My life as... A Promoter

First things first I'm hoping to make this "My life as..." Title a running feature on my blog that I'll add to every now and then with subjects relating to different projects I've tried and (predominantly) failed at.

That being said the main thing for me is what I've taken away from these ideas and how I've used the experience to better myself in one way or another.

So, without further adieu I present; My life as a Promoter.

My adventures into the world of band promoting is actually a relatively recent endeavour. It started around September of 2014 with the start of my university placement as a Recording Studio Technician/Manager. One of my responsibilities in the job was to organise and put on a "Back to uni" gig for all the fresher's and returning students.

The night was a huge success and I had an enormous sense of pride from what I'd accomplished. The students loved the night, the bands were happy with how everything went and the bar made well over £1000.

So after the success of the night I decide to go about setting up my own promotions company and have a go at building up some contact with bands and venues with the eventual goal of putting on great gigs that people could enjoy and maybe make a little bit of money for myself in the process.

Now I knew before going into it that being a promoter can be very risky when it comes to finances and that bad organisation can lead to loosing A LOT of money - Even to the extent of being in quite a lot of debt with a venue or PA provider by the end of the night. As it stands I never reached that point.

Around a month into the venture I had a nice little Facebook community set up, a page that was generating some talk and content, bands ready and eager to play and a solid brand with logos, images and a name I was enthusiastic about - Total Sound Promotions.

All that was left was the venues... And that's where things became difficult. Believe it or not a venue which has a well working and established way of doing things see's you, the promoter, as a risk. Saying this now it's obvious but getting venues involved was a massive uphill struggle. After receiving numerous no's, silence, or from one place a half hour lecture on how my business was faulty and would inevitably fail it was harder and harder to stay enthusiastic about what I was doing.

Plus my commitments to my placement were becoming more involved and I was finding it difficult to strike a balance with everything in my life.

But to be honest those are excuses...

And that really brings me to the point of this blog post.

I know that if I'd have kept on pushing and been more persistent with these venues I could have made something of what I was trying to do. Or if I'd have downscalled slightly and started working with small pubs I could have built myself something small but stable. Instead I found myself making excuses to not put the time in.

I learnt a lot from my brief year as a promoter with the key being that although people may say no initially they can be won over by showing them your dedication and knowing what it is you're talking about. Unfortunately for me I just didn't have the drive to push through when it counted.

That being said though the groundwork is still in place and it is a project I intend to take up again when I have a little more time and a little more dedication... So keep your eyes peeled for Total Sound Promotions in the future!

If you've happened to stumble across this blog post and found it interesting then please feel free to let me know! Also let me know if you have any questions or suggestions.

Thanks for reading!

Tom J x

#RAMBLINGS