How to make more money from live music (for venues)
The 90 minutes after a band finished a show in your venue/pub can be an extremely lucrative window for your business. You have the ability to leverage the emotional high of the punters into a fiscal win for you. If you play your cards right, you can ensure that you turn the post-gig into a financial windfall - however it requires a little co-ordination and foresight to execute properly. When done perfectly, it becomes the key ingredient in making sure you have a constant revenue stream from future live music gigs too.
This is a time where a venue can add a load of income for the night. If noise restrictions and business hours are not an issue, a hot crowd will ALWAYS want to carry on partying, drinking and spending money – you have a bar, you can play pre-selected music, you have the option to sell finger-food. Keep the energy going and have a playlist ready for such occasions. If you don’t know what music works, check out our free resources, or consider working with a local DJ to curate a nice playlist which works for your local crowd.
Consider running a drinks special as the band finishes - the best synergy is to make sure the band announce the drinks special as they finish off their set, so that your bar is immediately filled with punters - if you do this and straight away start playing a groovy playlist, it’s a guarantee that you’ll earn your bar way more than if you don’t take these steps.
Do your best to ensure there is no pregnant pause between the band finishing and the bar music coming back in. the best case is to start fading the music up and the band say goodnight and turn around to put down their guitars. IMPORTANTLY, if your venue is well lit - this is the time to start dimming the lights for the afterparty - people will party harder if they feel less “seen”, and if you really want to keep the energy going, having one or two very simple automatic DJ lights to turn on at this moment is a serious win for your returns via the bar.
Make sure you have flyers or cards which the punters can take with them, advertising the next events which you have planned, or ensure there is a large poster or chalk board notice for them to see. If someone is local and having a great time, they will absolutely want to come back for the next one. Building a loyal local following works so well for all parties, as the locals know they can go down and always have a good time with quality entertainment, the bands know they will have a warm, receptive crowd, and with those two factors in place, the money will arrive via the channels mentioned above.
If possible, make sure the area where the band need to pack up is protected from the crowd, and they have a clear passage to the doorway in order to carry out their gear. It’s a nightmare trying to get kit out of a busy room with drunk people falling all over you/your equipment, and the sooner the area is cleared for dancing - the better for your business!
