TOURING AUSTRALASIA for Jazz Musicians
Here is the information from the music seminar I held in December about touring Australasia for Jazz Bands. Hopefully you all find it useful! If there are any questions please ask!
Touring Australasia for Jazz Musicians
by Reuben Bradley
including Dos, Do-Nots, Doing it the hard way, Doing it the cheap way, but most importantly just
Doing it.
for more info email reuben@reubenbradley.com
Major thanks to Creative New Zealand.
Special thanks to the Southern Cross.
Background
Earlier this year my album Resonator was nominated as a finalist for the Tui Award of NZ Jazz Album of the year. On the strength of this nomination I decided to try and organise a tour of Australia. However, at that particular time, I was completely unorganised - and trying to arrange a tour within three months. Realistically, I could not afford to do it. Anyway, nearly all of the venues I approached were booked out already. Obviously there was no way it was going to happen at that stage.
*LESSON ONE: Book as early as possible! (At least 6 months out if you can)
Funding
In April, I was pleased to find out that I had won the Tui Award at the Tauranga Jazz Festival. Great! I thought I would have another go at organising the tour again - this time with a lot more time up my sleeve, which also gave me the opportunity to apply for some Creative NZ funding.
Over the years, I have applied for funding for various projects (including the recording of my album), but unfortunately I have never been successful. Gaining the Tui Award surely helped this time around, however, more importantly, I identified a way to contribute to the NZ music community by sharing with others my experiences (the successes and the pitfalls!) of our Australiasian tour.
*LESSON TWO: Creative NZ are more likely to fund projects that benefit the rest of the community! (or contribute to the growth of NZ music in some way).
Getting Organised
The Quick Response funding application that I applied for had a 6 week turnaround period which was helpful but I still had to book the gigs. I also had to figure out what revenue the gigs might pull in to help complete the budget (profit and loss) for the application. This time I made sure that I was prepared to do the gigs whether the funding came through or not - I didn’t want to damage my already non-existent reputation with the venues! Thankfully the funding did come through and we could proceed as planned.
*LESSON THREE: Once committed to the performance-DO IT!
The flights were booked (all 16 of them!) and that was by far the biggest expense, aside from accommodation. I booked the flights pretty close to the gig dates, which made them more expensive. If I could have booked 6 months in advance, the flights would have been a lot cheaper.
*LESSON FOUR: Flying is expensive – so book early!
Booking the tour
The plan for this tour was to present the music from my album to new audiences in Australia and try to grow a profile. However, as I have basically no profile in Australia I was often faced with a ‘No Thanks’ from a lot of venues.
To assist in countering this problem, I used a band that of musicians that each individually have great profiles in Australia: Roger Manins (Sax), Alex Boneham (Double Bass) & Steve Barry (Piano).
Aside from the fact that I could therefore play my music with new people, I now also had a band that was definitely more ‘marketable’ to the clubs and the punters.
*LESSON FIVE: Marketing is important if you want to get people to the gig in the first place!
Promotion (Radio/Posters/Press Release) and……Tax
With my hot-shot band organised and the gigs booked, next came the promo work. I had my designers (The International Office) design a generic tour poster that I could use that only required me to fill in the individual venues info, which saved on printing costs. Venues wanted these posters 2 months in advance of the gigs so I sent them out as promptly as I could.
Radio was the next step and after doing a great interview on Radio NZ with Eva Radich, I emailed off the mp3 of that interview to various radio stations around Australia so they could hear for themselves that I was good on air. With that mp3 I sent out a Press Release full of info on the tour. Some of the venues were happy to provide me with contacts at sympathetic Radio stations, and I promptly posted CDs and more Press Releases out to them as well, hoping that they would be keen to do an interview, promote the gigs, or give away cds on air etc.
Although they have the best coverage, ABC radio are extremely hard to get hold of. They have a 6 week turnaround on just answering emails!
Around this time I realised that I would need to register with the Australian Tax Office in order to get an Australian Business Number (A.B.N). This is important as if you don’t have a tax number then you will pay a lot in tax, but if you have one, you don’t have to pay any tax at all (until you declare those earnings at the end of the financial year.) HOWEVER, you need to get a Tax File Number (T.F.N) before they will issue you with an ABN. It took around 2 months to get it all sorted.
*Lesson Six: Make sure you have an exact timeline that you follow to MAKE SURE all important details are covered!
The Tour
There were several goals to this tour. Primarily to play my music to new audiences in Australia, sell some CDs, make some more contacts and of course promote original NZ jazz overseas. Secondly, to document the tour and present this information to other interested jazz musicians in the hopes of setting up a ‘touring template’, making it easier for others to tour in the same way.
The New Zealand Leg:
As well as organising all of the Australian gigs, I was also busy organising the NZ side of the tour. This involved performances at:
The Queenstown International Jazz Festival
The Christchurch Jazz & Blues Festival
Creative Jazz Club Auckland
Havana Bar Wellington
As these were local gigs and because I used my New Zealand band, I didn’t need funding for these performances-they paid enough and most expenses were covered.
