Sign up for this newsletter through RSS or by emailing us here.

Message from Fran:

We are just days away from re-launching the host information on the site. From now on, each host will have their own dedicated, full page, which they can update any time they like. A host page will look like this.

It’s been an incredible amount of work, and I’d like to thank the hosts for their willingness to participate in these nice improvements. If you’re a host and haven’t “re-joined” yet, please take a moment to do that now.

These improvements will be a huge leap forward in making artist-host communications much more effective. For example, do artists contact you to do shows on Thursday nights when you can only do Saturdays? The new layout will save everybody time and attention, and allow our hosts much more control over how their information is displayed.

Artists will love this too.

CIYH stats and developments:

CiYH stats as of April 30, 2008:
300 Hosts
420 Artists
22,000 Monthly Visitors

In April we added 18 new hosts, and 25 new artists. We also deleted 11 inactive hosts from our listings.

New CIYH Hosts: (artist/agency members receive these by email)

Desert Song, Starry Night Gatherings, Stonecliffe Summer Concert Series, Blue Moon House Concert Series, In The Mood for Food, Tara’s House Concerts, Red Bear House Concerts, NB House Concert Series, Room With A View Concerts, Big Pink House Concerts, Terra Cotta House Concerts, Equinox, Wairarapa Folk Club, Canedy’s Cape House Concerts, Kerrville House Concerts, Vanna’s House Concerts, SMS Backyard Concert, Varney’s Cabana, Francis and Camille’s Home Grooves

New CIYH Artists: (A big thank you for your support.)

Adam Payne, Beki Hemingway, Brad Reynolds, Chris Valenti, Christina Martin, Dan Montgomery, DC Sills, Deanna Dove, Dennis Caraher, Doug Alan Wilcox, Gabriella, Jason Heath & The Greedy Souls, Jeanne T. Arrigo, Jim Wilson , Julie Sutton , kyle knapp , Laura Marie, Lisa Graciano, Nathen Aswell, Phil Putnam, Ruth and Max Bloomquist, Stella & Jane, Steve Pinnock Mood Indigo, The Translators, Tom Smith

Renewed Artists: (A HUGE thank you for your continued support!)

Andy Hill & Renee Safier, Colin Spring, Big Hands Colvin, Jennifer Leonhardt, Perpetual Motion, VK Lynne, Michael Gulezian, Marianne Kesler, Andrea Wittgens

Merch of the Month:

We kept hearing how much people like American Apparel shirts and we discovered a great site which now features our designs on many brands including AA. Please have a look, and buy something you love.

Artist of the Month:

Craig Bickhardt

We have a bunch of hit songwriters on this site… I won’t name names because I’m sure to forget a few. However, Craig Bickhardt is one of our most successful songwriters, and he’s totally embraced doing house concerts. Check out his credits, and see about knocking out some of your friends with a few of their favorite songs - straight from the source. Read all about it.

Host of the Month:

Carrick House Concerts

They’ve really built a nice community of volunteers, and now have started broadcasting their shows on local radio. That kind of exposure (and effort!) is not something we recommend for everybody, but kudos to them for pulling it off, and grabbing some great talent on a regular basis. Read all about it.

Tip for Artists:

Upgrade Your Artist Listing

We’ve reduced the price of the full page upgrade to only $18 (was $25) for limited time (May). This allows you to upload 3 times the audio, visual, and bio, as well as including a link to a youtube video if you have one. Upgrade here.

Have you seen this fun survey yet?

It compares what artists, duos, and bands make in different types of venues (coffeehouses, bars, house concerts, colleges, festivals) Check it out, participate, and rate it!
Tip for Hosts:

Have you seen the house concert survey lately? Fascinating stuff (for me at least)
This post is an intro to it…

Or you can skip the intro and dive right in.
http://www.squidoo.com/houseconcertfastfacts

This website is sponsored by: Artists, D’addario, and AirPlay Direct.

Your feedback is always appreciated.

Tell your friends about house concerts. It’s too important to keep it our little secret. — fran
.

