Your living room could help save live music.
Your favourite musicians at home?
” Sitting there up close and feeling the vibrations in the air and through the floor, hearing the smallest detail of finger on wood, fibre on strings. Proximity has tremendous effect, and it makes no difference that I’m not a Celtic folky or bluegrass fan — being there really is the thing, and how music fills you up in that setting is, in an unverbalisable way, what music actually means.” (WH Chong Crikey.com)
Musicians in the new music industry are struggling to make a decent living. Payment at regular shows is often not great, split with venue, booking agent and promoter, and gigs are hard to come by. Warm and intimate, a show in your living room or back yard helps musicians make a decent living. And musicians long for the intimacy of a show where people actually listen, free from the distractions of pokies, screens and chattering pub patrons. What’s more, experiencing wholehearted music with your friends is special.
“House concerts are far and away my favourite gigs, not least of which because of the sense of community and the very personal, face to face nature of them, so if HMJ helps to connect me with potential hosts then I’m all for it.” Mary Webb, musician.
Your house doesn’t have to be large to make it work, in fact, the cosier the better. And 20 people is good. Quality is better than quantity. You could consider using another community space (hall, local club, common room, work space)
It doesn’t cost anything more than a donation to the artist, which you would pay to see them in a bar or theatre anyway.
Your location and contact details remain private, and If you don’t want strangers in your house,simply keep the invitations private as well.
Find a musician to invite and you can make it happen with a few friends at your place or hire the local hall (they’re very cheap).
There’s a detailed guide to help you.
Create a Profile and local and touring musicians can contact you as well.
“We’ve said this before and we’ll keep on saying it, but being able to put family friendly shows on really does mean so much to us as a group and to be able to do this in an intimate space, to an audience of people who are a small community for each other; whether they be family, friends, neighbours or friends of friends, really just puts the cherry on top for us.” – Beth from Little Stevies.
