The Stardome has a very interesting history, and has come a long way to become what it is now: a distinguished, first-class entertainment venue that offers excellent customer service (not to mention great food, drinks, and world-renowned comedians.) Bruce Ayers has also come a long way, from being a salesman of everything from insurance to L’Oreal Cosmetics, to being named Birmingham’s Small Business Man of the Year.

It all started in 1983, when The Comedy Club first opened its doors, and the likes of Tim Allen, Sinbad, and James Gregory (unknowns at the time) first appeared on stage. The city of Birmingham appreciated the humor and embraced The Comedy Club as a favorite venue where they could enjoy a few laughs when life got difficult. Throughout the next 20 years, the Club dealt with moves, blizzards, and eventually a fire that would destroy the entire building. Bruce Ayers did not give up. With the support of the community that came to love the venue, he rebuilt The Comedy Club to include double the original capacity, banquet facilities, and a Las Vegas style showroom.

I think the secret to the Club’s success is Bruce’s desire to create a venue that, as he put it, “could stand the test of time and also evolve with the times.” He said that, most importantly, this includes the technology that serves as the backbone of the venue -the computers, software, and online presence– that is so invaluable to a company’s success. This is where TicketBiscuit came in. Through a fateful family connection, Bruce got in touch with Jeff Gale, the CEO of TicketBiscuit, and the two talked about how cool it would be to form a relationship and, also, to help The Comedy Club form an online presence. In the past, Bruce had to struggle with searching, recording, and keeping up with ticket reservations. TicketBiscuit provided the answer.

After trying the software and TicketBiscuit’s now-proven system, Bruce noticed how solid the entire program is. He loved the brilliance of the process, the ease of selling and keeping track of tickets, and the incredible support that ‘Biscuit employees provides. He went on to praise not only the brainpower of the staff members, but also their ability to stay on the edge of the technology of the times (which, in turn, helps him and his business keep up with such important trends as viral marketing.) Overall, he said that the thing he likes most about TicketBiscuit is that it’s rock solid, and that both the client and the company have the same motivation and the same end goal: to sell tickets and provide excellent customer service. For these reasons and more, a couple of years ago, Bruce decided to help TicketBiscuit with testimonies about the company and how it has helped Stardome grow and succeed further. This mutual, symbiotic relationship is a testament to the hard work, skill, and overall dedication that both the ‘Biscuit and The Stardome continue to strive for.

The Comedy Club Stardome has undergone many changes in its 28-year history. But one thing that has not changed is the welcoming atmosphere one feels when walking inside the venue. The Stardome has always been family owned and operated, and prides itself on its relationships with not only customers, but also employees.

So if you are in the mood for a few laughs, a good dinner, and a welcome from a truly hard-working family, do not hesitate to catch one of the many fantastic shows at the Stardome.

Just a few of the names that will be coming to The Comedy Club this summer:

• Roy Wood Jr. (June 15-20) – a great, energetic comedian featured on Last Comic Standing
• Henry Cho (June 24-26) – the famous “Asian with a Southern accent” serving up a great hour of laughs
• Rodney Carrington (July 6-11) – Rodney combines hilarious standup comedy teamed up with original parody songs for one side splitting show
• Jennifer Coolidge (July 16-18) –known for her supporting roles in many comedy movies and guest spots on television. She is best known for playing “Stifler’s mom,” the consummate “MILF,” in the American Pie films
• Lisa Lampanelli (August 13-15) – a truly talented comedian-ess heralded by Jim Carrey to be “more than a standup – a standout”

Andy Velo rocks the stage at Doc McGee's Grand Opening, April 22.

Stephanie Green Williams, booking agent for the club, states “We’re all about nurturing the local music scene, and a big part of that is making it accessible. Doc McGee’s will be that place where you can see a great show in a world-class venue but it won’t break your bank. We’ve got drink specials, affordable valet parking, and best of all, affordable tickets. We chose TicketBiscuit instead of Ticketmaster as our online ticketing provider so we can keep convenience fees as low as possible.”

Doc McGee’s owner Amber Ashe says that the venue was designed “to be a musician’s mecca. Everything- from the sound system to video recording capability to the size of the stage and lighting – has been built to allow musicians to deliver awesome live performances.” She adds, “Concert goers will be able to experience the difference.”

Doc McGee’s is a welcome addition to the live entertainment scene in Georgia.  We’re proud to partner with them and help them keep live music affordable and accessible for their fans.

Doc McGee’s joins close to 50 other notable Georgia venues such as The Georgia Theatre, The Classic Center, The Melting Point, The Rialto Room at Hotel Indigo, and The King Plow Arts Center in choosing TicketBiscuit to power their ticketing needs. If you are a venue owner or promoter in Georgia, give us a call or email about ticketing for your venue.

