Sunday, September 24, 2006

Why Don't People Go See Live Music?

Rarely do most venues sell out. Even in a city of hundreds of thousands of people, it can be hard to get 100-300 to show up for a show. Even if it is a free show, they probably won't come. On any given night, chances are less than 1% of the population is out listening to live music.

So what's the problem?

Some possible explanations:

1. It's not necessarily a free evening. If someone has to pay parking, gas, and/or a babysitting to come out, then there are expenses involved. You've got to factor all of that in for the cost of the evening. Find ways to reduce those costs and you may have a competitive advantage.

2. Your venue and/or entertainment may actually be turning people away. If potential customers perceive that the evening will be unpleasant, they will not come. If they don't like the music, think it is too loud, don't like the venue, and so on, they will avoid coming.

3. They don't know about you. You can have the best event ever, but if people don't know about it, they won't come. So you have to figure out how to promote it: advertising, PR, word-of-mouth, internet.

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