So the night of the gig arrived and I was pretty chuffed to have managed to sell 11 tickets to my show. Not a great amount, one might think, but taking consideration of my position (you really need to read the two “THIS’S) I thought I did quite well. Before I go on I would like to thank all the people that did buy tickets including Ian who bought one and couldn’t actually make the night. “At least I can support you Nick” he said….just before his dog bit me but that’s another story.

So the gig….I arrived a little late and a little flustered as I had to make three trips up from my car then had fun trying to park. Nevertheless, I got there. I met up with Iain from Stiff Promotions who was running the night who was a lovely guy and let me get on with unpacking my stuff and getting sorted. I had bought a couple of guitars that night plus stands so there was a little faffing to do. Then the night kicked off with great guitar player, Jamie Irwin, who came on and did his thing. After that Natalie Hall came on and sang some lovely songs, then it was my turn.

Then Jazz Morley came on and I must admit to being pretty impressed. She has a great voice and some amazing songs.

So, the breakdown. So I had agreed to try and sell 20 tickets. I did try and that was reflected in the audience numbers.  The venue was small and that night I guessed there was about 30 people in it.I know 11 had come to see me , 2 came to see Jamie and I guessed about 8 had come to see Natalie. There were two tables of about 7 or 8 sat at the front that I guessed had come to see Jazz. One of them, Aaron, kindly shot the video of my performance and put it aw well as a few others on his YouTube channel.

I went into this with open eyes and Iain made it clear from the start what the deal was and he was upfront and honest. When it came to the end and monies were shared I came out of the deal £11 better off. Considering the effort that I had put it what with busking and delivering tickets one might say that it was not the best return. However that was down to me. I did pick up 5 email address on my mailing list that I passed around halfway through my set which was pretty good going considering the numbers in the crowd.

What is the promoters role in all this?

What do the ACTUALLY do if you sell the tickets?

This is a question that often gets asked and will continue to do so. The answer is that THEY TAKE THE FINANCIAL RISK. If no one showed up, THEY would take the fall.

It will be a while before I consider trying to sell tickets for one of my gigs but never say never eh?

So what do you think?