I said:

"All the organiser can sell is the artist's ABILITY!"

Snail said:

"No we can't because we can't put that up on a website or leaflet or poster. All we can sell is your track record. Only YOU can sell your ability."

I say

But we can't sell our ability until we get there - by which time it's too late!

Only YOU can do that - and you CAN sell our ability. You can put our tracks up on your website - or on your myspace site if you have one (which perhaps you should). You can quote our reviews (from our sites) on yours, and in your leaflets (if you bother to print them - which many don't). You can take the time to sell the night, properly, in your parish notices, instead of just saying, err next week we've got xxx. You can speak to the more influential regulars and give us a good old beef-up. You can create a buzz. We're doing a gig in Newcastle or somewhere, for goodness sake, and we don't even know what your place looks like, how it runs or what sort of people go!

Now you may do all these things (we'll see if/when I play there).

I'm not attacking your club. I'm telling those who don't know that many clubs don't.

Look, YOU believe we're good enough, or you shouldn't have booked us in the first place. Now you have somehow to transfer that belief to your audience. Your punters may have never heard of us - or perhaps they only have the vaguest notion of what we do. They're not going to go looking at our websites unless you tell them to, and tell them in a way that makes them want to. You have to build a sense of anticipation. They won't come to the gig unless you've sold us - properly, using all the tools that we provide. (Some clubs don't even bother to put up the posters we send - just lay them out on the table on the night of the gig).

By the time we arrive to 'sell our ability' - if the punters are not there, IT IS WAY TOO LATE!!!

And - as I have taken huge pains to explain, if you only rely on booking already-famous artists on track-record only you are missing out on a lot of great music, condemning newer artists to the graveyard, and doing the folk scene as a whole no favours - but maybe you don't care about that.




Then again

I said

"It also does not guarantee fair terms for artists - who are professionals and deserve a proper deal."

You said

"I'm sorry, but why does calling yourself professional entitle you to any special treatment? Surely it puts you under an even greater obligation to deliver the goods."

I say

Of course it means we need to deliver the goods - I think you'll find most of us do, in spades. But we'd prefer to deliver them to a full-ish house most of the time, thankyou.

And of course calling ourselves professional does not entitle us to any special treatment, because every guest who plays your club is entitled to a fair deal. But you'll usualy find that professionals are professional - interms of income, attitude and method - and they expect, nay assume, a certain level of competance by the other party. They set high standards for themselves, and hope - repeat, hope - to find those matched by their clients - the clubs, but they don't always. It's a sad fact but true.


Again, caveat: lots of clubs ARE great, and many thanks for all the hard work everyone does. This only applies to the few clubs who are not - though we should all strive to improve in every way we can, should we not?