ShareThis

Carrick House Concerts

1. How did your house concerts come about?

The inspiration came from attending a house concert and loving the experience of seeing a favorite performer without all the noise and commotion that you experience in a typical club - that and the fact that there are so few opportunities to catch such high quality entertainment…so we thought we’d create our own…

2. What’s been the key(s) to building and maintaining your audience?

We try very hard to create a ‘vibe’ and it starts with having the very best performers you can find. We have a great sound system (donated by a folk singer tired of lugging the thing around) and a great sound guy too!! We promote like crazy, using every single resource we can find to get folks to come out and now have a regular crowd that simply will not miss a show.

I know that some folks might be able to pull off a concert with very little time, we probably have 10 to 20 hours involved for each show, and if we look like we’re going to be low, we start calling and guilting folks to come out.

CIYH CREW
by

ciyhzshop

Get this custom shirt
at Zazzle

We do open our doors to the public so we tend to meet new folks all the time. Its amazing that there are music fans out there and you just need to get that network up and running and keep in touch with them. Also, and this might be the most important thing…. We go to as many shows as we can. You simply must become part of the local scene if you wish for others to attend your shows. We have a core group of volunteers that are the coolest folks in the world too, and many friendships have spawned as a result of our shows, so I think this has lots to do with our consistent audience too…

We have a relationship with a radio station from Ann Arbor. It’s cool because it really is a radio station with a really cool studio but, they dropped the broadcast tower in favor of going to a web broadcast. But they have a loyal listership and we get our shows up live. We spent a night at their studio learning what we had to do and I have a buddy that sets up the sound that also handles the live broadcast. Its cool cause its like-one two three four — “Were live at Carrick’s House Concerts”….and he plays DJ in between. Since I do the MC duties, he’s on the air making announcements and killing dead space with some quick dj work…..then at breaks, we spin local artists until we’re live. We hope to pre-record some interviews that we can do during the break because the breaks are so important for the artists to sell their stuff.

3. Please share one of your favorite house concert moments so far….

Well, we attended the coolest house concert in the world at Levon Helm’s Midnight Ramble in upstate New York-it was the coolest… but, for Carrick House Concerts, each show has something special about it… like when Brian VanderArk introduced a song for the very first time to the public right here at our house and the time Stacey Earle and Mark Stuart did a sing along with The Milroys and we handed out precussion instruments to the entire audience and we were all part of the band… or even the time The Salt Miners were playing at 4:00 PM at our place and they drove all night from Savannah Georgia and parked down the street and walked through our neighborhood wearing their black suits and funky hats… I’m sure the neighbors were wondering who the gangsters were heading to our place.

There have been lots of toes tapping, lots of laughs and even some tears when an artist reveals our own hearts to us through their songs. We’ve never had a disapointment and while everyone has their favorites, I know our audience has been introduced to some outstanding artists that they may not have otherwise listened to.

4. A little of your personal history would also be great…

We are Craig and Nicki Carrick, married for 20 years and have teenage kids. We’ve been involved in music for years either as playing in a band, going to lots of shows and being a volunteer with an all volunteer music festival in Michigan.

We both work normal day jobs, we have two labs (Maggie and Lucky) and a cat named Stripes. We LOVE Michigan and spend most of our vacation time at a small cabin in the middle of noplace in Northern Michigan at our spot called Crooked Lake.

Besides music, we enjoy fishing, canoing, reading and a good cold brew …. sometimes a couple. Our favorite music tends to be something with some teeth… light fluffy folk music is not our thing, although we do listen to some. Americana/Folk/Country/Blues with some banjos and harmonicas tossed in is a favorite, but we will always enjoy a little pop music too…

ShareThis

Can a blog post be a hit? Yes it can.

For more than a year now, I’ve been doing quite a bit more than preaching the gospel of house concerts. To be sure, the spread of house concert experiences and opportunities is an important thing. But the quality of these events and experiences is also at the heart of concertsinyourhome.com, and this blog.

I’m doing my best to share the best of what’s going on in this community - great experiences, lessons learned, and memorable performers, presenters and shows.

Today I’m asking you to do the same.

Think of this blog as kindling, or a tall stalk of dandelion, both just waiting for the wind to help it burn what isn’t alive anymore, and to scatter new seeds in the ripe new earth.

Here’s what you can do:

At the bottom of every post on this blog there is a “share this” button, that allows you email, bookmark, or promote what you see on what they call “social bookmarking sites.”

