hey guys- sorry i'm showing up late for this one. i read through all the posts and there's a lot of good stuff to chew on.
a couple of things that i've noticed: i'm active in about 4-5 different city's music scenes, and it's interesting how many different perceptions there are about any one "scene". i'll have back-to-back meetings with bands in one particular city, and get 2 completely different opinions on the scene. i guess a certian portion of it is what you make of it...so keep your chin up.
also- regarding touring, or music in general- clockworkengine is on the right track. i started out at the tender age of 15 with the goal of having my own sound/light show for bands to hire who didn't have a PA. the best advice i ever got was from a manager of one of the bands i was working for. he told me to work like hell to just BREAK EVEN. then, he explained; you can do it for as long as you like, because it's not costing you anything. it made a lot of sense...but what i found out is once i focused on breaking even on every gig, it wasn't long before i was turning a profit.
to that end; clockworkengine, here's my advice: pick 2 bands that are like minded and who would make a good bill along with you, and approach them about your concept (because i believe it's a solid one). once they're on board; start marketing a show to nearby non-coastal cities, mongomery, b'ham, nashville, memphis, etc. think of a cool name that tells people what's going on-- a club here (nashville) hosts "alamaba line" every wed. nite- a few artist from northern alabama come up and throw down. it's something different, and it's been working.
so- breaking even: you're not going to make any money on the club, so focus on merch. along with each bands' seperate merch items, have a few things that represent all the bands; a 10 song compilation with a few songs from each band, for example. couple that with a t-shirt of the same clever name for $20 and BAM; you're making money AND promoting the event. put the collective merch money towards gas/hotel and sell the shit out of the stuff.
start with a nearby city to hone your breaking even skills and to work out any kinks. do the math ahead of time so each band member knows how many collective merch items they have to sell to break even. for example:
ocean springs to montgomery, al is 446 miles round trip. get a 15 passenger van and a trailer and all ride together. (pick bands that have one or the other) use the same backline to save space and weight in the trailer. (which is money!) plan on getting 10 miles to the gallon w/that setup. that's 44.6 gallons at $3.20 per gallon for a total of $142.72 in fuel costs. don't do a hotel, bust your ass back that nite...with that many drivers it shouldn't be a problem. everyone's responsible for their own food/drink- cause you'd be eating and drinking anywhere you'd go.
$142 divided by $10 per cd = 14 cd's need to be sold. that means, with three bands with a total of 10 members (3+3+4) each member has to sell 1.5 cd's to break even. kick it up to 2 cd's per and you just made $60, which should go towards paying for the duplication of the combined cd/merch. any individual band sales should throw a percentage back to the "group fund", since the group got them in a position to sell their own merch.
that way it's simple. everyone's job is to promote, show up, drive, put on a great show and sell 2 cd's. done. if you can't sell 2 cd's per person, someone should show up and take away your rockstar membership card.
wow- this post is already too long.
-chris mara
www.chrismara.com www.myspace.com/chrismara