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The BIGTIME Mission

At BigTime Entertainment, it’s our mission to Connect bands to their Fans. BigTime not only does this by putting bands on stage in front of their current fans and soon-to-be fans but also by encouraging our bands to initiate one-on-one contact with their fans. This is where the real connection is made—especially while growing a local or regional following. In addition, BigTime Entertainment does its best to equip bands with effective strategies to help them make the most of every opportunity for real connection.

Often at the local level, artists become discouraged, because they leave stacks of fliers all over town and then three people show up to watch them play. This is both unfortunate and unnecessary.

BigTime Entertainment is dedicated to ensuring that no band is forced to endure this disheartening experience. With the right strategies and the right opportunity, bands can make every show a success, and they can make every show a fantastic opportunity for CONNECTION! Everyone at BigTime loves helping them do this…it’s our mission.

For a bit of background about the music industry during the 20th century, click here

The traditional all-ages show

Today, almost every local all-ages show is produced in the following manner. A small(often one-man) production company will make arrangements to rent one of the all-ages music/art spaces described above—a new club that just opened downtown. Next, the concert producer will find several "cutting edge" local and regional acts, he or she believes to be so talented that booking them will ensure that the show becomes fantastic success. These acts are tired of playing small, smoky bars that are half full of middle-aged people and are anxious to play somewhere new--so they excitedly agree.

Now, since the concert PRODUCER mistakenly believes he or she is a "concert PROMOTER", promotion efforts will ensue. What he or she doesn’t realize is that true Concert Promoters work only with well-known touring acts who have a large national(or at least regional)fan base but are unable to promote for themselves because they won’t be in town until the day of the show.

Although our "local promoter" will promote the show by hanging flyers all over town and by running an advertisement in the local newspaper, less than 1% of the people who see the fliers or the ad have ever heard of the bands that are playing the show.

So, almost literally no one who sees the flier or ad will even remember them a day later--let alone, come out and pay to see the show. Because of this, these "promotion" efforts will yield little to no results--neither in terms of show attendance nor name recognition for the bands. In addition, the concert producer will not be able to pay the bands as well as anticipated, because he or she has wasted considerable funds on ineffective promotion techniques.

On the day of the show, both the concert producer and his or her "cutting-edge" bands will arrive at the venue. Everyone will set up for the show. In spite of the fact that they prefer to play second, the most popular band on the bill (which is not necessarily the most musically talented but is always the hardest working) will be forced to play the last timeslot of the night, because they are "headlining" the show. Thanks to this well-intentioned concept (which only actually makes sense for national or regional tours), the hardest working band will be penalized--in essence--by not getting any choice of when they take the stage.

The rest of the bands will draw a combined total of 15 people to come see the show, for a total show attendance of 100 (=85+15) people. Depending on the price of admission and the size of the club, the concert producer may or may not have enough cash left to pay the rent he or she owes the venue. If rent is covered, then the bands will probably split the rest of the money.

The bands may split the rest evenly, which seems unfair to the band that brought out 85 people, but this will make the other bands very happy. The band that brought out 85% of the crowd is probably not happy about being paid the same amount as the other bands--and understandably so.

At the end of this show, the hard working band (which is the only one of the bands that has the drive needed to achieve widespread success) is left wondering if the show was even worth playing, and the other unmotivated bands are anxious for another chance to get paid for playing an event that requires little to no effort on their part.

As the dust settles, the concert producer realizes that low attendance and unnecessary "promotion" costs have left him or her very low on cash. He or she then informs the owner of the venue not to expect any more shows for a while, because it will take quite some time to save up the needed funds to produce his or her next event. Sadly, most of the production companies who rent this venue soon find themselves in a similar circumstance, so the club will likely not survive long enough to celebrate even a one-year anniversary.

Things are getting better

Since BigTime Entertainment’s inception in 2004, many markets all over the U.S. have been introduced to a far more effective and sustainable way of producing local, all-ages shows. BigTime events have helped numerous all-ages venues to not only survive but also thrive. In addition, literally thousands of bands have connected to new fans as well as deepened their connection to existing fans. This comes as a direct result of the strategies offered by BigTime’s web-delivered resources (i.e. Artist Resources & Taking Control of Your Music Career) and the opportunity offered by our shows.

For BigTime to accomplish its mission of connecting bands to their fans, we must ensure that all-ages venues both survive and succeed. If they don’t, both the bands and their fans will suffer. To accomplish this, we utilize time proven systems for everything—from sending out venue deposits before each show to providing the venue with Feedback Forms to fill out after each show.

To achieve the greatest possible connection between bands and their fans, it is also our job to encourage each artist to interact with their fans on a personal level. While they may not end up becoming "best friends" with each of their fans, they MUST give each of their fans the chance to get to know them, as an artist—who they are and what their songs are about.

In contrast to the "traditional" all-ages concert producer, BigTime does not consider it appropriate to act as a music critic. According to BigTime’s philosophy, everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion because "beauty is in the eye of the beholder." Since two people can hear the same song and exhibit exactly opposite reactions to it, our only means for determining the legitimacy of a band’s music is to use fan response as our primary indicator. If people like it, then it’s valuable; there’s no fairer way to critique an art form.

Unlike the traditional all-ages concert producer, BigTime also understands that it’s role is not that of a Concert Promoter—since our shows rarely feature touring acts. Whether a bands fan base is 30 people or 300 people, the band members themselves are in a better position than anyone to promote to those people. Any attempt by BigTime to take on this role would be both an overwhelming failure. Thankfully, the money we save can be passed on to the hardest working bands—which promote for their band far better than anyone else could.

In addition, BigTime realizes that the notion of a "headlining" band is very inappropriate for all-local events. Instead, we allow each band to choose their timeslot for the night, and we give seniority to artists that contribute most to the success of the show. This ensures that the bands working the hardest are rewarded for their efforts and that they have ample incentive to participate in the face-to-face (career building) interaction that ticket selling creates.

By way of band payment, BigTime does not "play favorites" or reward bands for irresponsible behavior that threatens a venue’s survival or success. Instead, each band is paid according to the BigTime Pay Scale, which dictates how much per ticket each band will be paid. Bands that draw very well are paid several dollars per ticket—often hundreds of dollars, in total. On the other hand, bands that draw poorly (and less than they promised before the show) will be paid proportionately less. This practice stands in stark contrast to that of the traditional all-ages concert producer, who may only pay the bands that he or she believes to be "talented."

Because BigTime goes to great lengths to ensure that each show is a success for EVERYONE involved, we are able to do shows on a consistent basis, in each of our markets. This consistent and reliable business is what allows many of our venues to achieve the level of success they desire.

We can’t stop now

At BigTime Entertainment, we are thrilled to have this opportunity to meet the needs of many all-ages venues, as well as the needs of countless local artists—needs that have been completely ignored by the industry for years. There are so many wonderful and amazing people involved in local music—both on the West Coast and nationwide. We are so grateful for the chance to fill in the gaps a bit and to make sure local music is able to thrive for years to come.

We believe that our mission should not stop in our current markets. In upcoming years, we consider it our duty to take our strategies—and the opportunity BigTime shows offer—to every artist that can be reached. Not only will we continue to improve our tactics for creating connection, but we will also broaden our reach—nationally and even internationally. BigTime will not stop until we’ve given every artist the tools and the opportunity they deserve. This is our mission... thank you for joining us!

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