More than ever, any type of gathering or street celebration needs endless promotion. The key to getting the most out of a concert promotion’s marketing plan is the unused resource of the promoter’s energy. Sounds simple, but the common fact is that most concert and special event promoters become complacent and rely heavily on their electronic (tv & radio) or online promotion to cover the responsibility of selling out a venue you are risking $50,000 – $5 million on. “In a time of efficiencies and need to do more, it’s not enough to rely on anything by itself. Learn to push.” Says concert producer Hal Abramson.

Good concert promoters know the value of a good media mix, but with the present spotty economy, rising advertising cost and the need to cover as many bases as possible, going back to the most ancient form of promotion besides word-of-mouth, flyers and posters done well, is now essential to loading up those gross impressions at a low relative cost.  The Cost Per Thousand (CPM) value to reach your target customers using flyers and posters is incredible. When you consider that a minimum of 3 people read your mini color flyer, to reach 30,000 of your targeted potential ticket buyers for .008 cents each means we all need to do more of it and better. Continue Reading »

Security is an integral part of a successful concert promotion. Typically, the promoter hires a security director to manage every aspect of safety and security prior to and after the show. The determining factors for the level of security are: size of the venue, estimated number of patrons, artist stature, perceived conflicts in a market or between artists, genre of music, alcohol availability, local law enforcement cooperation, and role of premise security staff.

The artist Rider (a performance contract amendment containing specifications on the sound system, lighting, hotel and travel requirements, meals, etc.) helps determine the artist expectation and demand. This can be used as a guideline for minimum requirements. Even though some artist travel with their own personal security, as a promoter your security responsibility is lessened but not abolished. The responsibility of the artist safety is transferred to the artist security personnel. Be sure to communicate with the artist security about their specific role and what they can and can not do legally and otherwise.  Continue Reading »

The summer concert season is in full swing but a recent concert industry report from Pollstar shows a significant drop in the combined gross revenue for the top 100 tours in North America. What’s the blame for the 17 percent decline from the same time last year? Is it ticket prices, lackluster shows, or the economy? Promoters and artists give their opinion in this NPR audio report.

Concert promoters can easily be thought of as major event planners. Concert promotion is a demanding career that requires serious attention to detail. In order to be an effective and successful concert promoter, a high level of organization is necessary. The world of concert promotions is full of contracts, legal agreements, insurance policies and riders. In order to make the best business decisions, a concert promoter has to have a working knowledge of all of these legal documents.

Concert promoters can make a huge amount of money, and then, they can lose money as well. For this reason, it’s of the utmost importance to get as many paying customers in the door as possible. Some of the major costs involved with concert promotion are the venue rental and event insurance. In addition, the concert promoter bears the cost of all advertising promotions and other marketing costs. Promoters these days have a variety of choices for marketing. They can use the internet, radio, TV and even flyers to get the word out about their event. Marketing, when done properly, usually takes up a fairly substantial portion of the concert promoter’s budget. Continue Reading »

Promoting events since 1975, Hal Abramson is one of the most experienced promoters in the world. Consulting for promoters in Mexico, Australia, Vietnam, Canada, Israel and 15 other countries, he’s promoted everything from record conventions to huge music festivals. Abramson enjoys helping others, and exposing the truth about the bad ones. As Dave Bryson from Evolvefest in New Jersey says, “Hal, you’re one of the good ones.”  

Unfortunately, Abramson said, ” though  Bryson and few others are good-hearted and communicate well, most promoter’s ethics hasn’t changed in 35 years. In general, established promoters are not interested in helping new promoters. The common personality threads between most are fear and being territorial. They want to protect what they have and want new, struggling promoters to go away.”

Here are a few tips. Continue Reading »