Emarketing-Manager.com: HOW TO PLAY LIVE IN BARCELONA

Finding a place to play is the first step in a pretty straightforward process. As with any pub/club in the UK, you will have to seek an interview with the venue’s manager/owner. Many venues have their own websites with contact email addresses for queries. Although you can direct opener questions via email it is better to go to the place and discuss matters face-to-face with the owner. For this interview, it is not too important to neither take publicity nor demo CDs to these interviews. However, prepared is forearmed.

To play live at a majority of venues be warned Barcelona’s pay to play culture. This is distinctly different from getting to play venues in the UK and makes the nitty-gritty interview with the venues big-man. These fees range from €150 to €800. Usually it is in the range of €300 per gig. To secure a gig date, you discuss a provisional date with the manager. Once you return with the cash in hand will your date to play is concrete. How you recoup your layout is by charging for tickets on the door. There is sometimes a percentage of money at the bar.

It is known that some bars have been charging for over 10 years. The rise of the pay to play culture started just a few years ago. This was after a crackdown of noise pollution laws by the Ajuntament. The soundproofing costs have been passed to the artists. Previously, Barcelona enjoyed a plethora of live music venues.

In the majority of cases, you will be asked to sign a contract. If you were playing other groups, it would be prudent to ask a representative of each to counter sign. This limits damage liability to the establishment's equipment. Some venues have a minimum entrance quota as a part of the contract. If you are unable to fill the bar/venue, an outstanding percentage is taken from your deposit to play or from larger second refundable deposit excess.

A number of venues insist on charging a publicity fee. It is recommended to visit popular music bars and shops to see if the venue's flyers appear there. However, this pre-requisite is an obligatory payment, if you see the flyers or posters or not. For the most part, your publicity is a hard case of DIY.

For DIY publicity, recommended places to publicise are record shops in Calle Tallers, bars in Gracia, pubs in the Borne and bars around Razzamatazz Barcelona’s Mecca for live music goers. In addition place adverts on online portals like Craigslist, Loquo, Myspace and Barcelona Connect in their events listings section.

If your band is starting out, you have 30 minutes to over an hour of material; the only way to get a live date is to share a gig date. Networking is not only the primary driver for finding places to play; it is to find other bands to play with. Luckily there a few interested English-speaking musicians who have created such a network site, BCNMusic. The aim of the site is to put bands in contact with each other.

Chris Southern the site's creator and organiser stated his reasons for creating this online venue, “Since setting up the BCNMusic Myspace page, I have learned that there are literally hundreds of bands and venues in and around Barcelona. They’re just not were you expecting them to be. But, if you want to watch live music, you’ll have to travel a bit”. Chris continues, “We’re arranging concerts for local bands in Barcelona. We have arranged the first online forum’s networked gig at Sala La Rulot in San Andreu on Friday the 20^th July. Each band is encouraged to network and swap gigs and share future costs between themselves. We’re hoping the idea takes off”. To all interested readers Chris says, “If you’re interested there’s an Invitation for 'friends' on the site. We only accept if you’re group’s based in Cataluña. If you’re looking for local bands to network with, recording studios, venues, radio stations, ‘zines; they’re all here or catch us at our first event!”

Another Barcelona based site worth a mention is Splice Music. The site encourages social networking for electronic based musicians. The site encourages sharing samples and beats etc.

When at the gig, it is usual for all the groups to share their amplification and main percussion/drums. This is usually because once the doors open there is an allotted time space for all bands to perform. To move drum kits is time consuming.

Playing local festivals is pretty rewarding. It furthers your reputation with the local population. The contract process is the same as venues, as previously described. Publicity for these festivals is well orchestrated. Be aware of expected audience numbers given by the organisers are in fact a lot smaller if you are not the main act.

Links

Barcelona Rocks www.barcelonarocks.com/venues_eng.asp