Nightclub Promoting

[Jotaru]

Hey-

First off, I'm not here to rant and rave about the hottest new club and try to attract you all in to make some money, so feel free to continue reading. I was actually looking to see if anyone here does promotion gigs for local / city clubs / other nightlife entertainment, and if so, if you could tell me a bit about it.

I found out a few friends of mine are into promoting, and since I like to hit up the clubs on the weekend and the social circle that comes with it, I've considered applying to a few places to be a promoter, just wondering if someone's able to fill me in on some of the details of how it works, how pay works, etc etc... I understand every place will be different, but just some general information would be nice.

That being said, if you live around the Chicago area, and you're hit up the nightclubs, send me a PM, would love to talk to you about a few things (namely what clubs you hit up, what you like/don't like, etc) just to get an idea- I recently moved from CT so the club scene is obviously a bit different, so trying to get acquainted myself- even if I don't end up doing gigs, it'd be nice to have a broad spectrum of places to try out for myself and friends.

Thanks!

[Elesirdur]

I'm going on info from some old co-workers of mine who worked in bars and clubs as either cooks or waitresses. Also keep in mind that in my city of about 350,00 people (metro population) there are only about 6 nightclubs and a few other bars that double as nightclubs - and for the most part they're pretty low key generic affairs.

The kind of "promotion" that goes on in Victoria usually involves reps from the bars or clubs going around to restaurants, retailers, and generally any place where young people with disposable income will spend their working time. They hand out vouchers for free entry or drinks or something. This task is usually done by more senior wait staff or the bouncers during the day and early evening before the club opens. I never heard details about pay, but I would assume it's their standard hourly wage or a portion thereof - maybe even doing "promoting" work in lieu of evening shifts to take some time off.

The other type of "promoting" I see is the advertising side where people go around and tack up flyers for concerts or DJs on telephone poles. There's a company or two that specializes in that in my city and they get contracted out to do those jobs.

If they kind of promoting you're talking about involves getting acts into clubs and dealing with talent agencies, then I don't have any clue with that. My guess is that industry is a very closed social network where people get jobs purely on connections and personal knowledge, not necessarily on experience in other fields and other competencies and skills looked for in other vocations.

[Jotaru]

Well, from the sounds of things, it seems like its more of 'get as many people to go to X club on Y night'- in talking a bit to my friend (I haven't had a chance to talk to her yet more in-depth, just her telling me a bit about it when inviting me out places) it seems like she doesn't really 'work' as per a regular jobs, its almost like she gets paid for referrals - she'll send out a text to all her friends 'hey, go to X club and say Thisisthepassword for free entry and cheap drinks' or something, and I imagine that's how they track her 'performance', perhaps paid per head, or something.

I hear it IS kinda a social networking thing, but, it doesn't seem to be closed off- my coworker said they met a lot of people very quickly (bar / club owners / operators, 'important' people, more contacts, etc) and that it was nice and open. That being said, yeah, every city will be different. In just a few weeks I've noticed the differences in, say, NYC and Chicago clubs.

[Jicent]

CT eh did you promote in the new haven area?

[Jotaru]

I lived in New Haven, but didn't promote I partied most of the time in Stamford, but New Haven's scene is much much better- just that all my friends lived in Stamford and couldn't be assed to drive up