Why play at smoky bars, and schlepp around the country in clapped-out vans, when you can turn up to someone’s house, play a private concert to thirty of their closest friends, earn more than you ordinarily would in a month, get fed, stay in a comfortable bed, and then move on, in style to the next town?
Concerts in your home connects musicians who want to play live in private houses with people who have private houses in which they would like to host musicians who want to play live.
This one’s easy. No, no, no, no, no (yes, occasionally) and no.
By and large, venues, festival organisers and promoters who insist that musicians bring a certain number of ticket-buying punters to their gigs should pretty much have their licences revoked in my book.
The argument goes something like this: playing at our venue / performing as part of our festival / taking part in our Battle of the Bands competition will be good for your profile – and you may even get a record deal out of it. Or something.
Promoters know it’s shonky, which is why they often go to some lengths to make it something of a secret that this even goes on. One recent local example is the rather shambolic PR disaster that is the Surface Unsigned festival.
Its aim is to provide useful resources, advice and strategies for innovation and success in the independent music sector in a rapidly changing technological environment.
NMS examines emerging technologies (and buzzwords) such as AI, blockchain, metaverse and 'Web 3.0', but focuses primarily on sustainability, music as a tool for social change, participation, equality and inclusion, and the ways in which music technologies can build better worlds.
