This interview with Drew Hart, talent buyer for Village Presents and its venues Cafe Wha?, Groove, and Greenwich Village's first new music venue in 20 years Bleecker Bell, is part of Hypebot’s In The Trenches series sponsored by venue, festival and promoter marketing solution Bandsintown PRO. The series features the unsung heroes who make live music happen.
"We’re always trying to learn from other venues and promoters to make our shows more special."
Hypebot: Hey Drew, please introduce yourself and what you do.
Drew: "I’m a musician and talent buyer/concert promoter living in Brooklyn. I book shows for Village Presents, which is the umbrella for the original music programming at Cafe Wha?, Groove, and our new venue Bleecker Bell, coming to Greenwich Village this September, along with putting on shows at other venues in town."
Alongside booking, I play bass with a handful of bands in NYC, which is a nice way to stay connected to the local scene."
H: Tell us about your new venue.
D: "Our new venue, Bleecker Bell, is a 200 capacity venue/listening room in NYC's Greenwich Village that was built to continue on this neighborhood’s rich live music legacy."
It has the same super intimate feel of the historic Greenwich Village venues, but we added a mezzanine overlooking the stage to create a unique element and to give fans a little more space than some of the other more tightly packed rooms in the neighborhood. We’re really excited for the fall line up which we are releasing later this month."
H: What does your typical workday look like?
D: "Lots of coffee, emails and phone calls during the day. And a lot of time looking at a calendar. But my favorite part is always looking for new music. Since our venues are on the small side, a lot of the booking is about artist discovery, versus larger venues where the bands are already established and probably familiar names."
But that’s a big part of the fun."
And then at least a few nights a week I’m out going to see shows at other clubs, seeing shows at our venues, or playing a gig, so it’s a nice balance of desk work and actually getting out and seeing music. We’re always trying to learn from other venues and promoters to make our shows more special."
H: What ‘go to’ tools, strategies and outlets do you use to market shows?
D: "We use a platform called Cymbal that has been great for streamlining our marketing process. It makes targeted email blasts super easy and has a great interface for meta ads. The backend for running campaigns on meta is a total nightmare these days, so it’s been huge for cleaning up that process and has a lot of great features to make sure we are getting the most out of those ad spends. And the email segmenting is super easy, so we can target email blasts about shows and genres that will feel relevant to people."
We also hired a dedicated marketing and design team member, Andi, last year which has been huge. Having someone who can really dive into the minutia, how our email campaigns and ad spends are performing, and adjusting the campaigns as we go really helps make the most out of all our marketing efforts."
H: What newer marketing tools, strategies and outlets show the most promise?
D: "Spotify concert listings has been great, and seems like a feature people are using more recently. Especially if an artist has a new album out, it’s a great way to meet fans where they are."
H: Name a show or campaign that you were involved in where you felt you had the most impact and why?
D: "I think more than the tools and software and ad spends, doing shows with the right timing and the right partners are the most important factors."
We just did a 600 capacity boat ride show with our friends from Honky Tonkin’ in Queens, they’re a really great country concert promoter, with The Deslondes headlining. We sold out in advance and the show was a blast. The Deslondes had just released new music, Honky Tonkin’ in Queens do an awesome job promoting shows and have a great fan base of their own, and the boat ride concept is super fun and unique."
Lining up all of those factors really goes a long way in creating buzz organically. And it makes for a great show!"
H: What do you wish more artists and teams would do differently that would make your job easier and help sell more tickets?
D: "There are so many factors and it's really a team effort between the venue and the bands, so the more proactive everyone can be the better. If a band has a great new promo video, make sure the venue gets it, a lot of basic stuff like that. Also, it’s really tough for artists on the road right now, so being super intentional about why, where, and when you go on tour feels really important."
This goes for venues as well, but anything artists can do to make the shows feel special - tapping into a local scene with a great support act, doing a pop up in a cool location, doing a special release show. Anything to make the show feel like a special event can really help create buzz and sell tickets, and will also usually make for a better fan and artist experience."
MORE
• In The Trenches: Spotlighting the unsung heroes strengthening live music
• How Bands and Music Venues Can Market Live Shows Like the Pros
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