For any post that strikes a chord with you, please help spread the word. For now, here are three stories I’d suggest:

What do artists get paid?
Revealing house concert survey?
House Concerts article in Present Magazine

If you aren’t familiar with social bookmarking sites like Digg or Stumbleupon, it’s a tool for you to give a “thumbs up” on an article. Just register with any one of these sites (it’s quick and easy) and you help shape which stories make it to the top of the global internet heap.

It only takes a few dozen people to get the ball rolling, and for a story to start zooming up the charts.

House concerts are the past, present, and glorious future of live music. That budding field of house concerts can bloom next year, or tomorrow. It’s up to you.

Fran Snyder of concertsinyourhome.com on NBC

ShareThis

Would you let a hit songwriter into your house?

I’m the last guy to worship hit songs, or writers just because they’ve had hits. However, sometimes a hit song IS a great song, and it would be bad form to show a songwriter the door just because he’s had some major successes. In fact, we have a bunch of hit songwriters at ConcertsInYourHome, but this one is a real stand-out. – fran

His songwriting credits read like a Who’s Who of the music industry. Ray Charles, B. B. King, Johnny Cash, The Judds, Trisha Yearwood, Allison Krauss, Anne Murray, Art Garfunkel, Poco, David Wilcox, Kathy Mattea, Willie Nelson, Van Zant, Baillie And The Boys, Vince Gill, and Martina McBride are just some of the many luminaries who have recorded songs written or co-written by Craig Bickhardt. A discography like that would be the envy of most songwriters, but the covers are only part of the story. “I never set out to write hits for other artists,” Bickhardt says. “But I always got a kick out of hearing what happened to the songs in ‘translation’.”

“Craig Bickhardt has spent a lifetime crafting intelligently lean, but meaningful songs… meticulously shaped, with a keen literary and narrative approach. Most crucially; he is a communicator, capable of touching the heart of his listeners.”
- John Brindle, Maverick Magazine (UK)

His first break as an artist came when he was asked to write and sing the closing theme for Robert Duvall’s Academy Award winning movie TENDER MERCIES. The success of that film led to a move to Nashville, where Craig hooked up with fellow songwriters Thom Schuyler, Fred Knobloch and Don Schlitz to establish THE WRITERS IN THE ROUND. Their laid back “living room” style of performing at The Bluebird Café became the hottest ticket in town. These days it’s hard to find a city where songwriters haven’t adopted the genial in-the-round presentation pioneered by the foursome in the late 1980s.

“…the real surprise is that Craig hasn’t scored a hit himself. His… finely finessed visions tread in that warm, humane, Americana territory…”
- Jonathan Takiff, Philadelphia Daily News

Eventually Craig, Thom, and Fred took their smooth blend of harmonies into the studio to record their commercially successful CD, NO EASY HORSES. The disk spawned three top twenty singles including Craig and Thom’s song THIS OLD HOUSE, which has since become a standard in the traditional bluegrass genre. The trio, dubbed SKB, disbanded after making an unreleased second album, but not before they helped transform the country music scene, opening the door for a wave of singer-songwriter acts that exploded onto the country charts in the 1990s.

“What really makes his work click is the emotional depth in his voice and his presentation. He puts a lump in a listener’s throat and a thought in a listener’s head, frequently at the same time.”
- Mark Gould, Sound Waves Magazine

Craig cemented his reputation on Music Row when he racked up a succession of chart topping hits, writing the number one songs “Turn It Loose”, “I Know Where I’m Going”, “In Between Dances” (co-written with Barry Alfonso), and “It Must Be Love” (co-written with Jack Sundrud of Poco). His self-penned CD, EASY FIRES, is a collection of some of the strongest material garnered from this period. Bickhardt and Sundrud have also released a CD of their collaborations titled IDLEWHEEL.

Bickhardt’s performing style has often been called “soulful folk”. Craig credits his Philadelphia roots for the influence. “I was lucky to grow up in a town that was a melting pot for musicians. I got to hear lots of R&B as well as the great folk performers of the late 60s, early 70s. It taught me that nothing moves people like a great song sung with some passion,” he says.

