Jersey Mike

We have a “radius clause” for bands at The Abbey Bar. If you wish to play a show with us, you may not book another show in the city of Harrisburg or immediate surrounding area for three weeks prior to and three weeks after your date with us.

I’m writing this post to clear up some recent misconceptions about the radius clause that’s in place for The Abbey Bar and bands who wish to play it.

Seems like some of you are reading too deep into this and I want to clarify some bullshit that’s been floating around out there.

First- since I began booking The Abbey Bar over five years ago, I have had the “radius clause” rule on the books. Only recently, however, have I had to enforce it.

You see, it seems like a simple-enough thing. But clearly, some of you like to hypothesize and sensationalize every bit of information that gets incorrectly disseminated.

A band – regardless of their stature – should not ever play the same city more than once every six to eight weeks- minimum. When I was booking Herbie a few years ago, we all agreed that they should not be playing Harrisburg more than once every three months or-so. The reason for this is simple: there aren’t enough people in this region to support you playing two or three bars in the same town every month.

And you know what? For virtually every single local Herbie show, there were no less than a hundred and fifty people out for it.

Certainly, there are exceptions to this rule. Specifically, cover bands. Many of the small taverns and pubs have acoustic duos or cover bands that are on a seemingly monthly loop in their room. Those bands are generally playing to the regulars at the establishments who frequent the place and don’t necessarily need to bring a crowd.

Also, from time to time we will host a “residency” which is designed to break a band in a market. Remember J Roddy and The Business? Remember Cabinet? Now, whenever they play Harrisburg, the room is packed.

Original acts, on the other hand, are presumably trying to break out of the region and (hopefully) become able to tour the national circuit. And while it’s necessary to hone your craft on your home turf by perfecting your live show, you’re not doing anyone any good by playing the G-Man on the 1st, Ceoltas on the 13th and Gullifty’s on the 22nd. I don’t care how great you (think you) are, your fans aren’t going to see you three times a month.

Bands need to create demand for their product. And by making your show available in every bar in town nearly every weekend, what incentive does your fanbase have to go and see you tonight? They think – “man, it was a long week. I don’t really want to go out tonight. Plus, they’re playing next weekend too right down the street. I’ll catch them then.”

Whereas if you only have one area show planned per quarter and have been promoting it as such, there’s that much more urgency for your fans to make it to that show.

And then there are numbers – if you play a different bar in the city three times per month and get thirty people out specifically to see you at each, wouldn’t it make much more sense to play ONE place every two months and get over a hundred out to that one show? Especially if you’re playing for the door.

A radius clause for any venue just makes sense. While I have a great relationship with nearly every other venue in the city, we have all agreed that we don’t see the value in booking a band who’s already on someone else calendar that month.

Believe me – I LOVE working with the local bands. And we have always paid them well, treated them well and promoted them well. But why would I, as a booker or promoter, want to water down my efforts by knowing that we’re not going to get the turnout that we should because the band wants to scoop up every hundred dollar gig they can?

This post can go off into several directions (loyalty, integrity, dedication) but I’ll save those lessons for another time. If a band wants to get paid well and be treated like the business that they are, they need to ensure the venue which is booking them is going to get the most bang for their buck. If I book a local band for a show in January, I want to see it being promoted in November. I don’t want to be just another room they’re playing in the city.

And if a band sees it differently, that’s fine as well. There are plenty of other bars they can play.

Sigh.

It’s called “BCC”, guys. Ever see it? When you put someone’s address in the address line of your email client, you have two other options. One is “CC” (which, if you didn’t know, stands for “Carbon Copy”…as in, you’re sending an exact copy of the email to whoever is in that line) and then there is “BCC”, or, “Blind Carbon Copy” – “Blind” meaning that the recipients of your email do not see the other recipients email addresses.

Look, I really thought that this was 101…shit you learned on your first day. But the number of band emails promoting their shows that I get with a hundred email addresses in the “to” line or just plain “CC’d” is absolutely stunning.

Here’s why you don’t want your email addresses viewable to the recipients on your list:

1. You EARNED those email addresses. And there are still shady promoters and venues out there who would LOVE an extra hundred email addresses without even working for them. Those email addresses should be viewed as your personal client list. And if you were in ANY other business, you wouldn’t share your client list with potential competitors, would you?

2. Those people who gave you their email addresses also gave you their TRUST. An email address is viewed by some people in the same light as their telephone number. Some people simply do not want that information just tossed out there. Ever heard of a thing called “spam”? Yeah, well, that’s what they’re afraid of. And when you irresponsibly leave their email address (and sometimes full name) exposed on your big email about your gig this weekend, you’re violating that trust.

Plain and simple.

One way to avoid ALL of this is to use an inexpensive and simple email list manager. Personally, I’m a fan of Campaign Monitor. But there are dozens of inexpensive choices that do most of the work FOR you…thereby rendering your emails idiot-proof and more effective.