Working With the Venue

Being a musician is often akin to entrepreneurship. We work with the venues. Not for them.

This week Perth Open Mic was faced with a unique situation. With the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, Perth had a one off, surprise public holiday. Thursday is the public holiday and Friday everyone’s supposed to come back to work for one day before the weekend. It’s well understood in WA that no one is going to work on Friday.

One of our current venues is 100% patronised by the workers from the light industrial area surrounding the pub. There was not going to be a soul at there on Friday. So in the interests of the right thing to do, we cancelled open mic. The great part about it, is that the venue management are fantastic and they just didn’t want to feel bad for the poor souls who were going to play live music to an empty room.

I know some in the music community could perceive this as a contentious issue and raise the question of a cancellation fee. This is one of those situations wherein that’s too far. Perth Open Mic is looking for a long, mutually beneficial relationship with this venue. Looking after the venue is as much a responsibility of the musician as it is vice versa. We work together for mutual benefit. It’s a privilege to work with a team who are thoughtful enough to consider the performers in high regard. So, be confident in music business, but don’t take on opinions which are unnecessarily headstrong.

Just a tip.