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Prior to approaching the venues about MGN membership, a thorough cross-section survey of venue owners at every level is done to determine the specific needs and wants a venue may have from something like MGN, and to find "hot buttons." For example, in the IndieAvenue survey I did for In2une, the main objection venues had in 2001 to the live music format was "badly behaved bands." MGN could then show how we provide services that help to ensure band quality across the boards--from musicianship to sound to business attitudes and practices. (See In2une's Venue Survey Questions -- I've found a few of the survey responses, more to follow, hopefully...)
A tiered menu of services is then offered to the venues from free to top flight, with the solutions to the most sought-after services being the most expensive.
VENUE SERVICES
REF.: IN2UNE MUSIC SERVICES
Booking Management:
MGN offers complete, end-to-end booking services for venues from finding bands to getting them paid. The Venue Booking Module can operate as the venue's own online "back office" where calendars are managed, and thorough analytics provide a clear picture of the viability of the live music format.
The immediate benefit of using MGN's booking service is that venues can require all bands calling in to become MGN members, and to then use the MGN system to apply for a gig. This controls and optimizes the flow of communication, helping to standardize and automate the process.
The venue booking agent first selects the genre(s) of bands desired, number of bands, number range of musicians per band, and instrumentation preferences, fee ranges. Specific dates can be selected as well. The MGN search tool will then present EPKs from the relevant and available bands' profiles based on genre, location, and tour radius. This includes the following:
If there are no bands available for a particular date, that date is highlighted on the calendars of all possible relevant bands, as an invitation to apply. If deadlines are looming without band applications, a wider algorithm is applied, such as higher fee range, looser genre selection, etc. If no band can be found, MGN flags that situation for future handling, and then begins to offer relevant sub musicians who have also indicated the ability to "put together" a band in an emergency.
The venue then creates their Offer Module. This is where the venue announces how much they are prepared to pay bands (or a given band), what room/board is available, any other perks or riders. The venue can create a default or standard offer, and a customized band-specific offer. If a venue needs motel or hotel partners or food vouchers, MGN can offer participating motels, hotels or local Band Hosts, as options. MGN-participating hotels have already agreed to discount their fees in exchange for advertisement space on MGN (and any other perks MGN offers). The venue can also create numbered printable food vouchers for the venue itself, or for download by the arriving bands. Food vouchers and other discount coupons may also be available by participating MGN advertisers for download by bands and venues from either local or national vendors, such as Subway, Guitar Center, Hertz, Sears, etc. (see Itineraries & Road Support).
Once a band is decided upon, if the band is new to the venue, the contracting process is begun (see below). If the band is returning or in rotation, the band is notified of a YAY, and then confirms by clicking the appropriate button. If the band is new to the venue, included with the YAY notification is the venue's Offer. The band has an opportunity to ACCEPT or PASS on the offer, or make a counter-offer. Once the venue approves the counter-offer, or makes a counter-counter-offer that is approved by the band, the contract process can begin.
Within the Booking Module, a venue can design their own contract. MGN will provide contract clauses required by local law (if any), and then offer options, such as waivers of liability, performance expectations, band set up and breakdown procedures, other production considerations, etc. This way, the venue will feel "covered" and the bands will know the score. In the case where the band has contractual requirements, after the band looks at the venue's contract, they can decide to accept, or amend. The amendments then are sent back to the venue contracting agent for approval. This type of back-and-forth would be achieved on an instant messenger-type platform. Once the contract is agreed upon by both parties, it is saved as default for both parties, and is assumed to be in effect for all future performances.
The Booking Module interfaces with the Stage Production module. If the venue employs a sound tech and/or staging personnel, they are notified about the upcoming shows via their MGN Member Profile as Venue/Band Support. Each booked date links to the bands' EPK, which includes staging requirements. The Stage Production Module displays stage layout, monitor requirements, mix preferences, and provides a mixing board configuration record where specific mixer settings for each channel can be indicated for future reference for that specific band (SEE Venue Performance Venue Liaision).
Promotions Management:
MGN puts a lot of emphasis on promotion for the venue, and each aspect of it is supported in some way by MGN. Here are some promotional strategies MGN recommends and supports:
The Press Release is then automatically sent to all offline and online media outlets, including social networking sites (MySpace, Facebook, etc.), and to the venue's email list, and the band's (see Itineraries & Road Support).
There is a document creation area the venues can use to create posters, fliers, coupons, etc. from templates. Also, the all-important Comment Slip template that venues should use along with a Suggestion Box in a corner of the venue, for anyone to provide their opinions, gripes, raves and general feedback about their experience in the venue.
MGN also encourages the venue to use Comment Slips either on the venue floor (tables, bar, etc.), and/or with the server staff, who asked every customer to fill one out. These can be humorous, but with important intent.
Another part of the Promotion Module is a Swag Creation Module. MGN has developed partnering with local print companies, or, say, Vista Print Online, so that t-shirts, bumper stickers, jackets, mugs, hats, gag gifts, etc., promoting the venue can be designed and ordered at a discount (and referral fee to MGN).
MGN also recommends the assignment of an in-house MC to preside over the venue entertainment from the stage. This can be anyone from wait staff, sound tech, to the owner--but it creates more of a "show" feel, and puts a face on the venue. (A good example is "Joe" at the Kingston Mines in Chicago--he's been MC in there for 30 years, and has become a local character. He's hilarious and even goes around hawking CDs for the bands that play there).