Doc McGee’s Venue Facts:

• Stage size: 40’ x 25’
• 64 channel recording capability
• HD Video capability

Address: 14 Carl-Cedar Hill Rd,  Winder, GA 30680

Website: www.docmcgees.com

Social Media: Facebook, MySpace

Phone: (678) 900-1064

About TicketBiscuit: TicketBiscuit, founded in 2001, provides proprietary software that powers the online ticket sales of over 400 clients in 1300 venues nationwide. TicketBiscuit’s complete suite of services and solutions empowers their clients to sell tickets online through the client’s own website, via call center, or via the TicketBiscuit web-based box office interface.

Doc McGee's, powered by TicketBiscuit.

First, Widespread Panic played a set at the BottleTree Café on Wednesday around 2 PM to a group of about 70 folks. The news “broke” on panicstream.com and verified by the BottleTree on their Facebook page.

Second, The Black Keys played a show to about 300 fans last night at Rogue Tavern. The Birmingham News reports that Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney played a 15 song set for about an hour, and of course, rocked as always.

The two acts were in town for the annual Coalition of Independent Music Stores Conference. Did you catch either show? What’s the coolest intimate gig you’ve ever seen?

The Black Keys perform at Rogue Tavern in Birmingham, Ala. on April 29, 2010. Photo Courtesy al.com.

Sell Tickets Online with TicketBiscuit!

Please visit http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/view/3336?return=/ideas/index/music/q:ticketbiscuit and give us the “thumbs up”. You may have to create an account first, but trust me, it’s worth it.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123604492886515417.html

Wow. Spirit must have some Ticketmaster folks on its board.

This is effing hilarious, and a good example of why the air travel industry is in such dire straits. I assume that Spirit Airlines either has paid up front costs for their reservation system or pays an annual licensing fee, but I doubt the cost ties directly to usage volume. I further suppose that the costs incurred by having ticket counter agents and space at airports exceeds the costs of the online reservation system.

So the airline is, in effect, penalizing consumers for utilizing a more efficient means of transaction. WTF? I can follow (but not necessarily agree with) the thinking behind charging fees for checked baggage or in flight refreshments. These things drive up costs. But not online booking.

What if other industries followed suit? Fees for online banking? For booking hotels online? For using the drive thru at restaurants? For pumping your own gas?

The parallels to live entertainment are obvious. I have often wondered why so few promoters and venues choose to flip the common fee arrangement on its head. That is, charge fees for a box office (ticket counter) sale but offer incentives (no fees) to purchase online. We have a couple of clients who do business this way, and their online sales represent over 90% of their total ticket sales. Self Service is more efficient.
If customers and computers are doing the work, it frees up your resources to grow the business. Our system is one of the few ticketing systems out there with the flexibility to allow venues and promoters to set the fee structure that their customers see (completely independent of the per ticket fees we charge for providing ticketing services). In essence, it empowers businesses to encourage the self service option.

It’s time for more businesses to embrace a shifting paradigm. Encourage the efficient transaction and grow your business the right way, instead of taking the easy route and squeezing your customers who self serve.

Oh, and Spirit, if you guys want to REALLY grow revenues, you should try an online check-in fee, a boarding fee, or even a “seat bottom cushion flotation device” fee.

Geez.

Sequoia Slentz is an independent promoter that does events all over the country through his company CleanBox Entertainment. He is the booking agent for the “Killer’s of Comedy” which features comedians from the Howard Stern show.  Sequoia also books all of the West Coast Shows for “The Fab Faux,” a Beatles tribute band featuring Will Lee from David Letterman’s show and Jimmy Vivino from Conan O’Brien’s. 

I caught up with Sequoia the first time on January 20th, four days before the scheduled Fab Faux show at the Orpheum in Los Angeles. “At this point last year, I had sold this show out- 1400 tickets – without spending a dime on advertising,” he told me, continuing, “this year, I’ve done it all – radio, mailers, you name it, but to no effect.” Four days left until show time, and Sequoia had almost half of the house left to sell.

This tale is all too common lately- promoters struggle to sell tickets in the face of an economy that has forced people to eliminate line items from their budgets. Line items that are typically seen as discretionary, such as concert tickets, are often the first things to go.

The next time I talked to Sequoia was last Thursday, January 29. The Fab Faux show did not sell out, but he did move enough tickets to make money. I asked him to share his secrets for success.

Negotiate, Negotiate, Negotiate!

The thing about the economy is that it impacts almost everyone, and that includes venues, radio stations, hotels, and many other businesses. This opens up incredible opportunities. “The idea is to spread the deficit around. Radio stations need to sell ads. Hotels need to fill rooms. Venues need shows. We all need each other, we gotta help each other out,” Sequoia states. He advises to negotiate with the venues for discounted rates, and with radio stations for discounted air time or ticket giveaways. “Radio stations have an incredible amount of inventory, and they’re willing to deal to sell them all.”

