Reverse Cover Charges?
Pete Caputa, our accomplice in bringing you the Networking Mixer and the man behind WhizSpark has an interesting proposition regarding 
cover charges at clubs. His idea is to redirect advertising money into the hands of patrons. It's a more direct way of spending an advertising budget and getting people to attend a club and I think it could work.
"Instead of spending money on advertising the dj or the "theme", fire the promoter and tell people to sign up at the website to get paid when they show up. Then, pay $5 to the first 200 people that show up. Net. Net. It is the same cash spent. Or maybe it is even less."
Of course, there is the potential for people who would grab the cash and stay for one drink and leave but particularly in a city like Worcester, where everything is so spread out, people stay a little longer once they reach their destination. I am imagining if this idea caught on, how long before people could plan a night out without ever spending a dime and possibly even making money. The idea of getting some cash just for going to a show is an interesting one. This idea would work especially well for clubs that invest in advertising already, but for music clubs, the investment is so little to begin with, that I don't think they could afford it. The other thing to think about is that clubs with something that people want, don't have a problem getting the cover charge from people. People don't have a problem spending money on things they actually want. A cash incentive might devalue the product in some eyes. It's an interesting proposal none the less.
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Comments
Re: Reverse Cover Charges?
How about no cover at all if there is no gaurantee and get these fucking clubs to turn the oodles of extra money they will make over to the bands. And speaking of advertising, how's about hitting up some local businesses to hang permanent banners inside the club?
Re: Reverse Cover Charges?
Wow that's an interesting take on the whole promotion angle.
I like that...that's good thinking.
I'm out getting my abs airbrushed on...leave a message
Re: Reverse Cover Charges?
I think it's good to get creative with promotion but I question the value of paying people to come to a club. I prefer the idea of making your club somewhere people want to be.
Re: Reverse Cover Charges?
Ideally, of course we would rather see clubs thrive because they are just so great and totally super teriffic, that you just can't resist going. However, that is not too often the case, and even when it is the case, there is usually a second super teriffic club nearby with which the first must compete.
I dig this idea, and i used to joke with Art at LSky when it was open that he should do this. The place always looked empty due to its size, and people would walk by and/or come in and then leave because it was empty. If there were 50 people in there to start the night, the other 50 would have come real quick afterwards.
I posted something a while back about the other idea, creating super exclusivity. Don't be too quick to dismiss either extreme, the status quo has been stalled out for a while. If I owned a bar, I would certainly throw both of these ideas at the wall for at least one weekend each and see if they stuck.
My Rant On Uber Exclusivity
Re: Reverse Cover Charges?
This is "sort of" on the lines of the free beer promo's we've done. And... yes, they were very effective.
We were exposed to a LOT more people and the bar did exceptionally well ("lets do shots").
Our newsletter alone grew by about 100 that night... meaning that we likely will earn that $ back if 5-10 of those sign-ups attend another show that they normally would not have.
This is an excellent idea. Any band / club that is new or trying to build a fanbase (with a product that is even remotely commercially viable) would be crazy NOT to do something like this.
"what?"
Re: Reverse Cover Charges?
Craig is smarter than your average band when it comes to promo. I've never heard a band actually calculate a return on email acquisition costs. I love it.
Until "we pay you" to come to our club nights take off, there's always the you can get closer to hot chicks promotions....
Craig does that well too!
Re: Reverse Cover Charges?
I know that the answer is to come to a show and find out for myself but in lieu of doing that. What is your average draw these days, Craig?
Re: Reverse Cover Charges?
An interesting idea no doubt. But when a club spends $0.00 on advertising split that up to the first 100 patrons they get $0.00. I say open the doors for free and have a 2 drink minumum. It costs nothing and will definetly increase patronage. I would love for people to go to a club becouse they know its gonna be jumpin' no matter whos on stage.
Besides what's a better way to start the night than a shot and a beer. (and a smoke in the alley)
http://SoulMovementMusic.com
http://myspace.com/soulmovement
http://LukeBass.com
Re: Reverse Cover Charges?
I must say... we were hovering around 25-50 for the weekly Wednesday gig towards the end... but it went a fucking HELL of a lot better this time (Saturday 8/20)...
We hadnt played a bar in worcester for almost 2 months and it payed off... Using our normal flyering and friend-phoning in conjunction with a newly formatted e-mail marketing campaign thanks to whizspark, we were able to pack the place on Saturday. Based on the bread we got, it was somewhere on the order of 125-150.
BTW... some fucking HILARIOUS moments. We're gonna post up some pics and the mp3's of the show this week.
Pete, if your reading this, you will get my live and die by whizspark testimonial this week.