failed nights

jason burns · Post by **jason burns** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 8:36 pm

ok anyone out there (USA mostly) who has put on a dubstep night and failed? as in people don't show or they hate the music. i'm interested in hearing your story as i'm about to try to start one up here in cleveland.

cure · Post by **cure** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 2:02 am

you're not living unless you take risks bro.

Start your night. It might suck at first...but stick too it...hard work pays off.

selector.dub.u · Post by **selector.dub.u** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 3:37 am

jason burns wrote:ok anyone out there (USA mostly) who has put on a dubstep night and failed? as in people don't show or they hate the music. i'm interested in hearing your story as i'm about to try to start one up here in cleveland.

We (matty, g, nick argon, tekblazer and myself) had a night in San Jose last year in august that did reasonably well attendance wise but the owner of the bar was not willing to take the risk of having monthly and the barwent with a drum and bass night instead.

It was well worth the risk and we had a good time.

Go for it. You will be surprised people who are not familiar with the music will prob like it!

atealtha · Post by **atealtha** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 3:43 am

I don't promote, but I played for a lot of haters in small events. That hurts. I can't imagine how a bad party feels.

freqone · Post by **freqone** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 3:51 am

dude in this area well not sooo soo much toronto anymore... but yeah
People used to leave,, like leave the whole show when the dubstep came on......

jason burns · Post by **jason burns** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 12:35 pm

cure wrote:you're not living unless you take risks bro.

Start your night. It might suck at first...but stick too it...hard work pays off.

well i would agree with that, but club owners usually arn't so keen on "sticking to it" as i might be.

i'll keep trying to find a spot though.

juliun_c90 · Post by **juliun_c90** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 2:34 pm

i'm not in the US, so i don't know what its like out there but my advice would be whatever happens don't leave yourself open to too much exposure financially. take risks, but make sure they're risks you can afford if the worst case scenario comes true...

good luck with it anyway

struggle · Post by **struggle** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 5:37 pm

i've seen many a night tank, and it's usually due to burn out. it's hard to run a successful night when you don't give a shit.

i've been doing a sunday monthly for about 6 months now...by far the toughest night of the week to get people out here, but the sound is excellent and that's more important to me than what night of the week it is.

i think one of the biggest things is to not take shit personal. if people don't come, don't sweat. you'll soon realize that not everyone is as excited as you are. i also think it's important to have a vision for the night...that's what keeps you going when things aren't looking so good. not just to pack as many people into the club as possible, but an overall vibe that you'd like to convey. i'd rather have 20 people on the floor dancing and smiling than 70 standing around trying to get laid. quality not quantity and all that.

go for it and stick with it.

derek · Post by **derek** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 8:20 pm

DO IT. Cleveland needs you.

frodo · Post by **frodo** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 8:26 pm

You're not a complete promoter unless you've had a night that failed

jason burns · Post by **jason burns** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 9:17 pm

derek wrote:DO IT. Cleveland needs you.

haha. you know i've been doing some research and it seems that cleveland may be the worst city in the country to try and promote any type of edm, or music in general. there's not really a scene of any kind here other than sports. i may just want to focus my energy on producing and djing.

go tribe

tempest · Post by **tempest** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 11:10 pm

When i think of cleavland, i think of that fat prick drew carey and the intro to his show "cleavland rocks, cleavland rocks etc" - dubstep refix maybe???

anyways......... lifes too short man, go for it

cure · Post by **cure** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 11:16 pm

OHIO!!!

struggle · Post by **struggle** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 11:25 pm

jason burns wrote:
derek wrote:DO IT. Cleveland needs you.
haha. you know i've been doing some research and it seems that cleveland may be the worst city in the country to try and promote any type of edm, or music in general. there's not really a scene of any kind here other than sports. i may just want to focus my energy on producing and djing.

go tribe

man that sucks. hearing things like this makes me feel really lucky. not to rub it in, but i can't keep up with all the shows going on here in seattle. you should move here bro.

jason burns · Post by **jason burns** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 3:32 am

struggle wrote: man that sucks. hearing things like this makes me feel really lucky. not to rub it in, but i can't keep up with all the shows going on here in seattle. you should move here bro.

i've been to seattle a few times. it's a great city for sure. i've been wishing i could live there for longer than i can remember. family obligations are keeping me here otherwise i'd be LONG gone. however, being here is one of the things that motivates me to grow as a producer/dj. maybe if i keep at it. it'll create opportunities for travel in the future.

also i was pushing d'n'b here for years so i know all about failure.

djshiva · Post by **djshiva** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 4:13 am

jason burns wrote:
derek wrote:DO IT. Cleveland needs you.
haha. you know i've been doing some research and it seems that cleveland may be the worst city in the country to try and promote any type of edm, or music in general. there's not really a scene of any kind here other than sports. i may just want to focus my energy on producing and djing.

go tribe

i bet i gotcha beat in indianapolis when it comes to lack of interest. sadly, we have always had shit going on, but the crowds just do not come out for names. they come out to drink and get laid, and you have to draw them in slowly.

my technique is just to continually pound it into their heads. they'll come around eventually.

saba · Post by **saba** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 5:40 am

Even im thinking about putting on a night on during summer (dnb/dusbtep)...i could care less about the risk & losing money. Its a mission & challenge to be able to put something like that on. Something i can hopefully put on....hopefully!

lukki · Post by **lukki** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 7:10 am

Do what you gotta do, but dont gamble the rent money...

We(Shift) have been putting our asses on the line for 7 months trying to expose Seattle to quality dubstep dj's and it is getting better each month. We had a venue change because the old club we were using wasn't really down with anything we were doing and the attendance started to slip at the end(Roommate, Djunya and Mayhem played to like 30 people

) but since the move its been much better.(N-Type 160 ppl, Headhunter 120 ppl, hoping to get more for Benga and Hatcha tomorrow:))

But we also keep the cover as low as possible. For 5 bucks you can see a headliner at a nice club on a friday with subs that dont cut out at every show 30 minutes in. I guess we could charge 7 bucks for locals and do it on a shitty week night but we believe in Quality, Quantity AND consistency. And all that...We believe dubstep deserves to be heard on a decent night of the week, otherwise it will just be another failed club night in less than a year, just like alot of Seattle nights.

good luck!

stormfield · Post by **stormfield** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 8:57 am

Another thing that helps a night to grow is to mix it up a little, music-wise.

If there simply aren't enough dubstep heads in the local area (yet), then there's no point smashing them heads in with a whole night of it... they're not ready.

Try to convert heads who are into related styles of music e.g. jungle, dub etc etc. Get them in, sneak in the dubstep and when they start asking "what the fuck was that tune", smile and tell them. Let it grow slowly.

Forensics · Post by **Forensics** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 11:40 am

Some good advice here....

Mine would be -

1. Either book people you Know are gonna get people
through the door....... or book people who are cheap!!

2. Don't pay too much for your venue. They need to have a flexible approach -
ie. if they've made plenty on the bar but you're losing money they shouldn't be
charging you jack! You basically need somewhere that wants to promote good
music in your area/believes in yr night, this is normally the hardest part really..

It's all about your attitude basically. But assuming you don't have
money you're happy to ping about then take a practical approach
to bookings and venues - you're not likely to make loadsa money,
so just aim to break even an' put on a wicked party and you can't
really go wrong. Good luck man, hope it's a big success for you

I've been looking to start a London version of Ruffnek Diskotek
for a while now, but had a lot of issues on the venue front. Like
I said - I'm just not prepared to pay too much for a venue when
I know they'll be making plenty on the bar anyway.. need to get
back on the case really.. any switched on venues get in touch

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