I threw two free music club events this month- here's what happened

who showed up, and what I learned

I keep talking about the future of music events being further away from the typical club night we’re used to. In the past month I threw two events (on back to back days) we had over 1400 RSVP’s for these events, and we did them outside of a club. We barely posted these on social, using the word of mouth of the music club to carry us. We had our first Afroriddim playlist party with special guest Nitefreak, and our first AM.RADIO coffee shop party for the music club.

What’s the music club? I’ve been building a community of music fans that get a weekly new release playlist every Friday to their phone, and ways to get invited to fun music events we host.

PRIVATE (ISH) EVENTS: Why am I so passionate about this?

Well let’s take three circumstances (and see which one is out):

1. A Night out at Hollywood’s “newest club”: A new night club in Hollywood called “Keys” is all tables, no dance floor. It costs $80 for a cover and the drinks are $35. The chainsmokers are playing at least, but you feel like it’s 2016 still. Everyone is on their phone, It feels… stiff

2. Afrorridim playlist party: 750 RSVP’s: A free day party next to the Santa Monica Pier your friends tell you about because they’re in a private music club that throws parties for music club members and their friends with a few artists you’ve had saved on your playlist for the last year. Nitefreak is the surprise guest and one of the coolest names in afrohouse, he plays a three hour set, 300 people are there vibing and feeling like things like this are “why they moved to LA”.

2. AM.RADIO: 650 RSVP’s: You walk up to a coffee shop and see an artist you’ve been dying to see for years playing a set with 300 people hanging out, vibing, laughing, hugging, and drinking flat white’s. It’s a slightly overcast day, you’re in sweatpants and a hoodie, and you feel like this is exactly how a Saturday morning should feel in Venice.

   

It’s obvious which one is out. The goal of the music club is to provide true music fans a way to enjoy music and feel excited about events. We want people to TALK about these events, and we want people who see them on social to ask “how did I not hear about this?”.

What I learned

Free events are always tough to convert RSVP’s into attendees.

For each event, about half of the people who RSVP’d showed up. Thats normal, and if you don’t pay for it it’s easy to just say “ahh I’m tired” or if other plans come up you can easily say yes since you didn’t pay anything. So always double the capacity to RSVP’s, and don’t trade the celebration of a sold out event for turning away people who would actually pull up

People love coffee

The coffee shop had a record day, and people were drinking their espresso. We went through 100 AM.RADIO branded iced coffee cups in 1.5 hours. That’s only for iced drinks. People were loving being able to experience music (from artists that they love) without having to go out at night to do it. It was the most social event I’ve maybe ever been to and I LOVED it.

Length of events

For AM.RADIO we had a four hour event, but the next one will be three hours. At the end of Liquid Rose’s set, it was emptying out and we’d love the sets to all feel packed. By 2 pm people were on with their day so 1 pm end time will be happening at AM.R 002.

For the Afroriddim playlist party, it felt just right for an afrohouse event. Nitefreak played for an extra 45 minutes because he was having so much fun haha, but it was around 5 hours. Two openers - Sunnfors for one hour, No Relation for an hour, then Nitefreak for 3 hours (!)

Sponsors are crucial to free events

If you or anyone you know would like to sponsor our AM.RADIO’s, they can email info@putyouonmusicgroup.com, we’d most likely LOVE to have them.

Closing thoughts

Club culture is dying, the pop up bubble has burst, and I think privatized parties for music club members and their friends is the wave that I’m trying to be on. I write a post about why I think AM.RADIO is going to be massive (check it out here) and broke down the meaning of it all. AM.RADIO 002 is coming up October 26th and the lineup is AMAZING. We’re announcing the lineup this weekend, so follow AM.RADIO on IG to find out, and join the music club to get the invite.

-Steve