believe it is significantly better each year.

As of this past week, with the addition of DinnerAndSong.com (DNS), CIYH is now two websites. Imagine, an entire website devoted to creating meaningful gigs on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I hope that means something to you, because building this network will require a community effort like never before. There is no VC funding, no ad campaign, just a community of artists and fan-hosts who understand how vital and fun it would be to have a network of these opportunities.

It’s important to mention at this point that we all have thanks to give and receive. This website is paid for by artists, who are supported by hosts, who are supported by ConcertsInYourHome. It is a virtuous cycle that we all benefit from, and I thank you for playing your part. We all make this work by filling the room, sending emails with a human voice, having good manners, inspiring our friends, tuning our guitars, and putting on great shows.

What’s next?

Of course, it’s the much delayed, much anticipated, ListeningRoomNetwork. Meaningful concerts can and do happen outside of the home. Church coffeehouses, yoga studios, “normal” venues and the like all have the ability to be serious about music, and enhancing the experience of artists and fans. We plan to support them too.

Instead of lamenting the economy, we will defy it.
Instead of crying about file sharing, we will transcend it.
Instead of losing most of our income on hotels and food, we will create opportunities that make such expenses irrelevant.

We don’t need to wait until New Year’s to light a fire. It’s already lit.
Wanna make that fire a little bigger?

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