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!

Lubbock Rocks! KFMX Birthday Bash features big names, including Saliva, Puddle of Mudd and Buckcherry

I've spent a little time in Lubbock and I know from experience - there's usually not much to do. April 19th will certainly be an exception though, with performances from Buckcherry, Scott Weiland, Puddle of Mudd, Powerman 5000, Saliva, The Virgin Mary's and The Hunger.

Ticket prices are very reasonable - $38.75 for general admission (get tickets here)- so I expect it will get a good turnout IF they will just promote this thing properly! With names like this, they could easily attract attendance from far outside Lubbock, but only if people know about it.

Once again, I am underwhelmed by the promotion of a Texas music event. KFMX should be blasting this all over the internet. I went to their home page and there's NOTHING there! There is a small link that says "birthday bash" which takes you to this page : kfmx.com/buckcherry-to-headline-the-33rd-fmx-birthday-bash-video/, and the page isn't too bad, it's just not promoted well. This should be HUGE news for Lubbock, and should be featured front and center on the radio station's home page.

Granted, it's not near as bad as the Mazda event.. um, excuse me, the Tall City Blues Fest I mentioned in another post, but with these big names I can't believe they're not promoting it better.

Regardless, it's a great show, the timing is good for a rock show (the eve of 420), and I wish them great success. If anyone in the Lubbock area knows more about this event and if it is being promoted better locally, please let me know in the comments!

A Lesson For Small Town Music Festivals

Who knew Midland had their own music festival? I stumbled onto the Tall City Blues Fest website quite by accident and was immediately intrigued.

Unfortunately, the website is woefully lacking in information. Lots of info about their sponsors, almost no info about the music. While I wish them great success - I love seeing smaller towns develop a successful music festival - I don't see it unless they change their ways.

Let their website be a lesson to other towns wanting to develop a successful music festival. Yeah, sponsors are important, but the website for a music festival should feature music. Is this really such a hard concept to grasp?

The Tall City Blues Fest website, www.tallcitybluesfest.com, starts on the home page with links to news, info, and sponsorships. I found last year's lineup from the News link (Chris Duarte headlined) and a few pathetic press releases that focused more on workshops offered at a nearby college than on the music. This was getting depressing.

Finally I found a videos link (see for yourself here www.tallcitybluesfest.com/videos/ and guess what I found? Three videos of Lisa Grissom (I guess she's the festival organizer?) either sitting on a Mazda and talking about the festival, or being interviewed by a Mazda dealership manager about the festival. (Guess who is the main sponsor of the event?) Oh, and almost as an afterthought, a single lonely video of the music from the pre-VIP party in 2012. One video of music!!

No pictures of past events, no other videos of past events, no interviews with past performers - what the heck?

Sorry Lisa Grissom, but you've only convinced me to come to this year's event if I'm interested in looking at a Mazda. Good luck with your festival, and my sympathies go out to any bands who play there. Unless you're singing songs about Mazda, don't expect any free press for your band.

Free Press Summer Festival - Houston, May 31 - June 1

Lots of Texas festivals to choose from, so what's so great about this one?

For starters, this year's headliners include Jack White, Vampire Weekend, and Deftones. For some reason, Cage the Elephant is listed in a smaller font with the rest of the bands on the festival's website - I would used the bigger font. Whatever.

Dozens of other bands round out the musical festivities, but this festival is also about art, just not the "usual" type. The FPSF celebrates "interactive" art - from benches and bridges, to a see-saw that looks like a giant mustache giving "free mustache rides".

Over 80,000 people are expected to attend this year, making it one of Texas' largest festivals.

More info can be found at the festival's official website fpsf.com and tickets can be purchased at fpsf.frontgatetickets.com.

South By So What Festival - March 14-16, Grand Prairie, TX

This annual festival started 7 years ago as a small way for DFW to get a taste of South By Southwest bands, but this year they're really blowing it out with big names and expecting a big draw.

The festival is scheduled for March 14-16, 2014 in Grand Prairie, Texas.

This year's lineup includes headliners Taking Back Sunday and The Used.

Full line-up can be found here www.southbysowhat.com/home/2014-line-up/.

Single day tickets are $45 for Friday or Sunday, $55 for Saturday.

Three day passes are available in several packages, ranging from General Admission for $120 to the Elite VIP Package for $320. They say the Elite VIP Packages are nearly sold out, so if you want yours get it now!

Tickets can be purchased here : www.southbysowhat.com/home/tickets/