Wild Honey Pie’s Blueprint for Intimate Live Music That Connects
Eric Weiner, founder of The Wild Honey Pie shares how intimate live music connects artists and fans. From the role of nontraditional venues to sustainability and why smaller shows may be the future of live music.
Wild Honey Pie’s Blueprint for Intimate Live Music That Connects
Why smaller shows may be the future of live music
from Shadrach via LinkedIn
Eric Weiner, Founder of The Wild Honey Pie, has built a career championing intimate, intentional music moments. In this conversation, he shares unfiltered thoughts on why smaller shows matter more than ever, how brands and artists can do better, and what the industry is getting wrong about connection, scale, and sustainability.
***Disclaimer from Eric: “These thoughts are all my own and were not written with the help of AI. Gotta be clear about that kind of thing these days.”
Why do you think intimate live music experiences resonate so deeply with audiences right now?
I think people are generally pretty lonely and craving meaningful friendships and community these days. We live in our phones so much that it feels alien to some people to set out from that. Plus, right at a time when the economy is getting hit and generally speaking people have less spending power, we’re being overcharged for festivals and oversold concerts that don’t make people feel special. Drinks options – especially non-alcoholic – are limited, artists often times hundreds of feet away, and despite being surrounded by hundreds or thousands of other fans, there’s a lack of genuine community being harnessed at these events. There’s nothing better than falling in love or making new best friends and concerts should be such a great place for this to happen. But somehow, this happens way less than it should.
And then we’re seeing the music industry’s disregard for sustainable practices that make any publicized environmental efforts feel like greenwashing. The amount of single-use plastic at concerts, seeing plastic water bottles on stage – this offends me so much. Don’t even get me started on the cruise festivals we’re seeing. It hurts my heart to see artists championing such a dirty industry. There is no less sustainable platform for music than a cruise.
What role do smaller, nontraditional venues, like rooftops, gardens, or community spaces play in shaping a meaningful live music experience?
These kinds of spaces allow the concert experience to expand beyond a transaction. They allow for artists and fans to come together and get to know what inspires one another. The space between artist and fan – while sometimes necessary – has expanded over time far beyond what is best for community-building and really building super fandom. Creating unforgettable moments and core memories for fans and artists that are more often achievable in non traditional settings. This is why The Wild Honey Pie produces our events in spaces like restaurants, resorts, parks, and beyond. We’re told by our guests over and over that these unorthodox spaces are a better setting for bringing people together with the purpose of connection.
How do these types of events differ in energy and intention from large-scale concerts or festivals?
Don’t get me wrong, I love a great concert venue and festival. I just feel like too often times when you’re trying to think about taking care of thousands of fans at once, you take care of no one. With non-traditional spaces, like restaurants and resorts, we’re providing the best possible accommodations and hospitality. Events where everyone gets the VIP treatment without having to pay a VIP price. With our Dinner Parties, treating 60 fans to a 5 course meal, drinks, and performance with their favorite artist. Or with The WIld Honey Pie Pizza Parties, creating a sleepover party vibe for 200 fans and our favorite artists – narrowing the gap between artist and fan. Creating a setting to hopefully change people’s lives in a small way. The world is freakin’ bleak right now – we’re trying to create euphoric energy. Really focusing on the fan-artist relationship allows us to find real solutions for transforming causal listeners on TikTok and Spotify to forever fans.
In what ways can intimate shows better support up-and-coming artists?
Emerging artists should be playing all types of shows. From your standard concerts to industry showcases at their record label offices. But don’t forget about building your base of superfans one person at a time and finding opportunities that allow you to create great video content, live recordings, and capture fan data all in one motion. More intimate shows like living room shows, underplays, and album signings are all such a great use of time for emerging – and established – artists looking to own the relationship and communication channels with their biggest fans. There’s a magic to intimate shows that really builds not just a fandom, but a friendship between artist and fan that’s more valuable today than ever.
Is sustainability something you think about when curating these experiences? If so, how does it show up in your work?
