Why bands should consider playing house concerts

Why house concerts?

Playing bars, pubs and clubs isn’t the only way to host a live show. You don’t always have to cope with the usual business aspects of booking a gig in some rut negotiating with a ill-tempered club owner paying you peanuts (kind of extreme, but you get my drift). There are alternatives, and one of them is performing a concert in the comfort of somebody’s home (or your own by that matter).

There are very interesting advantages to trying this out:

• You usually get to plan it how you want.
• Most house venues demand donations ranging from $5 to $20. In many cases the people hosting the show leave %100 of all proceeds to the musicians. Let’s do some quick math: $15 donation/entrance fee with 40 people attending will net you an easy $600 for the night, merchandise not included.
• The people hosting these shows are PASSIONATE about music, so most will leave you all the earnings, plus throw in a free cooked meal and possibly a place to stay for the night.
• These concerts engage the artist and their audience in a level of intimacy that’s incomparable with a traditional venue. This can lead to healthier fan relationships and of course (sorry to always lay down the cash concerns) better merchandise sales.

A couple of websites so you get the idea:

This one site called Concerts In Your Home is a resource/community for artists and hosts. Hosts can search more than 500 artists on the site, and artists can search detailed profiles of more than 200 house concert presenters in the US, Canada, UK, even Australia and New Zealand. Most performers play blues, folk and acoustic styles, so nothing too extreme. Anyways most places don’t have a PA so musicians prepare acoustic sets.

In the same vein we also have HouseConcerts.com. Here the model is a bit different as this site proposes a listing of people who offer their homes to host shows.

For Canadian house concerts you can also  check out www.acousticroof.ca.

There is also houseconcertsyork.co.uk who conduct these events around York, UK.

Besides ‘Concerts In Your Home’, most sites are pretty local and isolated, but by surfing through the web you’ll find tons of them. The house concert movement is definitely stirring.

A couple of quotes so you get an even better idea:

I’ll leave you to some quotes I gathered talking with some house-concert-aspiring-ministrels:

I haven’t done that many house concerts but the ones that I have done have been some of my favorite shows. I generally feel that I’m “at home” and playing for friends. Pay is generally as good or better than small venues. Success level, attendance wise, seems to relate to the host’s knowledge of his or her environment and enthusiasm in promotion. I absolutely love playing house concerts and I’m very grateful for the trend.
Ronny Elliot – www.ronnyelliott.com

I think they are awesome and a lot of times way better than a club gig. People are actually there to hear you which is not always the case in most clubs. Each house concert is run differently, but for the most part, it seems typical that they charge anywhere from $5 to $20 at the door and a lot of times give the artist %100. Some take a percentage, it just depends. Artists also get to sell merch in an intimate environment, compared to a club where that is nearly impossible. I love these gigs and wouldn’t mind supplementing them for clubs gigs altogether (ok, maybe not completely: most home concert throwers have their own guest list, so I could not omit clubs altogether or else a lot of fans would miss out on live shows!)
Rachel McGoye – www.rachelmcgoye.com

I’m finding myself playing more and more house concerts, though I have not given up on live-music in public settings. The appeal is pretty straightforward, provided the host and audience understand the
casual-but-professional dynamic (or are at least willing to follow): low overhead (save, of course, the benevolence and spirit of the host!) and thus much better pay (even 10 people at $10/head makes for a better night than many places’ll guarantee!); great environment in which to connect and interact (vs. noisy pubs, for instance); not nearly so lonely if attendance is light or I’m not as known in a particular community; etc. Word is out, though, so presenters are becoming bombarded just like everyone else in the community.
Wes Weddell – www.myspace.com/wesweddell

And to conclude, here is an extract of ‘The Complete Guide To House Concerts‘ Kevin Kelly (author of the renowned ‘1000 True Fans‘ manifesto) promotes on his website:

At the end of every house concert, at least one person will approach you because they want to set-up a concert with you at their house. And once people find out the Suzie is going to host one, many more will want to show you off to their friends and family too. Before the night is through you will be in the lovely position of adding several names and numbers to your house-concert file and following up with them to book a firm date for each show.
When you play bars or cafes, it is frequently a struggle even getting the booker on the phone. With house concerts you are constantly juggling plenty of gig offers, which come with guarantee money, a guarantee audience, and a minimum of hassles. What could be better?

Apparently there is a booming market for these shows, so if your set can be performed acoustically it seems pretty worth while to give them a shot.

We’ll be posting other quotes on this subject shortly, so stay mruffed.