Restaurant Managers are Booking Live Acts
Restaurant Managers are Booking Live Acts
On McDougal Street in the West Village in New York, there are several cafes with a rich history of live music. In fact, it was in this part of New York that music legend such as Bob Dylan, Peter Paul and Mary, and many other ‘folkies’ blossomed in. Then there was the CBGB in east village, the house of punk music as we know it. Restaurants and café has long been god to the music culture as music has been to the restaurant’s business. In fact, New York is full of examples where certain genres of music have thrived in a particular restaurant or restaurants and eventually spilled onto the international arena.
Many musicians themselves have gone on to open restaurants and bars that offer great live music. For example, take the B.B King Bar and Grill in Time Square, stated by the blues legend B.B King himself. But while B.B King is off on tour most times of the year, the responsibility of the restaurant management for the place falls into the hands of people he trusts to do a good job.
Live music is a crucial part of restaurant cultures the world over. There are the violinists and accordion players in Europe, the mariachis of Mexico and all sorts of other musicians in other parts of the world. So for anyone in the field of restaurant management, live music often falls into the picture at one point or the other.
Music is a great ambience builder and the better the ambience the more comfortable the guests feel at the venue, making them want to stay there longer and come back more often. And the more that happens, the better it is for business. What kind of music is played at the venue often depends on what the target clientele base is, and then the choice of the musicians often falls into the hands of people in charge of the restaurant’s management.
An upscale restaurant might want to have a live smooth jazz band playing, where as a more artsy beatnik-inspired restaurant might want be-bop jazz and rambling folk music performed live. Sometimes, instead of choosing the kind of music to meet the clientele’s taste, restaurant management might decide that they are a “Blues club” so people who like that genre of music will come. So the music of the venue decides the clientele and not the other way around.
Booking live acts for people who have the responsibility of restaurant management these days isn’t so difficult thanks to the internet and an established network of musicians and agents. While upcoming groups might not have agents and be self represented, often most music groups have signed on to certain management and promoter group. So you would be dealing with them instead of directly with the artists. These days though many music groups have their own websites and sub-online presence in social network sites, mainly MySpace.com. So you can track them down that way too. Otherwise, the more conventional way would be to buy directories of artists and their managements or do the ‘word of mouth’ process. It would be a good idea to audition the band live at least once and then let them perform for the venue also, to see how the clients respond.