As a long-time subscriber and semi-committed reader of your newsletter, I wanted to reach out and say how much I appreciated this one, and give my (hopefully not completely unwarranted) two-cents as a fellow occasional promoter.
For context, I moved back to London recently, having spent most of the last five years living in Glasgow. After things opened back up I started putting on nights up there with a couple different friends, some of which were a financial success, many of which were not; one of which involved having to feed the first artist Gregg's sausage rolls as we didn't arrive at the venue with enough time for load in and a proper dinner. A lot of those were more gig-oriented, but of the couple club nights I ran there we never did better than barely breaking even, and it was always fairly nerve-wracking even in a small city where I was able to rely more on physical postering and word of mouth. I did run a more successful night back in September at Spanners, where I actually made some cash and was able to pay the DJs more than I'd anticipated, thanks in large part to knowing them all personally + my friend having done the poster on the cheap. Much as I'd like to take credit for my own promotion skills, I think that success was mainly down to the tiny-cap and slightly headsy nature of the venue basically guaranteeing a sell-out, plus some lucky factors like mild weather and being able to sell some extra tickets on the door coz of no-shows.
That is to say, a lot of these things are probably dependent on factors outwith your control. I think you hit on a lot of those points back in your blog about the first Welt Discos party back in April '23, but putting on a party in the city you live in is challenging enough. Putting on a party in a city you don't live in and that city being London is doubly so... The sheer amount of choice we're presented with can sometimes produce a kind of counterintuitive cultural conservatism whereby people are only willing to pay for (and actually turn up to) a party if they (1) Have a group to shlep there with (2) Know at least one of the DJs and/or the promoter, personally or by virtue of them being a 'big name' (3) Have been to the venue or party in question before. Add social media algorithms to the mix and you get a kind of stasis where people are increasingly unwilling to risk forking out their hard-earned cash for a night that won't be instagrammable or, at least, vaguely 'memorable'.
This isn't meant as a rage against the gen-zs from a cusp millennial. In fact, I say this somewhat guiltily, having opted to go to Ormside on Friday to see Lena Willikens play a surprisingly Bangface-coded set on much the same basis: I had a couple mates on the lineup and others who were up for going; they knew the promoter and had booked Lena to play their own party a couple of times, so had guestlist; and Ormside is a cracking venue and 10-minute (albeit ill-advised) cycle back to mine. From chatting to friends, I knew of a few other things on that night likely to have drawn competing crowds.
Anyway, all that's to say that I hope the low turnout on Friday isn't bearing down on you too much. I've always appreciated your reflexivity about the highs and lows of trying to find enjoyment / eek a living out of a scene that increasingly rewards clout-chasing over longevity, commitment and hard graft, but I wouldn't take that experience purely as a judgement on your own music/label as much as a broader indictment of said scene. At a time where everything feels a bit boiled down to a 200-character take splashed across a Canva design, it's nice to read and (listen to) stuff by music nerds who just really, really love dance music 🙂.
Good luck with your upcoming dates and here's hoping you do come back to London for more parties in the future, in spite of everything 🤞
Hey Joe,
As a long-time subscriber and semi-committed reader of your newsletter, I wanted to reach out and say how much I appreciated this one, and give my (hopefully not completely unwarranted) two-cents as a fellow occasional promoter.
For context, I moved back to London recently, having spent most of the last five years living in Glasgow. After things opened back up I started putting on nights up there with a couple different friends, some of which were a financial success, many of which were not; one of which involved having to feed the first artist Gregg's sausage rolls as we didn't arrive at the venue with enough time for load in and a proper dinner. A lot of those were more gig-oriented, but of the couple club nights I ran there we never did better than barely breaking even, and it was always fairly nerve-wracking even in a small city where I was able to rely more on physical postering and word of mouth. I did run a more successful night back in September at Spanners, where I actually made some cash and was able to pay the DJs more than I'd anticipated, thanks in large part to knowing them all personally + my friend having done the poster on the cheap. Much as I'd like to take credit for my own promotion skills, I think that success was mainly down to the tiny-cap and slightly headsy nature of the venue basically guaranteeing a sell-out, plus some lucky factors like mild weather and being able to sell some extra tickets on the door coz of no-shows.
That is to say, a lot of these things are probably dependent on factors outwith your control. I think you hit on a lot of those points back in your blog about the first Welt Discos party back in April '23, but putting on a party in the city you live in is challenging enough. Putting on a party in a city you don't live in and that city being London is doubly so... The sheer amount of choice we're presented with can sometimes produce a kind of counterintuitive cultural conservatism whereby people are only willing to pay for (and actually turn up to) a party if they (1) Have a group to shlep there with (2) Know at least one of the DJs and/or the promoter, personally or by virtue of them being a 'big name' (3) Have been to the venue or party in question before. Add social media algorithms to the mix and you get a kind of stasis where people are increasingly unwilling to risk forking out their hard-earned cash for a night that won't be instagrammable or, at least, vaguely 'memorable'.
This isn't meant as a rage against the gen-zs from a cusp millennial. In fact, I say this somewhat guiltily, having opted to go to Ormside on Friday to see Lena Willikens play a surprisingly Bangface-coded set on much the same basis: I had a couple mates on the lineup and others who were up for going; they knew the promoter and had booked Lena to play their own party a couple of times, so had guestlist; and Ormside is a cracking venue and 10-minute (albeit ill-advised) cycle back to mine. From chatting to friends, I knew of a few other things on that night likely to have drawn competing crowds.
Anyway, all that's to say that I hope the low turnout on Friday isn't bearing down on you too much. I've always appreciated your reflexivity about the highs and lows of trying to find enjoyment / eek a living out of a scene that increasingly rewards clout-chasing over longevity, commitment and hard graft, but I wouldn't take that experience purely as a judgement on your own music/label as much as a broader indictment of said scene. At a time where everything feels a bit boiled down to a 200-character take splashed across a Canva design, it's nice to read and (listen to) stuff by music nerds who just really, really love dance music 🙂.
Good luck with your upcoming dates and here's hoping you do come back to London for more parties in the future, in spite of everything 🤞
Naomi x