This thread inspired me to start my own rap festival. I've got six artists confirmed (as well as a DJ) and I'm in the process of confirming the venue. The performers are up-and-coming artists. We're going to set up a site with our name, throw up a poster on the site, along with a plugin for ticket sales, which will send money straight to our bank accs. We drew up contracts for the artists so that they get paid after the event, meaning our initial overhead is low. We're in the process of creating a poster for the event, which we will post in university facebook groups and have it promoted on Twitter. It's going to be a lit event in Toronto. If all goes well (or not so well), I'll share my experiences in this thread in an effort to help others.
Two things that you have to know about the event planning game are:
1) Music is a cut throat industry with a lot of ego. Being too nice can get you F*cked over. Negotiating skills come in handy.
2) It's stressful to say the least.
Very good. It is a cut throat industry when your on the bottom in a pool full of sharks. We are talking about party/nightlife promotion and marketing. Avoid that by being the man on top. Like I said in some of my posts, I've hired doormen to be complete pricks to people waiting on line. I've had places literally empty with a line down the block.
If you plan on doing a music festival, things are totally different than nightlife promotions. Promoting/selling tickets is still the same but strategy is totally different. You're talking about more artists, a larger budget, a larger space, and many other variables. Many with no experiences will fail so if you can partner up with someone that has experience in this, do it. I recommend you securing some major sponsors to bring your costs down. Think alcohol sponsors for the simple fact that they may just be willing to hook you up with...alcohol. Keep in mind, you'll need a big budget set aside for the space, the artists, and whatever type of experience you wish to provide. People love that shit - you want people to talk about the experience because it's the thing that will sell your next one. They love experiences so provide something that no-one else is doing. I don't care if you're spraying people down with neon paints, tossing out beach balls, or posting up adult size bounce houses to jam to the beat. This is called your "product" and you should focus on your product before anything. Also, you definitely need a few serious names on your rundown to help sell some tickets - they will sell themselves basically. Nobody gives a shit if you're doing the event, they want to see who they want to see.
Good luck my friend
Heres a great idea for you - Adult day camp with live DJ's. Now sign me up lol
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