Open Dates & Days of Week

Sections in this article:
Video TutorialsHow do I get booked for a weekend?Should I wait for a weekend date to open up?What if I can only play weekends?

Video Tutorials

Understanding Your Shows Dashboard

How To Find “My Orders” and “Artist Payment”

How to Update Your Gig Preferences

How To Edit Your Time Slot Preferences

How To Find Your Online Ticket Link

How To Change Your Artist Name

How To Edit Your Online Ticketing Page

How To Add Performers To The Contract

How do I get booked for a weekend?

Any time we have weekend dates available, they always go to the artists who have already played our shows and drawn well on weekdays. So the best way to get booked for a weekend show is to play and draw well on another night of the week.

There are some important things to consider when deciding what days of the week you are ABLE to play. If you refuse to play certain days of the week, you probably are going to miss out on fun/good show opportunities.

We have found DAY OF WEEK does not matter nearly as much as some local artists “think” it does.

WHY ARE WEEKENDS NOT ALWAYS AVAILABLE?
Almost always, the weekends will go first to national/regional tours, then to regional/local bands with huge bar draws, then the bands the owner personally knows or has worked with for the past 5+ years, etc, etc. Many times clubs will need the bar to bring $2500+ on a weekend to meet their minimum monthly budget, so they intentionally refuse the “all ages local shows” and instead get in the bar bands they know have a huge draw of fans that love to drink.

So between that, and the fact there only 8 weekends per month, compared to the 22 weekDAYS in a month – it makes sense that weekends are just not an option sometimes (if ever), depending on the club or the city.

Should I wait for a weekend date to open up?

There are some important things to consider when deciding what days of the week you are ABLE to play. If you refuse to play certain days of the week, you probably are going to miss out on fun/good show opportunities.

We have found DAY OF WEEK does not matter nearly as much as some local artists “think” it does:
www.aftonfaq.com/daysofweek/

WHY ARE WEEKENDS NOT ALWAYS AVAILABLE?
Almost always, the weekends will go first to national/regional tours, then to regional/local bands with huge bar draws, then the bands the owner personally knows or has worked with for the past 5+ years, etc, etc. Many times clubs will need the bar to ring $2500+ on a weekend to meet their minimum monthly budget, so they intentionally refuse the “all ages local shows” and instead get in the bar bands they know have a huge draw of fans that love to drink..

So between that, and the fact there only 8 weekends per month, compared to the 22 WEEKDAYS in a month. So it makes sense that weekends are just not an option sometimes (if ever), depending on the club or the city.

What if I can only play weekends?

It is fine if you prefer weekends – but may not have any weekends open. We will always offer you the best days of week that are currently available. We are never hiding dates from you or my other artists, and we’re definitely not intentionally picking or choosing weekdays, IF weekends are open.

We get weekends sometimes (or regularly) in some cities and at some venues that we book. However, many larger cities and especially the bigger/nicer venues RARELY, if ever, have weekends open for local shows. It just depends.

However, if you play a weekday show, we can accommodate you and your fans by narrowing down an early (or later) time slot:

– We can get you onstage early (1st or 2nd), so you and your fans can get home at a reasonable time
– Or we can get you onstage later if you simply need more time for you and your fans to get there after work

FACTS TO CONSIDER:

– Attendance nationwide for our shows is only 13% lower on Weekdays vs. Weekends
(so that means a 200 person show on a weekend would have still had 170 if on a weekday instead)

– Most of our BIGGEST shows in company history happened on a weekday (Sunday or Thursday) night. Many artists I book end up drawing MORE fans the weekdays, then they do when I book them for weekends

– Fans make “weekend plans” weeks/months in advance. But for a weekday show you compete with no plans. Few fans have concrete plans on Sun/Thurs evening, or any other weekday evening. As long as they get to bed in time for work/school the next morning there are no problems.

Our office staff prefers to go to shows on weekdays, simply because it leaves our weekends open to do the other activities/commitments we have!

We have found local artists buy into this “hyped up” myth that “bands cannot ever draw well unless it’s a weekend,” which is sad because local acts then MISS OUT on good shows… It is absolutely absurd to think that “nobody leaves their house or does fun activities on weekdays.”

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*WHY ARE WEEKENDS NOT ALWAYS OPEN?
The weekends go first to national/regional tours, then to regional/local bands with huge bar draws, then to the bands the owner personally knows or has worked with for the past 5+ years, etc, etc. In some cities, and in some clubs, local acts almost never get weekend dates unless they have some personal connection with the club.

Many times clubs will need the bar to ring $2500+ (or some of our venues require a $5000 bar) on a weekend to meet their minimum monthly budget, so they intentionally refuse the “all ages local shows” and instead get in the bar bands they know have a huge draw of fans that love to drink.

So between that, and the fact there only 8 weekends per month, compared to the 22 weekday in a month – it makes sense that weekends are just not an option sometimes (if ever), depending on the club.

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