If all of the gigs were with the same band members and we were doing it for exposure (not money), we could have made the revenue from the NZ gigs cover most of the expenses of the Australian gigs.
The Australian Leg:
BRISBANE 20/11/11
Venue: The Brisbane Jazz Club, 1 Annie St, Kangaroo Point
Contact: Malcolm Wood
Website: www.brisbanejazzclub.com.au
Sets: 6pm-7pm, 7.30-8pm, 8.15-9pm
Door Fee: $20 members/$25 non-members
Performance Fee: $480 (set fee)
Patronage: approx 25
Promo: Paid advertising/interview on Brisbane Jazz Radio FM $50, Posters, Face Book Event, Club Website.
Sunday nights are normally a Big-Band night; and this coupled with the fact that I am virtually unknown in Queensland meant that the amount of people at the gig was pretty low. However, I had negotiated a set fee for this performance to prevent making a loss.
Musically the gig went really well considering we had a rehearsal in the hotel room just before the gig WITHOUT instruments! The band I had assembled creatively deconstructed the music in the way I had perceived all along, which made it a very refreshing experience for me playing my own music.
The reception was really positive and I sold the highest number of CDs at this gig (12!). Also, the club set up a spontaneous single malt tasting session after the gig! Alex was almost set up with the daughter of one of the club members, I was kissed by many lovely older ladies and they are all very keen to have us back - on a different night other than a Big Band night I hope!
SYDNEY 23/11/11
Venue: Venue 505, 280 Cleveland St, Surrey Hills
Contact: Cameron Undy
Website: www.venue505.com
Sets: 8.30-9.20pm, 9.40-10.40pm approx
Door Fee: $15/$12
Performance Fee: $280 (door)
Patronage: 38
Promo: ABC Radio, Venue Website, Facebook Event
We arrived in Sydney on the 21st Nov, which gave us 2 days before the gig to suss out any changes to the music, visit the club (saw some great gigs!) and get into the Sydney vibe. The 505 is run by one of Australia’s most respected bass players, Cameron Undy. He has set up an amazing venue that delivers amazing music every night of the week. The vibe is relaxed with old couches, tables & chairs, a great inexpensive menu and cheap drinks - definitely a real muso’s place.
The gig went really well, we recorded from a line out of the desk and the sound was pretty good. At this gig we stretched the music way further out, getting quite free at times, taking the music to new dimensions. The response from the audience was encouraging and once again I sold a few more CDs. Someone even approached me for some drum lessons, which was cool; and importantly, the band was happy.
Talking to Cameron after the gig, I was trying to gauge his reaction and I thought he was quite positive, even though the numbers at the gig could have been better. In hindsight, it was quite foolish of me to have put the other band members names in small print on the posters as they all have HUGE followings in Sydney. I’m sure this affected the patronage. As Cameron put it ‘we had 38 people on a Wednesday night which is okay; but 50 would have been great and 75 amazing!’ However, I do get the feeling 505 would have us back and I think that Cameron gave us good feedback.
CANBERRA 24/11/11
Venue: The Loft, 2-3 151 Cowper St, Dickson
Contact: Andy Butler
Website: www.facebook.com/jazzattheloft
Sets: 7.30-8.30, 8.45-9.45pm approx
Door Fee: $15/$12 students
Performance Fee: $260
Patronage: approx 25
Promo: ABC Canberra/Artsound FM, Face Book Event
The Loft is not a venue; it is a waiting room above a Doctor’s surgery with a grand piano! The acoustics are really good and the vibe is even better, there is no bar, no food, everything is BYO and you take your empties away. The space is used every week and was setup by Andy Butler as a place for musicians to come and play jazz music.
Artsound FM kindly offered to record the gig for free, initially to play on air (through ABC which is nation wide), but we will be able to use a copy for whatever we want -very cool!
This gig was personally the best one of the tour, we played super quietly and intensely, and the music came alive because of it - cant wait to hear the recording!
Being that Canberra is about 3 or 4 hours drive from Sydney, we drove down before the gig then back straight after the gig. This was a bit of a mission but really good for band bonding (ask me later about the game ’build up your mates’).
The Loft was a great crowd, sold a few more CDs and they all made us promise to come back… ok, sure!
MELBOURNE 26/11/11
Venue: Uptown Jazz Café, 177 Brunswick St
Contact: Martin Jackson-Melbourne Jazz Co-Operative
Website: www.mjc.org.au www.uptownjazzcafe.com
Door Fee: $18/$12
Performance Fee: $1050
Patronage: 44
Promo: ABC Melbourne, MJC Website, Uptown Website, FB Event
Our Melbourne gig was organised through the Melbourne Jazz Co-Operative, a jazz club that exists to provide performance opportunities for local, visiting and international jazz musicians in Melbourne. Most of their gigs are held at Bennetts Lane, but once a month they have gigs at Uptown.
Since we were visiting international artists we had a large guaranteed fee, which basically made the trip possible and I am therefore very grateful to the MJC. This gig also went really well musically and we had the biggest crowd of the tour - a great way to end the trip indeed.
