Thread by @JoeAdhemar

I read a tweet the other day from a decent band who got a response from a plugger/PR agency that suggested their Spotify numbers and Social Media follows were too thin on the ground to merit a slot at a grassroots venue/festival. 🧵 ⬇️

This type of attitude is all pervasive in grassroots music.

I’m now going to try and convince you how this trend is not the way to go if you want to keep your venue packed and buzzing

💥👊💥

First of all I need to educate the gatekeepers of live music in how to spot the clues of who the genuine talent are and which acts have the ‘talent’ in ‘appearing’ popular. Sometimes bands are good at both, but the Venn diagram intersection is, imho, sparsely populated.

Next time you’re considering a booking…Try this. Scroll down to the Spotify ‘FANS ALSO LIKE’ section of that artist.

Follow this ‘FANS ALSO LIKE’ trail of breadcrumbs…different artists with similar patterns of listener figures and often, the same familiar faces. And here’s the clincher: the numbers of Followers will be MASSIVELY out of kilter with the listens.

…this suggests there’s a collaborative approach to boosting where often, all the artists in this ‘trail of breadcrumbs’ are sat on the same playlist that is getting a huge helping hand from something automated and not human.
Usually at the centre of these complex arrangements…

…will be a (cough) PR company who sell the concept of ‘promotion’ but I’d argue they sell the ‘appearance of popularity’. The other playlist types are run usually by one or two entrepreneurial and tech savvy artists who essentially get each…

…artist on that playlist to play it on loop each night.
Why tell you this?
Because if you look under the bonnet, you have discovered a murky world of fabricated popularity that bares no resemblance to true listener figures (and often in direct contrast to the power of the songs)

So…if you are booking bands/artists on these metrics, you are not ensuring a full turn out. Bots don’t go to gigs I’m afraid 😳

So what, you might ask, should bookers be doing to ensure that they fill venues with decent, energetic talent so you can get bar takings that ensure your long term viability as a business?

Step away from the numbers!

I have a strong belief that the artists who really CAN cut it at a gig are often befuddled by the implied narcissism of social media. They’re too busy writing bangers/rehearsing to be posting selfies and spending money…

…on getting 200 x 5-year-old iPhones in a warehouse in Jakarta to play their tunes on a continuous loop.

What bookers need are a handful of passionate non-musicians who genuinely KNOW grassroots. These guys and girls listen to music 24/7

I believe they’d gladly do some of the groundwork for you, so you could concentrate on running your business rather than spend hours each day, filtering through the emails containing the self-penned hubris of desperate bands.

These are the one’s I know twitter.com/i/lists/165294…

It is my opinion that for a grassroots venue to survive and thrive, venues need to be known as a place where you can just turn up as a gig goer and not worry that you’ve booked an act whose followers are 99% bots.

It is sad to say that the majority of acts and bands are unfortunately all boosting their metrics. Because they want to at the very least, appear popular. Who can blame them? Building a fanbase organically relies on playing decent venues…

…and if the venues have fallen into the trap of assessing a band’s merit on bullshit metrics, then it makes sense why they might be tempted to boost them?

So my hope is for venues and festival bookers to become more insightful about the criteria for booking. To give the acts who don’t have the implied narcissism to create an artificial buzz, a chance. And most importantly, delegate the filtering that takes up a lot of your time…

…to people who have a genuine passion for grassroots music and would do it willingly for you.

FWIW, none of the above has been written with self-interest in mind. I don’t play live at the moment. But it seems that the industry has got itself into a pickle with metrics and I want it to be healthier.

I hope the above helps in some tiny way to address this problem so the best talent can be pushed to the front. Because right now, all I’m seeing is a synthetic vanity project that is stealing oxygen from those most deserving. Take care everyone.

Edit to add: Without casting an unfair spotlight,I am currently being portrayed as a bad player in pointing out the negative aspects of large collaborative boosting playlist cliques.I get why you’d want to emphasise the community minded aspects of these ventures but read it again

And one other thing. Why don’t these smaller venues tweet video of these bands crushing it on stage to sell tickets for their venue? A quote tweet of their most powerful footage? I rarely see this

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