How to measure your "draw" as a live act?

[tsar nicholas]

Hey guys!

OK, this might seem like a dunderheaded question, but here goes :


How do you measure / quantify your 'draw' as a live act? Unless the venue is keeping track by asking the patrons at the door, I'm not sure how, short of asking for a show of hands, one would identify how many in a crowd had been drawn to the show by one's own band.

Any guidance on this would be hella appreciated!

 

[Floyd Eye]

Guess.

 

[sausagefingers]

Local...do people that are not friends and family show up?

 

[Bluzeboy]

Local...do people that are not friends and family show up?

Exactly.. are you playing to ashtrays or a packed house?
Can you look at the audience and NOT see a lot of folks you know.

 

[SW33THAND5]

if you measure by how many people you bring... we do ok


if you measure by how much the bar sells...we do great

 

[tiktok]

You get someone to count how many people are in the club while you play, more than once during the night if you're playing multiple sets. Then the venue owner compares that to the average number of folks there, based on the register Z average for the last few months. The difference between those two numbers is your effective "draw".

Note: if you don't have sufficient trust in the venue owner, it's sort of a moot point. Or, if the owner is clueless.

 

[tsar nicholas]

You get someone to count how many people are in the club while you play, more than once during the night if you're playing multiple sets. Then the venue owner compares that to the average number of folks there, based on the register Z average for the last few months. The difference between those two numbers is your effective "draw".

Note: if you don't have sufficient trust in the venue owner, it's sort of a moot point. Or, if the owner is clueless.

^ Thanks mucho! That makes sense.

 

[teal379]

I'd also think that if you see some of the same people over and over at different venues around town and you don't know them - you're probably doing something right.

IME - people tend to hang out at 1 to 3 different bars (locally here anyway) and not all of them are music places so if you see people out there over and over at different places - they're your fans and draw.

 

[gixxerrock]

Ask one of the regulars at the bar. Many places have the same people show up every weekend, so when there are a bunch of new faces they notice. Also the waitresses are a good source of information.