SongSmith Booking Policy
• Focused band nights on the first Monday of each month with acoustic / unplugged nights on the other Mondays • A regular Thursday once a quarter to give selected acts wider exposure and access to better paid opportunities • More targeted marketing taking advantage of the features provided by selected social media and more emphasis on visual media for gig advertising • The same high quality of local grass roots acts and touring acts with full set times and our laidback atmosphere for acoustic performers
From 1st August there is a change to the bookings for our SongSmith @Mr Wolf’s night. Feedback on the night regularly mentions the chilled atmosphere and the supportive nature of the venue as well as our hosting. We would like to build on that, increase the exposure for the night as well as wanting to increase the repeat visits. There is a lot of positive feedback from guests for the night and we have been successful in building some small groups of people, often musicians, who visit the night and support each other on an informal but reasonably regular basis. We know that the majority of people came to see a specific act, often someone they know personally. It is a challenging time for live music, there is a lot of competition from other entertainment and leisure activity however music is still an important, almost vital factor in the lives of many people.
One thing we have prided ourselves on is having an inclusive policy for people at mostly the grass roots level to build experience of playing longer sets with a great sound system and a much-respected sound engineer. The quality of the acts we put on is incredibly high for the area in much we operate and we have also been very successful in attracting professional standard touring acts looking to break into a new geographic area. We are also an important opportunity for full bands to ply their originals at this level with a payment policy that is the match (at least) of similar nights and the only one we know of we a no minimum guest/ticket policy for payment. We want to build on all the factors above and have a very supportive relationship with Mr Wolf’s which we value greatly. We are the longest running regular grass roots night that we know of in the city (and some way beyond).
From 1st September we will be looking to run focused band nights at Mr Wolf’s on the first Monday of each month. This means that people will know what to expect and will simplify the kit share for some bands who are travelling or struggling to provide backline. The other Mondays will be acoustic/unplugged nights only to build on our chilled supportive atmosphere for guests. In addition we will be running the 5th Thursday in each quarter as an extra night which is pay on the door and historically has a greater footfall. There will also be more regular posts about the nights targeting Thursday-Monday to increase the exposure of our booked acts.
For booking enquires please email songsmith@jumpingjoint.co.uk
This year in November we will have been running for 10 years and plan to have a month long series of gigs featuring some of our favourite acts mainly at Mr Wolf’s but also we hope to be adding other venues. Previously we have offered more supporting services for acts and we are looking at ways to do that again and are talking to a number of other organisations about how we can do that.
More news on these last two will follow over the summer.
SongSmith - a breath of fresh air compared to a lot of promoters/bookers (Mike Weston – Every Thread / Goodnight Berlin www.everythread.co.uk )