He admits that his own ideas on the matter are focused on making live shows at small music venues more appealing to older audiences- and I think the comparison he makes to Comedy Clubs is quite insightful. However, he doesn’t have ideas to offer about how to reach adult audiences in their homes:
Now, I think he’s got great ideas about making live venues more appealing but what about the other side where he doesn’t “work in that department”? What’s the best way to get “music in front of adults, via media”?
You’re a manager or a music promoter and you’ve got five great artists who are about 40 and they didn’t use to be in a better known band. What are you going to do to make their music known to music fans who are themselves in their 30s/40s/50s?
We have an EXCELLENT small venue in our city hosting a variety of artists, some of which fit the demographic described. We (older listeners) are brought in via a weekly email of the events of the week, directing us to a well-done website with links to the artists webpage and music samples.
I happened to catch WPA – Glen Phillips, Sean Watkins, Luke Bulla and Sebastian Steinberg of Soul Coughing – there a year or two back, and just last week met a new favorite artist, Dick Prall, who was on stage three days after Duncan Sheik. Dick is exactly the type of artist the article is describing, and his webpage streams all of his albums along with his latest track release as a teaser to his upcoming record (with Pat Sansone of Wilco). Duncan is no stranger to national air play and he played three tracks from an upcoming record as well.
I was born in the fifties, came of musical age in the 70’s, but buy music recorded this decade on a regular basis. Most recently by Duncan and Dick (signed at their concerts) but also by Alpha Rev and Stolen Silver who appeared with them.
I find my music by going on fishing expeditions on YouTube or widening my Pandora channels. My favorite album is Underneath by The Verve Pipe, and come to find out Brian Vander Ark has released several solo albums as well as going on his Lawn Chairs and Living Rooms tour (and I hope to have him play at my house next year.) He is a proponent of the house concert, and Dick Prall said he does house concerts as well. House concerts cannot be advertised but they do get the word out. One band member I met recently signed my CD and said, “Hey, copy it, share it, just help us get our name out there.”
I’ve gotten a bit off track, but for me as an music customer in the older demographic I would argue that you have to go through the young kids to get to us. Radio stations may be skewed to kiddie pop but we are still in the majority. So, along the lines of “Live from Daryl’s House” with Daryl Hall, how about an internet house concert with baby boomer artists for baby boomers?
I don’t have any suggestions, I just wanted to give a hearty a-fucking-men to the idea that maybe you should get your ass on stage and play at 7:30, SHARP, and give me a chair, and then maybe I’d go.
I’m with you (and Doughty) on the prompt start time. Hard to get behind the 7:30 thing.
I’ve had a miserable time getting people out for an 8:00pm start let alone 7:30. People are at work until 6:00, get home at 6:30 (if they are BLESSED with such an easy commute), then they want dinner or at least unwind. To then have to make a 7:30 show? Too brief a window in between. And if the venue has a full menu so that people can plan to eat there, then you still had better delay the start time so that people are served before the artist takes the stage.
If we keep Doughty’s suggestion of a two hour show time (including opening acts), in my own hypothetical music venue I would start the show at 8:30. If I have a full menu, I’d have a 7:30 seating for those who wish to dine.
I’ve seen some excellent theme shows with a collection of artists, none of whom could fill a theater on their own at that period. “A Walk Down Abbey Road” featured Alan Parsons, Todd Rundgren, John Entwhistle of The Who, Ann Wilson of Heart and David Pack of Ambrosia doing two sets, one composed of their hits (Ann did Barracuda and Crazy on You), the second set of Beatles covers. The tour did quite well, and a lot of excellent musicians reminded people that they were still out there touring (and Pack, who is generally thought of as a lightweight is actually a very talented musician).
Personally, I think a lot of artists are used to a particular amount per show, and have a tough time accepting that they are not going to make as much per evening. Their agent, who makes ten to fifteen percent, doesn’t want his or her income to go down either, asks for too much on their behalf. So they get fewer dates, and a vicious cycle happens when they need to earn more from the dates they do get, punishing the venues that want them. More dates per tour for less means more people seeing the show, which means more people see the show next time you play there. When you’re no longer drawing like you did at the height of your career, it’s like you’re back at the beginning and you have to do things the way you did back then.
I’m just sayin’, I was invited out to a friend’s birthday party last night (I had to work today) and she said she thought the band might start by 10. Er, no.
I noted back in the 70s that older musicians started on time. In some cases, the backup band would start right at 8 and the frontmen didn’t come out immediately, but that was just fine, since there was music to listen to.
My parents were members of the Elks Club (dad was the grand whatever there), the Knights of Columbus, American Legion and the VFW!
The reason I mention this is that every one of those organizations had regular events, with live music, several times during the year. They had to search and search and search to find any booking agent that had anybody who would be appropriate for their members. It wasn’t easy to find these agents, and those agents didn’t exactly work hard to get the business. Mind you - these organizations had the money! They could pay for the talent, charged for tickets to the events, and almost always had a huge turnout at some local venue. Still - nobody seemed to care to bother to contact them or work with them to book talent.
If you had an eager agent, contacting such organizations in every mid-size town in the USA, I am sure it would not be all that hard to get some large tours organized.
As far as reaching a wider audience of older adults, you might think of perhaps advertising on AARP website/mailings, or if you have the budget, do some local advertising and running commercials (like those oldies commercials).
I would agree the audience is out there, but you have to go where they are to reach them. There are huge pockets of communities in Arizona and California and Florida where active people who have retired go to live. I would imagine those would be the best areas to start. In those areas, there are always many popular bars/nightclubs that fill up earlier on weekends with older adults who like to go to dinner and then go hear some music and dance after dinner.
Regarding just advertising on the Internet? Well - that could be trickier. Many older adults don’t do that much Internet surfing and stick to emails and perhaps news and niche sites. You could at least offer a website with links to some of the acts you are trying to promote and then promote that website.
I could write a book called “1001 ways it Sucks to be a Musician”
I was there playing “live” in late 80’s when it was hot…20 years later it’s dog crap, and it’s not the entertainment. It’s the lack of normal thinking clientel.
They used to care about where they go and what they listen to, be seen with others that were doing the same.
Bars now are all full of…:mad:
I tried several times to do a 5 o’clock crowd show…no one understood the concept.
I even tried to suggest a Live Game Show…still no one got the idea.
