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Club Promoters? Need Advice!!

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BookerTee

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I'm thinking of getting into that game since I know people always looking for something to do and it can be nice side money. Locals can be stingy with the info, lest I mess up their own cashflow, so I'm asking yall.
How do you have your stuff set up? Do you split door receipts with the club? Get $2 a head for everyone on your guestlist? Do you promote 1 club or have a full promotions company?

All feedback very welcomed.
 
What up,

i thought i would finally jump in here and give my 2 cents.

well i'm out here in socal and here my experience with that. there are a gang of club/bars out here that are looking for some thing to help keep the doors open. its hard out here because city and state ordinance are really hard on these owners. a lot of em' just sell and get out cuz its too much trouble. what we do out here is strike a deal with the owner/management.

We take 100% of the door they take 100% of the bar. you guarantee that the bar will make X amount. now if you don't hit that you pay them out.
now this works for grown folks nights (21+). but if you decide to go the under age (18+) route you have to approach it different because IF your allowed to serve alcohol at this event your not going to make to much for obvious reasons. so you gotta work some kind of split on the door money.

normally what i do is i get the door, they get all te bar. i supply the entertainment they supply the security and staff. i usually guarantee 3k for the bar. most owners are more than open to this set up cuz it only cost them maybe 1200 to have the doors open for an eve.

most important thing is to get the word out. you have to blow it up in order to make any cash, at least out here in cali. get as many peeps in the doors as possible paying or not. i print my own flyer's so i usually spend a bout 2 bills on flyer's. the ratio i find is you get 100 heads for every 1k flyer's. yea i know it sux but that's what it is. so i do all my own promotion. its hella exhausting but unless you got a team that you trust and are willing to put in as much as you are then it dont make NO sense cuz thats more hands in the pot at the end = you get less loot. i like it that way cuz peeps get to know YOU not the venue. so if they know YOUR nights jumps off they will come no matter what AND bring more paying heads. here is a link to an event i did a few years back. http://keepshining.net/

and as far as doing more than one event. well its a lot of work. and you will get no sleep. so if you got a day gig i would stick to one. but a again. if you got a team with you it can be done but thats more hands in the pot at the end. i know i sound stingy but heres what happens. say you got 5 other heads working with you. that mean you got to split you money 6 ways. you spot holds 400 peeps x $10 = 4k. you fall short on the bar tabs. you gotta pay out maybe 600. you down to $3400 you may have spent 250 on flyer's etc = 3150. know split that 6 ways.... $525. know subtract a day pay cuz you called in sick (oh you will) cuz you was out being big joe pub tryna promote your night. so now you down to like 400. is that worth it compared to the 3150 if you rock solo? plus that allows YOU more loot to dump back in to the event next time around.

so yeah if you need a quick site or flyer printing hit me up.
damn i typed a lil book here.

hope this helps you.
 
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Man this has helped a TON! How do you get physically get the door receipts? Are you manning the cash register? Does a club employee hand it to you the next day?
 
well you can use a cash register. just get a cheap one from staples or the like.
i normally just use a cash till. but a register would most definately help you keep the numbers straight. but am never at the door. ever never. cuz how many heads are going to be like "ay yo what up, hook me up" you'll waste more time with that ish. double or triple counts. one with the reg. and then one person with a clicker. and then maybe one more. just to ensure all the numbers match up.

depends on your set up as far as the receipts. i'll tell you this. dont let any one from the venue count the cash cuz you will ALWAYS come up short. ALWAYS. get some one that has their interest in seeing you come up. your girl, your sis, etc. and pay them. so it will make them act like they are actually working. and not chillin' at the club. take care of all of your books that eve. dont let any time pass. never be lax with your money. you do and it will slip away from you. its one thing to get checks. but when there is cash being passed around people tend to "lose focus"

if i can say one thing to you. if you are doing this thing from scratch, dont dont an event that you would wanna be at yourself. do something opposite. if you dont. your going to quickly lose focus and get cought up in the night and not have you mind on your paper.
 
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First and foremost, If you are going to do business, do business.
What I mean is if you are going to this commit to it plan it out (researching as you are doing is the perfect first step, I commend you on this).

The next thing you need to do is set up your corporate structure.
I cannot give advice here b/c I run a company that sets up entities and we do not give advice we just do the requested work.(if you need help on that side we can take care of setting up the entity you request corporation or llc) I will say the 8-10 promoters I know personally have their actual promotions company as an LLC and some have another corporation that manages the LLC. They told me that this was done for tax benefits but also legal benefit due to the fact that a lot of promoters get sued for B.S. and this keeps everything away from them as an individual and all of their other interest.

Doing this potentially is going to help you with taxes, liability and for you starting out just as importantly credibility. Don't foreget you are asking businesses to invest in you by relying on you to pack their club.