Craig’s years in the studio as an A-team picker helped to polish his signature finger picking guitar style, which can be heard on CDs by The Judds, Kathy Mattea, Jonathan Edwards, Suzy Bogguss, and others who invited him to sit in.

Bickhardt now regularly appears in concert around the country traveling with his percussionist and friend Tommy Geddes, often sharing the bill with Livingston Taylor, Maura O’Connell, Billie Joe Shaver, Poco, Suzy Bogguss and others. Among the thousands of troubadours on the scene today, few can outshine him in a concert setting.

—-

Craig has written four #1 hits, nine top ten hits and is the most in-demand songwriting teacher at www.songu.com. He’s a recent First Place Winner in the 4th International Acoustic Music Awards, and also writes a (fantastic) blog at http://ninetymilewind.blogspot.com

Here’s one of my favorite bits from Craig’s blog:

“We paid a premium for our dependence on record labels, and as it turns out, their jobs weren’t so damn hard. Most of us manage to make our music, update our My Space pages, book a few gigs, print up the posters, submit our CDs to indie radio, ship the CDs that sell on our websites, and still have time to write a blog, answer email, and get to sound check.”

Craig Bickhardt - from his blog http://ninetymilewind.blogspot.com/

Consider booking Craig for a concert in your home. I think your friends will be seriously impressed - even if he is a hit songwriter.

www.craigbickhardt.com

www.myspace.com/craigbickhardt
Craig Bickhardt performance on the YouTube

.

ShareThis

I can’t be the first guy to do a survey on this, but I can’t seem to find any other sources.

This turned out really interesting, with over 800 responses so far.

How much does a solo act make when performing at a coffeehouse?
How much do bands make at festivals?
How does your pay compare?

You’ll find the answers revealing.

http://www.squidoo.com/whatartistsgetpaid

This survey is for music acts that perform primarily original music, and it compares/contrasts coffeehouses, clubs, house concerts, festivals, and colleges.

Enjoy!

ShareThis

Almost everything you wanted to know about house concerts.

.
Here it is. http://squidoo.com/houseconcertfastfacts

Wow. More than 100 responses in less than 24 hours. Very interesting results too.

• What day of the week sees the most house concerts?
• How much do hosts spend to put on these events?
• How do they find or book acts?

Here’s a sample:

I knew that most house concerts happen on Saturdays… but more than half? Add in a healthy percentage of the two “varies” responses, and I would bet that Saturday accounts for more than 70% of house concert dates.

The sample is from April 8th, so things may change a bit since the survey will remain open for a while.

Have a look, and please participate if you are a host. I’ve also added more questions thanks to many suggestions from the hosts who participated early. You can go back and finish it now…

I received a lot of follow up questions that don’t easily fit into this format, like:

• How do you publicize?
• What’s the most effective way of growing your audience?
• Who are your favorite artists?

I’m working on a way to present these questions, but please use the comment section of the survey if you have questions or comments you’d like to share.

Thanks everyone!

Fran

ShareThis

House concerts, thought they are largely private events, are subject to local codes and ordinances, no matter how archaic they might be. I’d say 99% or more of these events go off without a hitch, but occasionally, some neighbor raises a stink. Granted, this stuff can happen whether you are rebuilding an engine in your driveway, parking a boat in the backyard, or throwing a hell of a party while your parents are away. I digress (…just like I did in high school)

One of the primary purposes of this website is to encourage smart and safe practices for artists and hosts who fall in love with this way of entertaining.

So here’s the brief low-down on a recent case that finally wrapped up in Colorado.

Home Events Amended Into Land Use Code

By Kathy Raczkowski
KathyR@lhvc.com

“It’s finally over,” said Greg Ching. “The music is coming back to the house.”

After a year and a half of battling the Boulder County Land Use Department over the allegedly illegal commercial use of his foothills home to host a series of house concerts, Ching achieved a measure of victory on March 13.

At approximately 6:30 p.m. that Thursday evening. the Boulder Board of County Commissioners voted 2-1 to amend the Land Use Code to permit house concerts and other commercial gatherings on private property within certain parameters.

An audible sigh of both relief and frustration filled the hearing room as Commissioner Ben Pearlman pronounced the amendment into law.
During the hearing, 15 citizens spoke their minds on the issue of whether or not home events, such as house concerts, should be regulated at all, and, if so, how. Each of them spoke favorably of Ching’s efforts to bring quality, live music to his mountain neighbors, even the few who had come to fight for strong ordinances against live music concerts on rural land.

