Live music is a relationship-based business. To be successful, you’ve got to form and maintain good relationships with booking agents, artists and managers, and even fans.
In other words, reputation is everything. Everything you do on behalf of your music venue reflects both your and your music venue’s reputation.
But despite your best intentions, is your team letting things slip through the cracks that could sabotage your success? Here are some common problems you might be overlooking.
1. Dropping the ball
There are countless contracts and informal agreements involved in running a music venue, whether with artists, sponsors, or partners.
With artists, for example, you might agree to provide a meal, book hotel rooms, do a certain amount of promotion, or provide whatever particulars are in the artist’s contract. If your team isn’t ready with these things when the artist arrives, you can be sure the artist or tour manager will get back to the booking agent, who will remember that the next time you’re talking to them about an artist booking.
In the case of fans, it’s not uncommon for a fan’s to feel frustrated with venues when there are long queues, inadequate bar staff, or poor pre-show communication.
The good news? Fans love to talk about bad experiences, but they’ll talk up good ones, too.
To protect your music venue’s reputation:
Be at the top of your game and over-deliver on your competition. By exceeding expectations, fans will be happy, and bands will want to play your venue again. To arm your venue with everything you need to predict crowd flow, manage staff, communicate to fans, and make entry a breeze — you need the right event partner to support you from pre-sale to doors open.
Read More: How Aussie Music Venues Are Growing Their Business on Eventbrite
2. Copping an attitude
The music industry is full of big personalities. But the personalities on your team should never be bigger than your performers — or even your fans.
Whether it’s with artists, agents, fans, or staff members, every time you deal with people is a prime opportunity to ruin — or bolster — your reputation. Even if a request or question seems silly, your team should respond with respect. The artist requests no green M&Ms? Pick them out — or say no, but with a smile and a joke.
To protect your music venue’s reputation:
Treat everyone with respect, all the time. Model professionalism in how you talk with fans and hold team members to the age-old mantra: the customer is always right.
3. Being disorganised
There are many opportunities for disorganisation when you’re putting on shows night after night. There could be a confusing, long line at entry. A bartender could call in sick, leaving you understaffed — or your bar may be understocked. You may not have enough security. Everything could run late.
Any one of these challenges can spell out disaster. If you face them all, you’ll wreck your venue’s rep.
To protect your music venue’s reputation:
Start by making sure you have the right team, holding them to a high standard, and setting the example from the top. It always helps to use a checklist to make sure nothing slips through the cracks. Or go one better, by using event data to predict how your night will run, from entry traffic to bar consumption.
Read More: How Venues Can Use Live Music Data to Stay in the Black
4. Getting defensive
When things don’t go right, nothing makes a situation worse than not owning up to it. If any of the above situations goes wrong — and with shows every night, they’re bound to eventually — getting defensive will only cement a bad reputation.
When people point out problems, consider it an opportunity to make things better, not alienate yourself further.
To protect your music venue’s reputation:
Take a breath, apologise, and focus on solutions. Take responsibility, focus on the fix, and set an example for your team. And — if the situation is public knowledge — consider responding (tactfully) on social media.
Read More: How to Avoid Social Media Backlash
Build a great reputation as a forward-thinking music venue
To stay ahead of the game, you’re going to need the right tech to back you up. Eventbrite is delivering continuous innovation, to keep bringing you purpose-built tools and features alongside best-in-class local support to help you run better events. Learn more here.
