If the
place you're playing isn't a business that makes
money by booking bands and charging at the door,
anything goes. Generally, people who have never heard
of you, music critics, label reps, etc; are not going
to go to the YMCA, someone's house, or a church to
see your gig. This crowd will consist entirely of
fans, although, if other bands are playing, there may
still be people there who haven't heard of you. These
people are more likely to get caught up in the frenzy
of your die-hard fans and become fans themselves.
Feel free to behave as if you're among friends,
because, essentially, you are.
These places always have rules. If there are parts of
your performance that are kind of borderline, like
spitting on people, taking off your clothes, or
insulting the audience, ask in advance if they would
allow it. If you don't ask and do it anyway, you
might not be allowed to play there again. If you
don't want to ask, then just play your music and be
done with it. If their rules stipulate that you
aren't allowed to do something that you really want
to do, or if you ask if you can do something and are
told it's not allowed, and you do it anyway, you
won't be allowed to play there again.
If you're playing at a venue that earns most of its
money selling something else and books bands to play
there to bring people in that will purchase stuff,
you can also expect that the majority of the crowd
will be your die-hard fans. You will make little to
no money at these gigs. The business owners booked
you for the sole purpose of getting people to come to
their business and spend money. They're hoping your
die-hard fans will come to see the show, then stick
around and buy their stuff. You're a marketing tool
for them. It's possible to build your fan base, but
you'll most likely gain mildly interested folks, not
folk who'll be supportive and love you forever.
These places usually refer to their rules as
"suggestions." They usually want to listen
to the CD before agreeing to book you. You'll most
likely be set up to perform in a relatively small
area, and there'll be no room for a mosh pit. They
will not like it if you appear to not care about
their equipment, shelves, and merchandise by bumping
into or knocking stuff over with your amps or
standing or jumping on their stuff. Most of your fans
will not be interested in attending these types of
gigs. And, unless they're already familiar with you,
critics, label reps, and the media will stay away.
You can usually sense a camaraderie or familiarity
with the audience when playing smaller venues. These
places are usually locally owned and run. Most of the
employees are related to (or friends of) the owners,
and the person who handles booking usually owns or
manages the place. Small venues will usually book you
without hearing your music and aren't concerned about
how large a crowd you will draw. They'll probably
charge you a fee to play there, which will usually
come out of the door money. If they don't collect
enough money at the door to cover your fee, they may
not require you to make up the difference, but you
won't make any money, and they'll probably think
twice about booking you again. They divide any profit
from the door equally among all the bands who played
that night. It doesn't matter whether one of the
bands didn't have a single fan in the audience.
When you play a small venue, you can pretty much do
whatever you want. If you step over their boundaries
(the most frequent complaint I've heard is allowing
too many people on the stage), they won't penalize
you, but they will express their disapproval and give
you a second chance. I haven't witnessed a band
overstepping their bounds after getting a warning and
a second chance, but I would guess that the venue
wouldn't book them again, as they would perceive such
actions as a blatant show of disrespect for the venue
and its owners.
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