Now the other thing, I can agree with the advice that of the other gentleman as want to take the biggest (whole) piece of the pie. The problem with that is that to be successful in this just like most ventures it will take a team. You are not The Omnipotent, you cannot be everywhere at the same time. You will either have to have a team or employees that can be counted on.

One of my favorite outfits is a group of 3 individuals that all bring different qualities to the table. One works in marketing for a Major Corporation, One is a Detective, the other works in Politics. The one in marketing is the owner the other 2 or just partners. For them the split half of the pie 3 ways. It has worked for them for a few years.

Only you know what your resources are and what you can bring to the table. Keep in mind their are some people who simply want to be apart of something as much as you want to make extra income. Don't get me wrong I am not say don't compensate them (make sure you do, even if that is not a big issue) I am saying everyone is not motivated the same way. I have a couple of sample articles on the industry and possibly a business plan for it. I will try to put my hand on it tomorrow but a good overview was given in the first reply.

The other thing about the image side of thing is having a name and logo that people will tie to you and all of your events. If you question your capabilities and feel it is suspect I advise you to think ahead and plan for that. I will give you an example: when I opened my first print company I opened it under a name that I am gone to franchise it under 3 years from now. But I came back and begin to do business a year later under the name of the print company I do business under now. What I did was start with a name that if something went wrong I did not mind because I new what I wanted to work under after I worked out all the kinks. The name I used is one that I cherished and means alot to me but was truly not for waht I was using it for at that time.



Apologies for the long reply, I am a business consultant so if I give half ass advise I want it to be very useful.


Z
 
I agree with Zyin except for a few points. And i believe thats it is directly related to the area/market your working in. here in southern cali there are clubs popin' up every where and just as many falling off. At the out set i dont see the necessity to set up a corporation or llc. yes is great for taxes but in the begining your going to want your money fast and dirty and tax free. can i say that here?

now as far as a logo and name and image and all that. i say save that for later also. because what is going to happen is you 1st few event will be wack. just plan on it. it will take you once or twice to get the entire thing mood music crowd and everything in sync. so if you put you name and co name and logo on every in the beginning and its wack, all the people will forever associate your events as being wack. believe me it is much easy to get em in the door to an unknown then it is to get em back in the door to a once wack event. dont spend a lot of time trying to create a name the you "cherish" for your 1st event. just choose a random. then if and when these events jump off you can rope them back in with line like ,"...from the same people the brought you [insert same of successful event]".

once you get going and you find out whether or not doing this type of thing is for you then you can worry about the corp/llc/dba/ logo/taxes and other ish.
 
I agree whole heartidly that is what I was wanting to make clear with what I did with the print companies.

I did not mention but definitely meant to is if you know any up and coming dj's that can make or break you. If you know someone on the grind on that side of things you hit hard from that side.

I got real funky with an event that I promote in Sac and in a couple of other areas. It was an Jazz event but what we did was printed regular fliers but put them in with a cd that we gave out as the flier. It worked like wonders. That is not something for every market and not something to do on a shallow budget or slim event. It is one of those things we did bc we were bringing something different and it was not as much about the door money as me getting people I could do business with (which means making a lot more money than the promotion would ie. realtors, bankers, mortgage brokers, and other deep pocket heavy hitteres)

When you jump it off at least get some of your peeps to help you gett the fliers out and hit all the other hot spots all the cars people and all that you can without gettin out of place.

Also as you get in the game plan your attack and link up with some of the other promoters. This means free events for you and them also if they real about the game yall can potentially link up and do some copromotions it works, I have done it and it is the way I will going back at it toward the end of the year.
 
I agree whole heartidly that is what I was wanting to make clear with what I did with the print companies.

I did not mention but definitely meant to is if you know any up and coming dj's that can make or break you. If you know someone on the grind on that side of things you hit hard from that side.

I got real funky with an event that I promote in Sac and in a couple of other areas. It was an Jazz event but what we did was printed regular fliers but put them in with a cd that we gave out as the flier. It worked like wonders. That is not something for every market and not something to do on a shallow budget or slim event. It is one of those things we did bc we were bringing something different and it was not as much about the door money as me getting people I could do business with (which means making a lot more money than the promotion would ie. realtors, bankers, mortgage brokers, and other deep pocket heavy hitteres)

When you jump it off at least get some of your peeps to help you gett the fliers out and hit all the other hot spots all the cars people and all that you can without gettin out of place.

Also as you get in the game plan your attack and link up with some of the other promoters. This means free events for you and them also if they real about the game yall can potentially link up and do some copromotions it works, I have done it and it is the way I will going back at it toward the end of the year.



