|
|
|||||||
 "It's a tough job, but somebody has to do it." David Stanowski To find older articles; use Search or Site Map |
|
|
|||||||
|
"It's a tough job, but somebody has to do it." David Stanowski To find older articles; use Search or Site Map |
| Venues | Bands | Dates | Performers | Genres | The Blog | Search | About Us |
|
Thursday 14 April 2005 New Venue With Profit Sharing! In one of my several "day jobs", I trade futures contracts. Most people are aware that futures trading is one of the riskiest and most speculative activities in the investment world. However, few realize that the futures markets were invented to REDUCE RISK! In the 19th Century, farmers hated the risk they had to accept on what price their crops would bring, after the harvest. They had plenty of risk just betting on whether or not their crops would survive the growing season! On the other side, commercial users of farm products, such as bakeries, did not like the risk they had to accept with the price fluctuation of agricultural products, either! They wanted a way to stabilize prices, and reduce their risk. They had enough risk competing against other companies in the markets where they sold their products. The futures markets were invented as a place where farmers and commercials could come together to hedge, i.e. reduce their risk. Speculators stood between these two groups, willing to accept the risks they did not want, in return for the chance to make big profits! Business and commerce does not flow as freely and profitably as it could when parties are forced to accept more risk than they want to. My article on The Perfect Nite Club makes the point that the local music business is stifled and curtailed, to some extent, because club owners accept more risk than they would like, when they pay bands fixed fees, regardless of their profits, during the time the band is playing. It went on to say that club owners should be much more willing to hire bands, more often, if they could REDUCE their risk by sharing it with the bands. The hypothesis was that more venues should be willing to hire bands, on more days of the week, with such a profit sharing arrangement. Of course, the current fixed-fee arrangement increases the risk to bands, too! By insisting on fixed fees, they greatly increase the risk that they will either be offered a much lower fixed fee than they would like, or that they don't get a gig at any price! Fixed fees greatly reduce a band's opportunities! In my article, I argued that cover charges are NOT the solution, since they have a strong tendency to limit the size of the crowd that will turn out for a band. Yesterday afternoon, I was contacted by a guy named Rowdy. He is a new club owner who recently paid a band a fixed fee, and then took a big loss, when they didn't draw the crowd they said they would. He wants to continue to hire bands, and expand the number of gigs he hosts, but his common sense told him that he has to reduce his risk by offering bands the type of profit sharing arrangement that I had proposed, even though he had not read my article. He wanted to know if I could help him find a band that would play under these terms; for this Friday. Luckily, the first band I called accepted the arrangement, and booked the gig!! Anyone else who would like to explore this new way of doing business should call Rowdy at 409-938-4200 OR 409-692-3441 Cell, and talk to him about doing a show at Rowdy's Roadhouse. He is located at 4613 Highway 6, in Freddyville, just south of Hitchcock. This place has been a Country & Western dance hall for over 70 years, under various names, so it will hold about 180 people. Rowdy has plenty of open spots to book, so it's time to get creative!! He says that he will advertise all of his bands in the newspaper, and he has a large billboard in front of his place where he will post a notice of the gigs, too; but he realizes that the band must be a partner in the process, and "get the word out", if both parties are to maximize their income. This is an opportunity where a good email list can be invaluable!! I hope that this is a new trend in the local music business!!! |
|
||||||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
Site Map Links |
|