Another often overlooked promotional opportunity for venues is right there in their neighborhoods. Every business and household within walking distance should be promoted to in some way, particularly with a new venue. Fliers with coupons promoting shows, food, website, etc. are put up everywhere within a mile of the venue. This is the crucial walk-by traffic that can make the difference between a good and bad night. Plus, it opens a communication channel between the venue and its neighborhood residents, so any complaints and compliments can more easily reach venue management. MGN also recommends creating good, supportive relationships with the local police and city council, as well as city business associations.
PERFORMER FEES
A priority for MGN is to ensure venues are contracting performers using appropriate fee structures. It is easy for a venue to take advantage of artists by "low-balling" fees, and then turn around and complain that the performer "doesn't bring a following." Artist pay is linked to artist goodwill about the venue. (see ARTICLE)
Within the MGN booking/contracting system, appropriate bands are offered matching venues. So providing the MGN system is used for this cycle, everyone should be happy. The artist Profile determines what fees the artist will agree to. Sometimes, brand new artists are content to "play for free" or play for a beer, in exchange for a chance to appear in front of what they consider to be their audience. Other times, 50-something "weekend warriors" who have been doing the club circuit for years will want to be paid a sufficient rate to get them out of the house, and not be insulted. This rate, to some extent, is affected by local economies, but nationally seems to be lowest in the Eastern US and higher in the West US--the differences probably due to transport distances, state taxation policies, etc. (MGN will be finding out the reasons underlying this type of data). Touring acts have extra expenses and provide other promotional value to the venue, and so will charge more. All of these kinds of options will be available to both artists and venues. Venues decide how much they are willing to expend on performer fees, and indicate that in their Profiles.
THE BUZZ FACTOR FOR VENUES & ARTISTS
Where MGN's approach to performer fees is unique is in providing "marketability metrics" to artists. For each artist performance, statistics are compiled for, but not limited to, the following:
An artist may see fit to charge less than their Buzz Factor would allow for other reasons, such as low local buzz, or to "break in" new songs, or to break in new personnel, or test out new artistic directions, or to show their support for a favorite charitable cause, or to break into a new market. On the other hand, venues may choose to pay higher than the Buzz Factor rate to get an artist to come to their venue when it is not in the travel line of an itinerary, or to create local buzz for the venue.
Venues, also have a Buzz Factor which can affect performer fees. Artists may lower their fees in order to perform at a venue with a high buzz factor to gain exposure to that audience. So a Venue Buzz Factor is created by MGN along similar lines to the artist's (see Ratings).
Staff Management Module
Staff scheduling, overflow personnel contact info, and any other linked profiles are kept in this module. Employee recommendations, customer feedback, artist feedback on specific staff is held here, too. If staff members set up their own profiles, this arrangement can act as an in-house networking service that can then be linked to PDAs, cell phones, and laptops to improve communication and foster teamwork.
Equipment Inventories
A complete physical property equipment inventory module is provided by MGN, and is highly recommended to be done. This offers an easy way to keep track of everything from liquor, food, and restaurant supplies, to staging equipment, as well as maintenance records and schedules, rental agreements, warranties, and repair records. Contact info for all providing vendors, as well as emergency supply alternatives for consumables.
Statistical Management:
The Booking Module can also be used as a cost-to-benefit analyzing tool for the venue's entire business, as it tracks and reports the following daily statistics:
The end result is that the venue knows exactly what the Cost Per Customer (CPC) really is, compared to Income Per Customer (IPC). Obviously, if the IPC is lower than the CPC, that would be a major red flag. But the primary value of this system to the venue as well as MGN, is immediate feedback on each show performance. With this information, the venue can adjust bookings to the consistently best-performing bands for that venue.
This brings up a vital point here. The tendency with many venue owners is to immediately "blame the band" for low receipts on a given night. Statistically, this is an incorrect assumption. There are many other factors both externally and internally affecting attendance. However, repeating results either up or down during the nights any given band performed can start to create a statistical probability that maybe the band is the cause for low or high receipts. As MGN runs the Beta models on this, there may emerge such a statistic as "A band is under-performing if after 5 appearances revenues are 50% of average." There will be emerge other types of relationships and data consistences as time goes on. The point being, that by tracking enough data points and averaging this data into a Master Statistical Analysis engine, MGN will end up with extremely useful metrics that would become predictive, and may even be applied to analyzing different locales to predict conditions for a new venue, and from this create programs customized to the locale to ensure venue success.
Of course, as with all statistical methods, the human factor is never predictive, so there is always risk in setting out on any new endeavor, but if prospective venue owners had this kind of information going into the enterprise, it would offer a good direction for success.
VENUE CERTIFICATION
MGN conspicuously promotes a value system of "Venue Best Practices," as partially laid out in In2une Music Services, under the "Live music venue checklist" and "Profitability checklist for live music."
If a venue consistently meets MGN's criteria for a "Real Live Music Venue," they are awarded certification annually, based on periodic inspections and/or artist, agent, or street team reports, averaged against accumulated Venue Ratings.
Advantages to certified venues could include advertising perks, promotional priority, vendor discounts, and media exposure.
A potential venue owner can embark on MGN's Certified Real Live Music Venue Creation Program, offering services at a discounted package rate, using vendor partnerships.
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