Alter Ego Productions

Lower your costs. Increase your hipness. Who can argue w/ that?

We've been running our Alter Ego Series for about the last six years. It all started w/ the idea of supporting local music. This is the setup. Each show is themed - pop punk, metal, alt, etc. We do four bands per show, and charge $5 at the door. Each band gets 15% of door sales, but we also give the bands tickets to sell in advance. That's where they can really make some money. For those tickets, we tell them we need to get $2 back for every ticket they sell. So they can keep up to 60% or they can discount the tickets (to motivate fans to buy in advance). We use a ticket consignment form, and settle up w/ them before the show starts. This setup works for us because the bands do a large share of the promotion, and we can't lose money on the show.

Another important piece is the name/branding of the series. In the beginning, we created "Alter Ego Productions" to downplay the fact that this is a student group. We wanted to give the impression that we were an independent group who is renting out space at the college. Over the years, that has pretty much gone by the wayside, but we still don't put "Student Activities Program Board" on any of the promotion. Alter Ego Productions maintains the reputation for being a cool place to play or see a show within the local music scene.

Our audience numbers range from 50 to 150, which we consider a sellout for that room. These shows also create a following for the Alter Ego brand, and really help when we do our bigger concerts which typically sell out at 600 people.

Another perk, especially for community colleges like us, is that we do get some high schoolers at our shows which is a great way to get them on your campus and leave them with a "cool" image of the school.

Comments

[Sara Evans]

Chuck has a band ever defaulted on paying you back? I know they just won't play if they don't pay, but then that leaves you with a deep show.

Also, I know from experience that local bands have the local fans and that always draws the biggest crowds. I like the twist you do of calling it alter ego.

[Chuck Steele]

No, we've never had a band not pay us. We do occasionally go with only three bands though, but that's pretty rare and always decided ahead of time.

On the name, I have had students move on to other schools and start up the concert series on their new campus. One student used the name Second Skin Productions. I thought that was a nice variation.