“We’re hearing that most cases are reasonable,” said Dave Wartburg, who lives on N. 63rd St. near IBM. “In our case, it’s not.”

Wartburg said that he and his neighbors have endured massive, festival-type concerts for years on the property next door. He showed slides of the dozens and dozens of cars and buses parked on the property adjacent to his during such events.

Wartburg spoke of the excessive noise of the crowd and the amplified music that went on for hours, until 11 p.m. He said in years past, the festivities often lasted until 5 a.m.

He was hoping the commissioners would ban such events, or at least strongly restrict them.

The new amendment gives the sheriff a stronger tool to use when acting on a complaint against these neighbors, but violators will still only be assessed a small fine.

As for events like the Aspen Meadows House Concert Series that Ching hosts, which started the entire argument and precipitated the amendment regulating and permitting them, it seems they were never a real problem to begin with. Even the commissioners voiced their overwhelming support of them.

“We’re convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt of the value of House Concerts,” said Pearlman. “But the world’s changing and I don’t think the current Land Use Code properly addresses it.”

As for Ching’s opinion of the amendment set before the council, he said, “I think it’s unnecessary, unenforceable and unconstitutional. Someone will challenge the ruling and take Boulder County to court.”

Many others echoed his sentiments.

Paul Rennix called it “a waste of time, waste of money, and overall, an embarrassment for Boulder County.”

“I wonder if Boulder County needs a time out?” said Ed Byrne, urging the board to “simply announce your belief that it’s already covered” and dismiss the amendment.

Commissioner Will Toor agreed with them, but he was outvoted, and the measure was passed with just a few revisions to the proposed draft:

Home Events, where there is an exchange of money for entertainment or product sales, will now be permitted under the LUC if: the gatherings consist of 26-99 people on the host’s private property; they occur between 9 a.m. and 11 p.m. and for no more than six consecutive hours; they afford sufficient legal parking for all attendees; they comply with the Boulder County noise ordinance, and they occur no more than 12 times per year at any single residence.

Pearlman suggested that people get a neighbor to host a concert if they want to book more than 12 in a year. He then made an offer: “If you can’t find a neighbor, you can use my house every once in a while.”

Photo by Kathy Raczkowski
Boulder County Commissioner Will Toor apologized to Greg Ching for the board having passed an amendment regulating house concerts, but Ching was just excited that the battle was finally over and he could resume his house concert series legally.

ShareThis

How much do artists get paid?

I’ve put together a short survey for us artists to chime in on the “current state” of artist pay.

• Which types of venues pay best?
• How is the pay scale different between solos, duos, and bands?
• How do each of our acts stack up on the pay scale? (anonymously of course)

If this interests you, please take a minute with the survey, and tell us (anonymously) how you’re doing in these different venues.

http://www.squidoo.com/whatartistsgetpaid

Also, please forward this to as many (professional, talented, original) artists as you can… so we can get an accurate picture of what it’s like out there.

Thanks!

Fran Snyder, President
Society for the Promotion of Getting Paid for your Art.
aka.. ConcertsInYourHome.com

ShareThis

Sign up for this newsletter through RSS or by emailing us here.

Message from Fran:

We’ve done a lot this month to make the site easier to navigate and read. Almost everything you need you’ll find on the “Host Resources” page or the “Artist Log In” page. We’ve also created several nice membership options for talent agencies and booking agents.

We’ve had great feedback and a nice number of requests for the Compilation CD. It’s free to any presenter who’s interested, we just ask $3 to cover the mailing. Click the CD to order your copy. We’ve even had a few folk radio DJ’s pick up a copy as well.

On Tuesday, April 8th, I’ll be doing a tele-seminar/interview with PerformingBiz.com - the discussion will focus on tips for artists, but anyone is welcome to phone in and listen for free. Read for details.

CIYH stats and developments:

CiYH stats as of March 31, 2008:
329 Hosts
452 Artists
22,000 Monthly Visitors

In March we added 19 new hosts, and 21 new artists. We also deleted 5 inactive hosts from our listings.