The stage is long and so the band has to play in a row, which is not ideal but the house drum kit and piano were more than fantastic, so they made up for that. The MJC were happy and so was the owner of Uptown, Sonny, who offered us some spare beds at his place next time we’re in town as well as more gigs. This is a great way to keep costs down and play more.
BUDGET
Here is a breakdown of the budget for the tour, all figures are in $NZ.
Expenses
Flights $2729.51
Accommodation $1817.01
Per Diem’s $1,360.55
Performance Fees $3008.8
Gear Hire $62.00
Taxi’s $441.63
Petrol $187.12
Presentation Costs $236.00
Advertising $77.31
Insurance (Reuben) $38.46
Insurance (Flights-for Double Bass) $142.96
Internet Time in Aus (continual promo etc) $81.17
Allowance for Fluctuations in Dollar 155.53
Posters $115.00
TOTAL EXPENSES $10,453.05
Income
Brisbane $630.71
Sydney $367.91
Canberra $341.63
Melbourne $1315.02
CD Sales $262.79
TOTAL INCOME $2918.06
SHORTFALL $7534.99
Viability-Touring on a budget
Obviously without Creative New Zealand Funding this tour would have been very expensive. However, I believe it would totally be possible to do a similar tour on a smaller budget and break even.
For a New Zealand band doing a similar tour, if these Australian gigs were combined with some New Zealand performances that would cost less to put on, then the revenue from those gigs cab help fund the Australian leg of the tour. The same goes for an Australian Band, 3 or 4 gigs at home before crossing the ditch would provide some cash to help fund the flights to/around NZ.
To make this cost effective in the future (ie: without CNZ funding) I would make the following changes to this tour:
*Go with only a trio (cutting costs by a 1/4)
*Use a city as a main hub but drive to close towns to play, drive back after each gig ie: Sydney-Canberra, Newcastle, Wollongong.
*Split the NET revenue 3 ways, after all expenses have come out - instead of paying the band a set rate per gig.
*Stay on couches/spare beds etc
*Stay within walking distance of venues
*Advertise more effectively i.e. emphasize the people in the band with the biggest profiles - regardless of whose music it is.
*Sell CDs for less, and therefore make up in quantity of sales.
*Organise other performances that might pay i.e. workshops at Universities/music stores.
*Book flights at least 6 months in advance to get the cheapest rates.
Further Recommendations
Although I have provided information on clubs and venues, please use discretion when approaching them for gigs. They may not be able to offer you similar deals as myself, and unless you have everything really sorted out (music, promo, ability to get people to the gigs) they will not be interested. Bear in mind also there is a far bigger pool of amazing jazz musicians in Australia already and your music/playing must stack up as much as possible.
Other Venues/Performance Options in Australia
Here is a list of other places I approached to perform, unfortunately I was unable to book any gigs at these locations. This was mostly due to the fact that I have no profile in Australia or, they were already booked up.
*Jazz Groove, Sydney. www.jazzgroove.com James Loughlan
*SIMA, Sydney. www.sima.org.au Gordana Raketic
*Newcastle Jazz Club www.newcastlejazz.com.au Doug Saxon
*Wollongong University, wollongongjazz.com, Eric Dunan
*Dizzy’s Jazz Club, www.dizzys.com.au. Mark Lockett
*Paris Cat, Melbourne, info@pariscat.com.au, Serge
*Lebowski’s, Melbourne, gigs@303.net.au
*The Jazz Basement, Albury/Wodonga. www.jazzalburywodonga.com Graeme Cook
*Turn around Jazz Club, Brisbane, turnaroundjazzclub.com, Dan Quigley
*Dungeon Jazz, Newcastle. www.dungeonjazz.com.au, Rod Barnes
Other Venues/Performance Options in New Zealand
Including some places I performed on the NZ leg of this tour, as well as Festivals.
*Creative Jazz Club Auckland, www.creativejazzclub.co.nz Roger Manins
*New Music Collective Christchurch, www.newmusiccollective.co.nz, Mike Storey
*Havana Bar Wellington, www.havanabar.co.nz, Potti Wagstaff
*Wellington Jazz Club, www.wellingtonjazzclub.org.nz, Michael Bain
*The Lounge, Carterton, www.loungewineandtapas.co.nz Petra Watkinson
*Taranaki Jazz Club, New Plymouth, morrishey@ihug.co.nz Morris Hey
*Wanganui Jazz Club, www.wanganuijazzclub.org Michael Smyth
*Queenstown International Jazz Festival, www.queenstownjazzfest.co.nz Luke Baldock
*Christchurch International Jazz & Blues Festival, www.jazzfestivalnz.com Jodi Wright
Further Info & Links:
http://www.creativenz.govt.nz/ Creative New Zealand
http://www.ato.gov.au/ Australian Tax Office
www.the-international-office.com Design, Press Kits, Posters, Web site, CD design, Business cards
www.musicworks.co.nz Instruments including hire gear for NZ
www.paiste.com Cymbals, Sounds, Gongs
www.promark.com Drumsticks, Brushers, Mallets
