For bands to survive the economy, they have to do it Sinners-style
While interviewing (via google talk) Sin City Sinners manager Jason Green a few weeks ago, I was blown away by the large role social media plays in the band’s success. I found it so interesting, I wanted to expand on my earlier post. If you live in Las Vegas or even visit for an extended period of time, you are at least somewhat familiar with the Sin City Sinners. In 2009, they were picked as runner-up in Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Best of Las Vegas local rock band category, just behind The Killers. They participate in every charity event that their schedule permits (they’ve even auctioned off dates with themselves to feed the homeless). The Sinners have also appeared on every local morning radio and television show possible and have presented the weather forecast during nightlife program 702 Scene. It is true that the band is advertised in weekly and monthly paper publications such as Las Vegas Weekly and Vegas Rocks! Magazine. The Sinners’ faces could even be seen a few months this year on a billboard while driving along the I-95 expressway.
However, according to Jason Green, each of the four band members — vocalist and guitarist Todd Kerns, guitarist Brent Muscat (of Faster Pussycat fame), drummer Rob Cournoyer and bassist Mike Ellis — felt that though they sampled many advertising vehicles in traditional media, “they weren’t personal enough. You see, the Sinners just started out jamming at Dive Bar one day. The next week they were asked to come back so they just told all of their buddies on MySpace to come out and support. They did and the band realized how powerful social media stuff really is.”
With a new album on its way, I spoke to frontman Todd Kerns about how his band is using social media to promote album sales and themselves. You can check out the interview on YouTube by clicking the link below.
Now, the Sinners play four solid gigs a week, and each band member posts their own bulletins and personally invites people they’re networked with to come out and rock. They like to do so, but they must also do so to keep attendance up. This is probably going to be a model others will follow. As bands and live entertainment continually get cut from casino and bar budgets in Las Vegas due to a depressed economy, entertainers must learn to make themselves more valuable than ever before. Talent doesn’t cut it anymore. Talent doesn’t necessarily draw people. Or bar sales. A belief that a venue in which a band is contracted with should bear the costs and weight of all advertising and promotion is flawed. Once the contract is up without history of good attendance, the band just becomes dead weight and will bear the costs of not working.
When asked for an example of how a local band can stay afloat, Green offered, “Some nights, when we know it’s going to be slow, we buy hundreds of dollars in drink tickets to give to the people we bug all of the time. It’s kind of a thanks for not dropping us as friends on Facebook even though we may over-promote ourselves,” said Green.
