Created by drivinman (contact me)
I'm a singer-songwriter based in Lawrence, KS. I tour as a solo act, and sound like Sting or Duncan Sheik with a bit more sense of humor. http://frans... (more...)
Your fans are waiting!
Statistics, facts, and issues about house concerts and the people who put them on.
How do house concert hosts find acts?
How many will do shows on weeknights?
Who offers guarantees?
This survey should help us get a good picture of the most common (and least common) practices of house concert hosts.
It's also a great way to see what issues are most important to this community, and how much variety they all have in their approach.
House concerts are one of the most important trends in live music, and a great way for artists to reach out to new and existing fans.
If you host house concerts, please take a few moments to answer the questions below. I think you'll enjoy seeing how your house concerts compare to the others.
That's Lois and Greg's House Concert in the picture.
Remember to hit "Vote" after each selection, and you'll see the result!
Ignore any questions that don't apply to you...
New Questions Added!!
If you were one of the first 75 people to fill out this survey, please scroll down to the bottom for 9 new ones!
FREQUENCY
DAY OF WEEK
BLOCK BOOKING
Randall Williams at a house concert...
GENRE(S)
MUST SEE LIVE BEFORE BOOKING?
OPENING ACTS
Fran and Ringo discuss the setlist...
FINDING ACTS
"they" = artists or their agents.
500 artists who enjoy house concerts.
A fun way to find new talent.
CONTRACTS/AGENTS
GUARANTEES
SUGGESTED DONATION
House concerts do not "charge," though donations are strongly encouraged.
IS THE MONEY SPLIT?
We encourage hosts to give 100% of donations to the artist.
Many believe that keeping any amount of the donations to cover expenses (even for a charity) increases your risk for code violations or community ordinances. You should check with your local and state laws if you do this.
If you're shy about promoting...
make people ask you!
HOW DO YOU COLLECT DONATIONS?
We recommend NOT collecting money in advance of the show, and keeping a clear path from the audience to the artist.
FOOD
DRINKS
DRINKS - BYOB
houseconcerthost.com
Please visit www.houseconcerthost.com for direct access to our blog, which features articles, tips, and reviews of house concert series'.
SEATING
EXPENSES
ACCOMMODATIONS FOR ARTIST
Memphis House Concerts
INDOOR/OUTDOOR
PLUGGED OR UNPLUGGED
WEBSITE
The one you visit or update most often to promote your shows
MAILING LIST
ATTENDANCE
KIDS under 14
This is not for everybody... just the little people.
BIGGEST SHOW
PARKING
LIGHTING
Ringo testing the spotlight. "It works, now turn it off."
PROMOTIONAL EXTRAS
if you choose "other" please tell us in a comment at the end!
House Concert Videos
CONCERTSINYOURHOME.COM
CIYH provides FREE services for hosts. No membership fee.
HOA - Local Ordinances?
WHAT WOULD HELP YOU THE MOST?
IS YOUR SPOUSE "ON BOARD?"
Really Nice Stuff
Promote your house concerts with style!
AGE
CHING$
Do you have to be wealthy to host house concerts? You sure won't get wealthy doing it! 8^)
You're almost done... 8^)
Hosts seem to be a curious bunch... and the questions keep coming... take a break if you need to.
MUSICALLY ACTIVE?
RESULTS
NEW QUESTIONS
Like I said, you're a curious bunch. Submitted by you, typed by me...
HOW DJA START?
SHARE THE LOVE AND ATTENDANCE
Find House Concerts in Your State or Province
Promote your events on the calendar or find other nearby house concerts.
COLLECTING IN ADVANCE
For most hosts, we don't recommend this. It might increase your exposure to tax and local code scrutiny.
NO SHOWS
NON-PAYING GUESTS
It's a suggested donation... how well do you suggest it?
VOLUNTEERS
Really Nice Stuff
For yourself or your volunteers!
PUBLIC PROMOTION
MOST IMPORTANT VOLUNTEER NEEDED
SECOND MOST IMPORTANT VOLUNTEER NEEDED
I'm guessing you'll be frustrated picking just one...
House Concert Host Resources
- HouseConcertHost.com
- Tips, reviews, and articles for house concert hosts.
- Join CIYH as a host
- Free service lists your series and allows you to promote your calendar.
- Hostdates for CIYH
- List your house concert events on your state's calendar at ConcertsInYourHome.com
What did we forget to ask?
Please take a moment to rate this survey (at the top of the page)
Please tell us any questions you'd like to have added to this poll.
The first concert was probably a house concert:
"Hey, Ogg- come over to my cave tonight. Guff will bring the sabertooth skull and he and Skar are gonna beat the daylights out of that mammoth skin again!"
My Inner Folk Child was reborn in 1990 at a house concert hosted by Clark & Elaine Weissman. That got me hooked on the California Traditional Music Society, live performance and song circles.
Living rooms, garages, coffeehouses, bars, mountain meadows and sailboats are the womb of real musical magic. YouTube, commercial radio and network television are just ways for people to sample the reality that music is something people do to touch each other's souls. Two-way eye contact, the harmony sung by the front row, and a bear hug after a song are what keeps music alive, and house concerts are the purest channel for that kind of energy.
I've always done house concerts, though I never heard that name until recently. Keep the faith!
Posted April 11, 2008
I got started doing house concerts because I have so many songwriter friends that I only get to see at Kerrville, and wanted them to come visit us in Mass. especially while I was building our cordwood masonry home. It's a lot of work, and many musicians are also carpenters!!!!! Most of them said" if i had a gig to help pay my travel expenses I would come." So I built my living room with that in mind. And now we get to have them visit, and we are proud to be bringing such great, and mostly unheard of music to our area. And it's a very cool participation in our community.
We also had an issue with our planning board. We use a TOWNFOLK email list to promote our shows. One of the members of the board read the invitation, and thought we were having concerts with loud music, and serving food. Once we explained what a house concert is, they realized, and actually voted that it's nothing to be concerned with. As a result my wife is on the board, and the publicity was great.
Posted April 11, 2008
In response to Steve McClintock's cd sales question: I usually handle all the donation money and sales for our artists, so that they're free to mingle or whatever. I'm a bit anal, so I make a chart before the show listing the titles of all the cd's for sale and as I sell one, I make a check beside that title. I don't think we've ever had an artist adjust the price based on the crowd but others may know of such instances.
Posted April 10, 2008
Go see somebody you've never heard before at least a few times a year - you will be surprised at how many great new artists you'll discover, as well as relationships to artists you already knew about! This activity helps to support the lesser known Artists who are SO good but also unknown!
Posted April 10, 2008
We have a homeowner's association and used to send postcards to all the residents (there are only 60 residences). We had requested permission to hold concerts and were told it was ok. Apparently one of the invitees (probably a board member) had "an issue" and we were told to "cease and desist". So we did (sort of). We stopped inviting the neighbors (our immediate neighbors have no problem with it) and starting hosting "parties" with birthday balloons outside, etc. Problem solved!
Greg (sort of) plays guitar (I don't)
We started doing this because (1) we used to attend house concerts and the couple retired and (2) almost simultaneously we moved and had the room to do it and (3) Rod Picott urged us to give it a try. You'll see Rod in the picture at the top of this survey - that was our first show!!!
Our main wish is that we could draw bigger crowds - we could handle 30 - but we live in a pretty rural area and it's hard to muster a big crowd unless it's a "big" name artist.
Posted April 10, 2008
PRESIDENT
Ringo for President
Thanks for being a part of this community.
Fran Snyder
ConcertsInYourHome.com
FranSnyder.com
Five Little Monkeys