Should You Be Playing Restaurants?

Let me be clear that this isn't about bar & grills, this is about restaurants, where the primary business is food. But recent trends are starting to blur this distinction, as you'll see.

If you are a solo act, or a band that plays country, Americana, folk, or any other "softer" and "family friendly" genres, then you should definitely consider playing restaurants!

During the recent (ongoing?) recession, restaurants suffered and started looking for ways to attract new customers. Live music proved to be the answer for many. It creates a unique experience for diners, and could result in repeat business for the restaurant, but what does it do for you?

Playing restaurants exposes your music to people who may not normally patronize the club scene. If you're selling cds or other merchandise, this is a whole new segment of the public to recruit as fans and who will buy your merch. Do this right and it could be a gold mine!

Something I noticed about restaurant gigs is that families often go to these shows expecting to spend some money and have a memorable family experience. They send the kids to put money in your tip jar, or buy your cd. They buy tshirts for themselves and the kids. These families typically spend more money than the average club patrons.

On the flip side, restaurants don't directly profit from live music - they cannot have a cover charge or they would lose, rather than gain, customers. They are hiring you to fill seats with hungry diners. The pay may be less than a club of the same size. This is why you should have your merchandising in order before playing restaurants - merch, and your tip jar, will be necessary to make up for the lower pay.

One last benefit : even though many of the restaurant patrons are not into the club scene, if they really like your music, chances are good that some will come see you when you're playing a nearby club. They'll probably bring a few friends, too. Multiply this a few times and you could see a noticeable increase in your following.

UrbanSpoon lists 400 restaurants in Dallas/Fort Worth that offer live entertainment, and 351 restaurants in Houston that offer live entertainment. Use this under-tapped resource and see if it doesn't help grow your fan base.

If you have played live music in restaurants, I would love to hear about your experiences!

Win Tickets to See Staind!

Pick from 15 cities on their tour - the only choice offered in Texas is the Lonestar Amphitheater in Lubbock on May 25. The contest ends at midnight on April 25, so hurry up and enter now at rafflecopter.com.

A bit more info about the contest, including a list of all 15 cities and dates to choose from, can be found at Loudwire.

Brazos Nights Free Concert Series in Waco, Texas - Doing It Right!

I've been a big fan of Cajun music and Zydeco music since accidentally wandering into a Cajun bar in the small town of Bandera, TX about ten years ago. So when I saw Buckwheat Zydeco is playing in Waco on April 11, I had to check it out. I've been wanting to see him for a very long time.

The event is a series of free concerts (yes FREE) held each year beginning in April and ending in July presented by The City of Waco Parks and Recreation Department. What an awesome thing for a city to do!

But Waco isn't far from DFW, and they've been doing this since 1987. Why haven't I heard about it before? From what I can tell, most of their advertising is local to Waco. And as far as internet advertising, the event does not have its own website, instead it has a dedicated area of the city's website (Brazos Nights Official Home Page).

Despite not having its own site, they do offer plenty of good info - click on Bands and you'll see the headliners for each of the 4 shows this year, complete with links back to the bands' websites. Besides Buckwheat Zydeco, they have great names for the rest of the lineup, including the Toadies on June 13.

I'm seriously impressed with this festival, as they appear to be doing a lot of things the right way. Hats off to the organizers - I'm a bit of a critic when it comes to small town festivals and I can find little to criticize here. You've done so many things right, including a page featuring Photos and Videos from Previous Waco Nights, and moving the April date to accomodate artist schedules.

My biggest nitpick of this event? That they don't give me any tools to help advertise it. If they had some downloadable banners or tile ads, I would likely put them on some of my music-themed websites. I'm sure some of the participating artists would do the same. I even checked the Brazos Nights Facebook Page. I found images for each of the 4 dates, but they didn't include enough info (like WHERE).

But that's ok - I'm going to promote this event anyway, because it's an awesome lineup of artists and bands, and because it's FREE. Way to go, Waco!