New CIYH Hosts: (artist/agency members receive these by email)

New Hosts: Grubbs’, Amy & Cindy’s, Any House, Triad Acoustic Stage, Americana Unplugged, Select Real Estate, Sharon, Cobblestone Creek, Feed My Soul Series, Dancing Beagle, Rose Arbor, Harmony, ArtMusic Coffeehouse, Un-Named, Mama Bird, Music in the Sandbox, 313 Presents, Global Spirit

New CIYH Artists: (A big thank you for your support.)

New Artists: Aaron Jacobson,Chris Carder, Compass Rose, D.C. Anderson, Dan Ennis, Darren Raleigh, Davis Jones, Electric Diamond, Eve Goldberg, Gates & Goodell, Jenn Adams, Jeremy Weinglass, John Young, Juni Fisher, Mars or the Moon, Peter Cooper, Reggie Miles, Stacey Knights, Stephanie Smith, Tamara Hey

Renewed Artists: (A HUGE thank you for your continued support!)

Annie and Rod Capps, Dan Vaillancourt, Montgomery Spafford, Kenny Edwards, Rachel Sedacca, Del Rey, Rod MacDonald, Flip Peters & Larry Maltz, Drew Womack, David Milam, Rachel McGoye, Brett Ryan Stewart, Cole Mitchell, Swift Years

Merch of the Month:

The “Ask Me About My Next House Concert” shirt makes a comeback. Each shirt or item sold buys Bryan (web-guy) a cappucino, so thanks for keeping him awake for all the improvements we’re making to the site.

Legal Developments:

The Ching’s
have finally resolved their legal battle to continue their house concerts, and were 99% victorious. Here’s an article that sums up their recent results.

Also, for those of you concerned about ASCAP and BMI, an agreement is being finalized with them to make house concerts (with some restrictions) exempt from licensing fees in the United States. We’ll have more details soon…

Artist of the Month:

Freebo

If you see some old photos of Bonnie Raitt on stage, you’re likely to see Freebo holding down a 4-stringed hunk-a-wood. In recent years, he’s been doing his own thing, and doing it well. Very well indeed. Read More…

Host of the Month:

Americana Unplugged

Larry Lyon made quite a splash online recently when he wrote in his advice for making the words “benefit” and “house concert” work together. It’s trickier than you might think… but his approach is genius. Continue to his story…

Tip for Artists: Can a Simple Banner on Your Site Lead to Gigs?

Can it? Just ask Wayne Gratz! Not even a few weeks after joining CIYH, a fan saw the banner on Wayne’s site and emailed. Wayne picked up a house concert booking, a story in the paper… I can’t wait to find out what else happens…

Oh, and Wayne plays instrumental piano.

Tip for Hosts: Reaching out to nearby hosts - you are not alone!

Get out of the house! There’s nothing like meeting other people with similar interests and learning from each other…read on.

This website is sponsored by: Artists, D’addario, and AirPlay Direct.

Your feedback is always appreciated.

Thanks for all the kind comments this month! I appreciate the encouragement. — fran
.

ShareThis

10 Steps to Growing Your Audience with House Concerts:
An Interview with Fran Snyder of Concerts in Your Home

I REALLY enjoyed the tele-seminar the other night. House concerts are
awesome and I’ve been wanting to learn more. Your insights and suggestions
were right on target. Thanks!

DC Sills

Great seminar Fran! My biggest surprise was finding out you were a guy!!!!
I’m inspired to update my page and get back out there with some new idea/infused energy.

All my best,
Sonya

Recorded Tuesday, April 8, 2008 at 8pm Eastern

I talked with Jeri Goldstein, of PerformingBiz.com,
about all the ways that house concerts can build your demand in a new
market.

Here are just some of the topics we covered…

Strategies To:

• Grow your fanbase
• Develop your market recognition
• Increase your sales
• Manage your travel
• Build on your tour anchor dates
• The best ways to approach existing hosts
• How to get fans to host a house concert
• How to build up to gigs at larger venues

Listen to this recorded interview to get some time-tested
strategies that you can use right away. House concerts are a valuable
way to make your tours more successful while growing your audience and
selling more merchandise.

Your Fan,

Fran Snyder
ConcertsInYourHome.com

ShareThis