Putting Together and Financing Your Own Concert

Financing one’s own concert is a topic that interests me. I thought this would be encouraging, informative, and intriguing for an independent or unsigned artist. For some independent or unsigned artist, having a concert would probably be the last thing or their “to do” list.  I realize that most are focused on simply making music, putting their music out there, and getting people’s support. I also understand that some independent or unsigned artist may feel like they do not have the funds to do something like this. Of course, they may be looking from the stance of an artist that is already signed.

When I think about signed artist that have concerts, I see the big sold out shows; Ticketmaster is always a company that comes to mind. I even see the not so big shows but still the venue is sold out. That may discourage an artist, who is not signed, but I am here to tell you that you can do what they do. I mean you have to start somewhere, might as well give it a try but be smart about it. One may be wondering who am I to give advice on a subject such as this? Well I am definitely no expert but research and passion can take you a long way. I have a love/hate relationship with the entertainment field and therefore I am determined to bring a more positive and encourage note to it in the future. I have had some small events and I have also research and studied event planning but of course nothing to big, but at the same time I am not talking about big right now. I am just talking about making a concert happen!

So what would be the best steps to work towards financing your own concert (in my opinion)? First, I would say getting an idea of exactly what kind of concert you want it to be. You could have a benefit concert, a fundraiser, you could have a concert with different artist or you can simply just have a concert featuring YOU (how great would that be right?) So after you decided that what is the next step? Well the next step would be to develop some kind of budget, figure out what you are willing to spend because that’s normally how the event is going to take place. Start researching venues (which is the next step) that are in your price range and of course get people to help you. You can also ask for businesses support, it never hurts to ask. Some other things that are important to consider are how many hours the concert is going to be, how many people you expect and would like to show up, if you are charging figure out the amount that you are going to charge, and figure out how you are going to advertise and promote.

So now you may be saying that sounds like a lot but if you actually plan things out it really wont seem like a lot. Of course there is going to be hard work, when you are pursing your dreams you have to work hard but you will LOVE doing it and it will be rewarding in the end. I recommend planning at least 6 months to a year in advance. I believe that is a good time frame to prepare, plan, and execute the plan. So you many be saying is it really that important to have a concert and I will tell you that yes it is and here is why! Having a concert, especially for an independent or unsigned artist, builds support.

Yes you may already have the support of your family and friends but what about the people in your community? Do they know about you? What about the people in your state? This is an opportunity to invite people in your life and allow them to get to know you and what you are doing. Because if you ever get signed, there will be no invitations into your life, people will just bulldoze their way in and it may not always be positive.

Think about shows like American Idol and X Factor, they give the contestants a chance to go home and visit but not only that, once they get there they have a concert in their hometown. The thing about this is once they have been on the show for a while and they come home they have wayyy more support than they did before they left, they have people coming to their concert that they do not even know. Now it is easy to say ok Nicole, these people have been on television though BUT it’s the same thing! Most of these people were just like you and me, they were sitting at home saying man I want sing, I want to rap, etc and they decided to go try out for a show and they made it.

Now you may be one that says I don’t need to go on a show so there you go then, the only difference is that you didn’t go on the show but you can still have a concert and you can still gain the support of your community as well. You have to let people know that you exist and having a concert is a great way. So you may not be able to have it at a big expensive venue well maybe try a park district, a community center, your old high school, an arts center, there are plenty of places that you can use. You just have to do your research.

So maybe you want to sell tickets and you say well, I can’t do Ticketmaster (which actually you could do Ticketmaster for a fee) but there are many other great low budget systems just like Ticketmaster that you can use. You might be wondering how I know? Well, I have tried them for myself, check out sites such as Event Brite , Show Clix or Ticket Leap , they are great sites that you can use for FREE to sell tickets.Of course you can sell tickets offline as well. If your low on funds you can use social media sites such as Facebook or Twitter to promote, you just have to know how to use them!

Of course you know I wouldn’t leave you without sharing what other people had to say on this subject. I did come across three articles that I found useful, How To Set Up And Organize A Small Outdoor Concert, Organizing Concerts, and How Concert Tours Work. Feel free to check them out! I hope that someone was encouraged by this, remember you can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens you. 

Be Creative With What You Have or Can Afford

Since I have recently started my “entertainment business finance” class, I wanted to write something that dealt with that while at the same time staying true to the tone of my blog as well as the readers. So I was trying to find something, Entertainment Business Finance is a new subject for me, so I cannot say that I actually can relate yet. Sometimes we look so much that we tend to overlook and sometimes well most times, when you stop looking you end up finding what you were looking for. So once I stopped searching, I log onto my school and I saw an article titled “ You don’t have to break the bank to make a hit”.

This article was written by one of the associate course directors (John Haupert) at my school, Full Sail University but it made a lot of since. Basically he was saying that long gone are the days where you have to spend a lot of money in order to have a studio. These days with the technology advancements that have surfaced, all you need is the right equipment. So what is the right equipment? Well for starters, a laptop, most people prefer a MacBook, the right recording programs: Logic Pro, Pro Tools, etc. Mr. Haupert gives examples of people who have had hit records and even won Grammies from just having the right the equipment.

One example that John used was RedOne who is a two time Grammy award winner, he is a producer and a songwriter. He is best known for producing Lady Gaga’s hit song “Poker Face”. Redone says that the only equipment he uses is a  “MacBook, Logic, an Oxygen 8 keyboard, and an Apogee Duet audio interface”. I thought to myself how inspiring is that! I think that would inspire most artist, producers, etc to know that these days you do not have to have a big fancy studio to get things done! In fact, John states that you really only need a studio for tracking vocals, which I believe is true.

John also used examples of the producers such as StarGate (a group of producers) who has produced artists such as Katy Perry and Rihanna and Dr. Luke who has produced for artists such as Britney Spears, Katy Perry, Kelly Clarkson, Ke$ha and Pink. Stargate mentions that they use Pro Tools and that all you really need is a laptop and a small keyboard.  Dr. Luke says that he uses a Yamaha Keyboard but that he made his number 1 hit with a 20-dollar keyboard! So that goes to show you that it is not really how much you pay for the equipment but it is about how well you use what you have.

I decided to do a little research and reach out to the Independent Artists that I knew and see what they use to record their songs. I thought that would be interested to see how it compared to the article that I read by John Haupert. I reached out to my classmate and business partner Mr. T’Andre Harris from Fort Wayne, Indiana also known as Phenom!  When asked about the equipment that is used, he stated that he uses “Pro Tools software on the mac book pro, a digi design mini m box, a condenser microphone and two sound monitors”.

Next I went to Mr. Salter also know as Moze Ella hailing from Aurora, IL, says that he uses Samplitude or Pro Tools depending on where he is at. Anthony "Atlaz" Swoope from Chicago, IL stated that he uses Logic Pro for recording and also Cubase, which is good for rock and singers. He also mentioned that he uses Pro Tools and his brother uses FL studios (fruity loops) for producing beats and he said that Adobe Audition is good as well. Lastly Mr. Darious "Church' Lyles also hailing from Chicago, IL stated that he uses FL studios, Logic Pro and Pro Tools.

So there you have it! As you can see most of the artists that I spoke with are in fact using some of the same equipment that Mr. Haubert talked about in his article. So where can you find these products at? I am sure that there are many places but you are for sure to find them at Amazon.com or Best Buy. You may even be able to find them cheaper floating around the Internet somewhere!  So to the all the aspiring artist out there, I say to you as usually BE ENCOURAGED! Things may not happen over night but they will happen. Take time to plan and just make use of what you have and can afford right now and be creative!