Sustainability and regeneration efforts are at the core of our business model at The Wild Honey Pie. For years, we’ve been composting, recycling, and eliminated single-use plastic at our parties. We prioritize our vegan options and often times hear from fans that the best things on the menu are our plant-based options, which are proven to have a smaller carbon footprint. And this year, we trying to donate 100% of our ticket sales to environmental charities like Brian Eno’s EarthPercent and Kiss the Ground. I’d like to think I’m working with artists, managers, and agents who care about the impact of what we’re all doing and prioritizing experiences that are leading the industry towards the future. We have the opportunity to create sustainable spaces, events and programming instead of the high level of waste that our industry tends to create. I would love for us to all lead the world in what can be done to save all we can.
What do you think the industry is missing by focusing so heavily on scale and spectacle?
Scale can come from all different places. It doesn’t just have to be the number of people in the room, but the number of fans who are exposed to the performance. Artists like King Gizzard and so many jam bands have it so right – fans want alternate version of their favorite songs. Releasing live versions en masse is such a great way to reward your biggest fans. You can paygate this content on your Patreon or release it all on Spotify, Apple, etc. but I’m of the belief that we’re in a post-album world. Most people care about songs and if you’re able to keeping taking swings at releasing that one song – or version of that song – that might hit on TikTok, YouTube, Reels, or even Reddit, there’s literally no downside I can think of to scaling a tour with audio and video recordings.
I respect an artist who is going to play a smaller venue 4-5 nights instead of the largest venue they can possibly maybe fill – it’s what’s best for the fans anyway. And there’s less risk of an undersold show if you announce each additional night once the one before sells out. Seems like good business to me.
Have you witnessed any moments or stories at your events that capture the emotional power of these shows?
Too many to count. One of my favorite in recent memory is when we planned a nature hike for fans before our Hellogoodbye Pizza Party at Hotel Lilen. At the end of the hike we had a guitar waiting for Forrest from the band and he performed 2 songs unplugged for some of his biggest fans overlooking the Catskill Mountains. If that’s not a core memory I don’t know what is. Fans were tearing up, looking around in disbelief as the artist performed songs we all grew up to.
I also so vividly remember at our summer camp weekend, Welcome Campers, Ashe was performing for 200 fans in a rec room at Camp Lenox while a huge thunder storm raged outside. You could hear the rain pouring, beating on the roof while she sang tracks from her debut album which had just come out. She asked all our campers to sit on the floor and proceeded to literally blow our minds with a rendition of “Moral of the Story”. People were crying, including me.
What’s one thing you believe about live music that might go against industry norms or trends?
Good question! Sometimes more isn’t always better as we’ve been alluding to this entire conversation. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should, when it comes to playing the largest venues possible. Fans are losing though when they’re having to watch you on the jumbotron after paying big bucks to go to your massive tour. I don’t think that’s the answer. We all want to feel connected and special and that’s going to happen for more people when we rethink the concert format as an experience that helps your fans connect intimately with each other – and you. Playing in the round, playing smaller rooms, non-traditional venues, and rethinking the concert experience as a something fans want to show up for at doors because there’s more to do than drink and get a good seat for a concert that’s starting in 2 hours – these are all ideas that should be explored.
If you could design your dream show, any artist, any location, what would it look like?
We’ve been dreaming since 2020 about the return of our summer camp weekend and video series, Welcome Campers. It’s campy and cute, 450 fans sharing a weekend with new friends and artists they care about deeply. We’ve done this in the past at Camp Lenox in the Berkshires so whenever we do it again, we’d love to return to this camp we all love so much. Friendship bracelets, arts & crafts, swimming, kickball, and a camp dance with some of my favorite bands sounds pretty amazing to me. My dream would be to have Death Cab for Cutie, The Shins, Lizzie McAlpine, and my new obsession Jelani Aryeh as the artists. Less artists, more sets from each. So imagining Ben Gibbard doing a solo set around the campfire performing all of the album Plans. And the album Narrow Stairs under the stars on the baseball diamond followed by a fireworks show. Having an arts & crafts afternoon making a tie die stage backdrop for one of Lizzie’s sets near the waterfront where everyone gets a friendship bracelet. Cute overload please. Yea, that’s my dream show, done my way.
More Info on The Wild Honey Pie’s intimate live music events
SHADRACH 1:1 is a conversation series featuring top voices from across the music ecosystem including artists, execs, curators, creatives, sharing real insights from inside the culture. Powered by Shadrach, a music strategy and brand advisory, these interviews spotlight the people shaping what’s next in music and why it matters for brands.