Hope this helps shed some light,
 
Good information in this thread. Last year I promoted and DJ(ed) parties and clubs. It was the biggest headache ever and lost alot of friends due to issues with money. It can be a really dirty game but very rewarding if played right. Since my venture was in europe and hip hop has a rapid growing demand, I would find a club that was struggling and promise to bring americans in return for the door sales. The club owner made a killing off the bar alone. American military and civilians would spend huge amounts on drinks and the european women would come just because they knew americans black men would be there. Me and 3 other guys organized a blackplanet "meet" at a club in germany called A6 and had people from all over the world there.........made a killing. Look if you need some info or advice hit me up wif a PM cause I love this subject, currently saving money to start a club/sportsbar when I return to the states.
 
I'm looking to book some events and I have a few questions. I need to do cold visits to clubs in town to secure a venue for show/performances. What questions should I ask the club owner/manager? I know about the bar/door split, but is their anything else I should look out for from these clubs?
I'm trying to avoid some of the clubs I've seen in the past that do bad business. I just left the radio biz and I want to use the knowledge I have to start up some hot shit!
 
Do you have a written, lawyer approved document clearly stating you will get the door money? Trying to make sure I dont get jerked if I go into this
 
yes a written conrtact is good. IF things go sour. you can back your self in small claims. but if OYUR people are on the door you cant get jerked.
 
I scan over the info that was posted in this thread and thought I would add to it.
It seems as though Zyin is coming from a corprate stand point (which is fine) but I 'm what most would consider a street dude. Ain't nothing wrong with that, there's money in these streets. With that said here's a point for those that don't have a whole lot of extra cash to pull a main stream promotion off.

Let's take a hip-hop venue I did a few years back. At the time Mike Jones just got with Swisha House (whut up G Dash). He wasn't all that hot with cats in the hood but was starting to kill cats in suburban areas of H-Town. By me being located in a perticullar suburban area I found a Reception Hall in the area and negotiated a reasonable price. I think $900. (this works with all types of halls ;Bingo, VFW, Banquet etc.........)
Then I hollered at Dash (because that's who Mike and Magno was sign to at the time...there's them streets again...lol) Got a good price out the gate. I think $FREE$
to show there face sign some autos and so forth.

Now I'm at the point of advertising.....You need something to attract your audience.

I already had swisha house comin... Just that would have limited my horizon to just their fans........So I threw in a $200.oo Cash give away to Free Style Contest winner........At first folks was hesitant to enter in the contest. Maybe their skills wasn't up to par or whatever But sooner or later the roster filled up. Hell no $200 is not free there is a $10 charge to enter...

Now you can get sponser for your event...I hear PEPSI is giving out cash for what they did to MJ and Luda among others....lol Hope you get point!

Had a computer. Some Flyers. Made some tickets. I think ink and paper was like $50
Know that ahead of time ticket sells are important. One you get a feed back. Presales and verbal feed back....Why you think there's a ticket Master in the first place. If shit ain't looking right Cancel. On to the next spot.

Another Con for Clubs. You in !You in! Now my tickets wasn't high tec security so what bootleg copies?.....(ya'll do it all the time ) no I in ya'll...lol Anyways black light maker $.59

Total now $1100.59
-300.00 From entries
Total now $800.59

You have to have something thatgoin to attract people. It being Naked Women, A perticular artist . What ever. At the time I had a cd shop so I had all the Swisha House Mixtapes I needed. (No matter what kind of show you tryna put on you must have product to sell at venue; PICS, SHIRTS, AUTOGRAPH CDs.............etc. Extra cash is profit. With clubs you may get off with Pics -thats 1 con with Club Promotions (Personal Supply).
Anyways, there was still something missing. THE CROWD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You have to promote your venue to ass many people as you can. Never limit your market. Never know who may come check you out. So I hit Barber Shops , Schools, Krogers Wal-mart........lollolollol where ever The Crowd I was seeking for this event....Happy Hours are real popular right now. Hit Jobs whatever for where ever your crowd's at......

Now being in the streets I had a crowd already....Not just day to day associates but hand to hand!!!!!!!!Agree with ONE on that!!! But the Barbershops what brought in the real crowd...Braids and Fades.......Slipped Barbers/Stylist a ticket or two to help promote .What's a few more Giveaways didn't cost me anything thats already in budget above^. But what was another blessing was this cat that had a studio set up he was tryna jump off, so he donated 3hrs. studio time. Another attraction....

With clubs its mainly the club's name and your foot work that will attract your crowd...Don't get me wrong cost alot more but if done successfully the pay is lovely.
But folks have to get paid or there's trouble..... There's so many missing club/concert promoters.........Plus there's your name logo on a event that sucked like One said...Not to many people will come to a unKnown event........

So now the event is set..

