[atlantaprog] Re: Last night's meeting.

I don't think there's an exact formula here.  I get the impression that
clubs almost always have a few regulars that are there no matter who's
playing.  Others go to clubs just for the purpose of seeing new bands
they've never heard of.  I know because some have told me.  Still others go
to purposely hear a band they like.  I think this last crowd is the rarest
and hardest to gather.  There's nobody in Atlanta (original band) that can
draw 200 people on any given night, or so I've been told by a sound guy.
By the looks of things, he's probably right.  So, that leaves us with
mainly targeting those who would already be at a club.  Purely by chance.
Of course we can bring out few folks, but only a few as I'm sure most of us
here would attest.  Any exposure at all is better than no exposure, and
getting your name in the Creative Loafing does help with this.  Besides,
you never really know how your band affects people.  There might be one guy
who absolutely loves you and tells all his friends.  There really is an
audience for everything and everyone.

At 11:04 AM 12/06/2002 -0500, you wrote:
>
>I agree with Harold... we've got essentially TWO separate tasks ahead 
>of us... the first is to reach out and find new audiences. The second 
>is to motivate the existing audience to come out and see new bands. A 
>number of the ideas we've talked about address only one or the other 
>of these issues... for instance, the rock club approach is a good way 
>to reach out to a new, younger audience, but won't do much to get the 
>older folks to come out...

As far as gigging together, let's start by getting to know each other.
Let's go out and watch each other play.  Then let's try and set up gigs at
the same time with venues, like dropping the suggestion you'd like your
band to play with your friend's band if at all possible.  We could approach
a club two or three (bands) at a time and make them an offer:  "We've got 3
bands and we'll bring X number of people between us (within reason) if you
book us."  That might be the way we start this "prog night" event we want
to see happen on a regular basis.
>
>We do need to gig together. How do we make that happen?
>
>The eXtreem (formerly Gwinnett Underground) seems to be happening 
>lately. How have the audiences been? Anyone care to report back?

Paine's Promise and Cobweb Strange are playing there January 23 (shameless
plug) so come on out! :-)  I hear that it's actually a very decent place.
 
As far as splitting up duties like contacting clubs, etc., I think these
might be things we can all be sharing.  If we're trying to get booked,
we're going to be contacting clubs.  We can share contact infomation, what
the whole experience was like, etc.  We can keep our eyes out for other
things when we're on the internet if we keep in mind what the needs of the
group are.
> 
>We also need outreach to other local artsy musicians, prog or not

Yes, like maybe finding them in internet discussion groups, etc.

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