Further Research into the Magazine Advert

As i would be advertising for a band tour rather than the release of the digipak (so that i could use and develop newer images rather than exploring new ways to advertise the same images as on the digipak) i thought i should do some extended research into venues and areas.

The Wild Wolves, currently, are playing in venues such as pubs around London, performing small and local tours. I thought that a south-east tour would be enough, as with the release of the digipak they'd have more publicity, and it's closer to home (so they'd be more well known from other local gigs). I decided on locations, then followed up with research into what venue in each location that would be appropriate for performances.

My locations are: Chelmsford, Colchester, Ipswich, Cambridge, Norwich, Peterborough, Northampton, Milton Keynes and London (including Watford/Dartford).


I researched various gig websites for the locations via Google, and found out what sort of artists had been playing at a few of the local venues, and what sort of prices they'd be selling for. Obviously, the more well known places and artists (such as our UEA LCR in Norwich) would be considerably more expensive with bigger and more famous artists, and i decided to not place these venues as a chosen one, as the tour would be advertising the rising success of the band, not "keeping up appearances" as it were.

Chelmsford
Here i found The Twist (a gig venue for up and coming or well established artists such as Enter Shikari or Bring Me The Horizon - completely the wrong genre for our band meaning it would be advertised to the wrong demographic, resulting in low ticket sales), St Anne's ("haunted" venue with camping and live music nights - this venue seemed to casual and promotional for our sort of tour) and High Barn (unique venue for live music and filming, promoting many different genres, seemingly the best bet for chelmsford especially with the "Indie" genre - unique) which is the chosen venue.

Colchester

Colchester websites showed me 2 main venues, the Sky Rooms and the Arts Centre. The Sky Rooms was home to a club with some live performances, which did not seem suitable with the Indie-folk genre of our band. The Arts Centre however was home to live music, theatre productions and poetry, an all-rounder with similar bands to The Wild Wolves performing, so i chose this as Venue 2.

Ipswich

Ipswich was home to The Regent, Cherry Tree Inn and the Riverlodge. The Regent had performing artists such as Tinchy Stryder and Peter Andre, a common theme of Pop (with some rock), which was definately not the right scene for the band I would be promoting with the advert. The Cherry Tree Inn was home to live music, however these acts were local and "background entertainment" which wasn't the right promotion for the band. Riverlodge was a live music venue for up and coming artists, with live music every weekend/weekday and an open mic night on a Tuesday. This seemed much more suitable for the band for a weekend (or weekday) so this is Venue 3.

Cambridge

The corner house, The Red House and The Rock appeared here. The Red house was home to piano and jazz music, and The Rock was so named due to its rock performances, both of which were unsuitable for our genre. The Corner House however was home to electric acoustic music, and "sweet" Indie-folk music, which is exactly the venue genre we were looking for, hence my decision for Venue 4.


Norwich

Norwich has 3 main gig venues, UEA LCR, Waterfront and the B2. The UEA as mentioned above usually holds bands that are already very famous, which is unsuitable for the promotion of our band. The B2 is home to extremely small bands trying to make it, within the rock or screamo genre, which is the wrong grounds for The Wild Wolves. The Waterfront however, is a local venue for local small bands, or mildly famous bands (mainly for the Indie genre) which seemed much more appropriate for the genre and the price.


Peterborough

A choice between Met Lounge (Larger Indie bands from NME tours), The Dragon (live music weekends for all genres) and Blackfriars arts centre (Indie/Rock genre) led me to chooce the Brackfriars Arts Centre as this would be for smaller bands (but not too small) and the venue would appriciate the right genre of our band.


Northampton

Out of The Roadmender, a venue for larger Indie bands, Club Revolution, a club venue for dance music, or famous DJ's and Sunnyside Northampton, a venue who like Indie and catchy music but don't like heavy metal, the latter here seemed to fit the best with our genre (especially as we think our song is extremely catchy).


Milton Keynes
The Albion Arms is a pub venue which promotes new acts - this seemed quite good for The Wild Wolves for the promotion tour, however i didn't feel the pub venue would fit in with the tour. The Spice Lounge venue is a club, playing live music on weekends, however the genre of these live acts are usually Pop or Dance. The Stables venue was similar to The Albion Arms as a music venue, however it's not a pub but a separate venue specialising in gigs, making it a better choice as a venue.

Watford
Watford was home to Loudwater Farm (which held dancing shows), The Horns (where an R.E.M cover band were performing who had appeared in BBC's 'The One Show' - again, the wrong genre and image for our band) and The Drawing Room (who specified a dislike for cover bands and described themselves as an intimate live music venue with an outside space for 200 people - which seemed to fit the style of The Wild Wolves Indie-Folk genre, and the fact that it will be a summer tour - so the space outside could be used).


Reading
Plug N Play Studios was unsuitable due to its obvious genre (and the genre of the bands playing - Hip Hop/R'n'B) and Mango followed the same pattern. The Rising Sun Arts Centre however seemed to be the most suitable venue for the band.