Admission was $5.00 Very reasonable for this gig...Have an major artist Jack the price up You have to have their pay...
So with about 175 folks I'm at $875 - $801= $74 profit

Now everthings paid for cd's paid for themselves A whole different profit.
Event is the focus..
I have click tight family for the most part. Never trust!! Is this business Moto.
So personel for the event was a gimmie. Cash handler for the door. Big homie for niggas tryna bum rush. The hall provided uniform security. Included in cost.
I also provided liquor for the grown folks. Being there was under age people there also..I went to Office Max and purchase some carnival tickets for like $3.00 and pack those around at the place and sold those to the people I knew was legal..Drinks was 3 tickets for $5.00 Stiff shit not that club watered down shit... I had a hook up at Spec's liquor so I spent like $100 on dranks for 3 half gal.s of Henn 4 cases of beer and a gall of Crown...Street shit again...
Anyways this was taking into consideration when deciding on head charge you may want to up the price to reach your target profit margin.....
We went through all the dranks and made like $500........Cds hit for like Another $300 in profits........And another $120 for the 6 cats that enter into the contest paying late registration cost....... $20 ain't nothing to a tipsy cat that thinks he can rap better than the ones that already did their thang....

O.k. profits at $920-$100= $820
Would have been more if Pics and all that was given.....

Not bad for a first time shimdig! Great Promotions for next gig. Footage for upcoming projects...And straight profits.

I know this is small time but this frame of mind applied to whatever you are tryna do will help your results....Good Luck
JHat
 
Found out Wed-Sun nights are booked already. Have options of Mon, Tues night or doing a happy hour(where there would be no door cover but The promoter would get a % of bar...). Leaning towards the afterwork thing since the # of people theyd like me to bring in would be a lot smaller than on a night. Then I'm thinking, if I can handle getting 25-50 people in for happy hour I can then parlay that success into a steady night.

Only damn thing is parking is a B$%^ around there.
 
BookerTee said:
Found out Wed-Sun nights are booked already. Have options of Mon, Tues night or doing a happy hour(where there would be no door cover but The promoter would get a % of bar...). Leaning towards the afterwork thing since the # of people theyd like me to bring in would be a lot smaller than on a night. Then I'm thinking, if I can handle getting 25-50 people in for happy hour I can then parlay that success into a steady night.

Only damn thing is parking is a B$%^ around there.
Click to expand...

Just thought I'd update yall. Ok the new club I was trying to work with is BSing. That's ok though cause I found a spot less than a mile up that's feelin the happy hour idea. Haven't brought up the topic of bar precentage yet (since charging at the door for happy hour where I live would be DOA). What do you think a good perecent would be. I'm thinking if I ask for a percent only if I meet a minumum(say $300) they'd be more eager to start off, especially since I'd be doing all the marketing/promoting/hosting.
 
my mans brought the idea of hosting and throwing some parties to me and i saw this thread the next day, i took it as a sign, so i read and now i have a few questions ...
we've decided since the cost of living is alot cheaper in the south, we're gonna start in big towns or small cities down there and as we gain profit we'll expand, this is risky because of demographics but we're optimist0ic ...

now for my questions, when doin this what stuff must you provide yourself? as far as security and music, and for the bar could you buy the bar out at maybe like a wholesale price and collect 100% profit, or would you have to provide your own liquor?
do they provide your with security and/or an in-house dj or must you hire your own, do they have people they reccommend?

please anyone if you have any insight please help a brother out, we're looking to do all our own hosting/promoting ... any ideas for promotions would be a great help too!
 
What's a reasonable amount of money that the bar expects to make off of drinks? I know they sell alot of that watered down shit and get volume discounts fromt heir wholesalers so how do you know what they really made? In the area I'm targetting, folks pay $5-7 to get in, but buy maybes $20-30 of liquor. You have to get a cut of the liquor money to make a profit so how do you track sales and profit?
 
thought id throw a bone to yall.

This might not work for an all-black crowd but if you have a mixed college-age type crowd there's this new magazine looking to sponsor parties and club nights to get their name out there.

Also anyone have info on alcohol sponsorships or how to get in touch with sales reps? I know those premium liquor companies and probably Heiniken Light are looking to get their brand out.
 
This is a really good thread because with Promotion/Party thing, there are so many ways to make money. I havent thrown a party yet myself but i work closely with a lot of people that do.

I found a way to make money just designing the flyers for people that want professional looking flyers without spending a lot of cash.

But one thing i wanted to add and excuse me if someone has already mentioned it but women make the party. Like i read in someone's response, have a gimmick, give away, something that attracts women...because i have been to some of my clients party's where he would just have local models wear his shirts and at first it would be dead....but in about a hour its flooded with people because guys called there friends, the models call there friends and the promoter is the one that ends up smiling at the end of the night. With all the being said i think innovative thinking and creativity are the keys to making it successful party after party.
 
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