Working with Hotels was effective for Sequoia as well. As part of his effort to increase sales, Sequoia struck a deal with the Kyoto Grand Hotel to offer discounted tickets to hotel visitors. After the deal was sealed, he was approached by four other hotels wanting to ink similar partnerships. “If these guys have empty rooms, they’re losing money – so again, you can help each other out.” He says to also negotiate for inclusion in email blasts sent from the hotel, venue, or radio stations to their respective customer or fan lists. “It’s free and easy – most of the time they will be glad to.”

Being creative also helps. For this last show, Sequoia approached a Professor of the Music Institute and convinced the professor to give his class extra credit for attending the show and writing a paper on it.

Use the Tech Tools

Sequoia uses email marketing religiously. “I’ll use it to communicate with my lists, and I used promo codes to give folks the opportunity to buy tickets at a discount price.” While promo codes are a very effective way of generating sales and tracking marketing effectiveness, Sequoia cautions against the “double pitch.” “If I send an email out on the on-sale date, and someone buys a ticket at full price, then I send that person another email closer to the date announcing half price tickets, one of two things will happen. Either they will become trained to wait for the discount, or worse, they will get mad and not buy any more tickets at all. Both are bad, obviously.”

He says the way to avoid the double pitch is through careful customer management or third party surplus ticket sellers. “I used a surplus seller for this show and it ended up putting an additional $3k in my pocket at the very last minute. I was very happy with it.” Surplus sellers have opt-in databases of people who agree to be notified when discount tickets become available, so the dangers of discounting are mitigated.

Pay attention to the details

“The littlest mistakes can kill your operation. In 2008, I put the tickets for the Fab Faux show on sale in early October, and the show sold out without me spending a dime in advertising. This year, I put them on sale a month later- in November.” While this may sound harmless to the lay person, Sequoia says it was probably a key factor in the slow sales. “Sure, all of the bad economic news was weighing on people’s minds, but also, in November people are thinking about Thanksgiving, and Christmas, and travel, and mentally budgeting. The entire frame of mind changes.” He advises that promoters pay close attention to on-sale dates and times, and the trends of how the tickets move. “I’ve already put the tickets for the October 2009 Show on sale,” he added.

Stick it out

Business will continue to be tough for promoters, with recent estimates saying that the economic recession will last well into 2010. But while the business is admittedly tougher, Sequoia says it’s actually good for his operation. “We’re learning a lot and having to become better and more creative. Not all promoters will come out of this, but if you can stick it out, you will be positioned securely.”

Visit CleanBox Entertainment on the Web

CleanBox News Blog

What does this mean? Promoters raised prices. Now, how much of the 3% decline in ticket volume is related to the economy versus the almost 8% rise in price is related to the economy is anyone’s guess, but I think this picture could get a lot bleaker if the industry doesn’t come to Jesus. Quick. And I’m not talking about incorrect ticket pricing (this time), although I do still believe the industry is stuck in the dark ages on that front too.

It’s about embracing technology. Tech enables you to do things faster, cheaper, and better, but the concert and live entertainment industry has been slow to really embrace what tech can do for them. Trust me. Some folks are just anti-change (some of our clients are this way).

I read today that the Seattle Theater Group is dumping Ticketmaster in favor of one of our competitors, Tickets.com (too bad, STG – allllllmost a win). The most telling quote in the development is from STG Executive Director Josh Labelle:

“We look at Tickets.com as a technology company, less so as a ticketing company.”

YES, YES! Ticketing is just the beginning. Technology is the evolution. Venues, Promoters, and Artists have to start asking about how the technology in their partnerships (especially ticketing providers) is helping them reach more fans and sell more tickets. We’ve been innovating in this space for years and have tons of tools for integrating into the leading social media networks. I’m not sure how much more simplistic it can be: entertainers generate fans; ticketing companies should be able to connect to those fans, and help those fans reach and connect to each other.

I spoke with a young lady in the promotions business a couple of months ago who was using TicketWeb / Ticketmaster for their ticketing operations because of their “marketing” features. I showed her on paper how she was literally costing her company over a million dollars a year, ticketing fees that her customers are currently paying to TicketWeb that her company could keep if they went with an alternative provider.

What could you do with $1 million additional advertising? To cap it all off, with just a little effort, this marketing moron could have created her own online community around her act and had a marketing machine that was several times more efficient and long lasting (their show is targeted at kids, and several studies show that moms in general are very active online). FAIL.

Until the concert (and live entertainment) industry embraces the technology to improve their operations, they will have to continue to raise prices in order to deliver growth. And eventually (read: THIS YEAR) the customers will have enough and they will collectively say, “No, thanks.”