Shannon Wiles of Le Poisson Rouge: new In The Trenches series
Shannon Wiles of Le Poisson Rouge wakes up every morning thinking about how to sell more tickets to the eclectic shows at this legendary New York City club.
As the Los Angeles Times declared, “the place isn’t merely cool, as the New York Times has dubbed it, the venue is a downright musical marvel.”
Hypebot’s new In The Trenches series, sponsored by venue, festival and promoter marketing solution Bandsintown PRO, will feature the unsung heroes who make live music happen. Each will share their journey, unique venues, and the strategies they use to promote successful shows.
In The Trenches with Shannon Wiles of Le Poisson Rouge
Please introduce yourself including your current gig and the path that led you to it.
I’m Shannon Wiles, Marketing Director at Le Poisson Rouge (LPR) in NYC since 2020 and Co-Owner/Talent Buyer of Brick by Brick in San Diego since 2014. After a few years in digital marketing, the opportunity to buy Brick came up. My business partner and I originally saw it as an investment—something that’s hilarious in hindsight. Following some early hiring misfires, I stepped in and took over booking in late 2015.
Around the same time, I was leading marketing efforts for Psycho Las Vegas, which ultimately opened the door to my role at LPR. It started as a temporary gig during Covid (for LPR.tv), but I loved the team and the work so much that we made it permanent.
Tell us about your venue.
For the purpose of this convo, we’re talking about LPR, which is located in the heart of Greenwich Village in NYC. It’s a flexible space with a few different capacity configurations: 300 for seated shows, 600 for “In The Round” performances, and up to 700 for full standing events.
LPR is housed in the historic space that once held Art D’Lugoff’s Village Gate, so we try to carry that legacy forward with a wide-ranging, genre-spanning calendar curated by our Talent Buyer, Brett Tabisel. The programming is intentionally eclectic—past performers include everyone from Iggy Pop and Charli XCX to Action Bronson, Mulatu Astatke, Dan Reeder, Peter Murphy, and beyond.
What does your typical workday look like?
It’s a bit insane. I live in California but operate on both coasts, so my days start early. I use the 5 a.m. hour to catch up on anything left over from the day before, and by 6, I’m reviewing sales and ad performance across all active campaigns. I’m constantly analyzing and optimizing spends—tightening audiences, creatives, and copy on anything that’s underperforming or increasing budgets where needed.
Since I also build the ticket links for both venues, announcement and on sale times always require extra attention. In NYC, those typically go live at 7 and 9 a.m. (my time), so I’m always monitoring closely to make sure everything fires off properly. In San Diego, on sales usually go up at 10 a.m. and noon, and it’s the same drill: double-checking links, testing the purchase flow, and making sure there are no last-minute surprises.
In NYC, I work closely with our Marketing Coordinator and intern team throughout the day. When a show is underperforming, we focus on everything from strengthening email and outreach copy to analyzing audience data to uncovering new paid and organic promo opportunities. In San Diego, I manage most of this solo, which means wearing a lot of hats and switching gears constantly. The workflows differ between the two venues, but the goal is always the same: to build awareness, sell tickets, and make sure every show gets the attention it deserves.
Most nights I’m working late, so I try to carve out time on weekends for more focused, creative work.
What ‘go to’ tools, strategies and outlets do you use to market most shows?
Since LPR’s programming is so eclectic, there’s no one-size-fits-all strategy. We run Meta ads for almost every show, with budgets of all sizes, and I build out most of our audiences using tools like Chartmetric and Spotify. Depending on the artist, we might also run Google or TikTok ads, place banners with the right publication, sponsor newsletters, or even buy radio spots. We use Bandsintown Pro to automate push and email fan alerts, and Hive for all email marketing.
Which new tools show the most promise?
It might be an unexpected answer for most music marketers, but our ticketing platform, KYD Labs, has become one of our most valuable marketing tools and the one I’m most excited to grow with. It gives us clear, real-time insight into which channels are actually driving ROI, helps us better understand fan behavior and preferences, and ultimately allows us to build stronger connections with our audience. That kind of visibility has completely changed the way we think about campaign strategy. Since adopting KYD’s tools, we’ve been able to double our return on ad spend and significantly improve overall efficiency.
What’s especially valuable is how the platform continues to evolve in response to real marketing needs—giving us more control, better data, and smarter ways to scale.
Name a show or campaign that you were involved in where you felt you had the most impact and why?
Working on the campaigns for Psycho Las Vegas was one of the most meaningful and wide-reaching projects I’ve been a part of. It spanned global digital strategy, national radio and TV spots, regional billboard campaigns, and LED displays across the Las Vegas Strip—all executed in close collaboration with my boyfriend, which allowed us to move quickly, adapt in real time, and stay fully dialed in from concept to execution.
What do you wish more artists and teams would do differently that would make your job easier and help sell more tickets?
I wish more artists and teams shared assets and granted ad access early on. Having everything upfront helps us hit the ground running with ads, social content, and press outreach.
Bruce Houghton
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In The Trenches with Shannon Wiles of Le Poisson Rouge first appeared on Hypebot.com.
