General Music Chat

The only music venue gigs that seem to draw consistently large crowds these days are those that tend to dance/hip-hop/DJ-type music. For the 20-somethings who just want to party and dance.
Any other type of music - folk/rock/indie attract the fans of the bands/artists only. You can find a club that is packed to the gills on Saturday night (this week) because of the band, then next week, different band, the place is empty.
"Free" shows sponsored by local or national companies require a lot of promotional work to get the sponsorship signed up - the sponsors want to know what they 'get out' of the whole thing - sometimes it's selling their product, sometimes its the 'advertising'. Usually a well-known (local or national) headliner is needed to get some attention and guaranteed draw, and they'll require payment.
Even ticketed shows require this same work these days. Last year (or maybe it was 2015) there was a 2 day concert event promoted in New Hampshire that had Steven Tyler (Aerosmith) as the headliner on the final day. There were a ton of local acts booked to fill the rest of the schedule. As of the first day of the festival, only a few thousand tickets had been sold - for the 2nd day only, very few 'whole festival' tickets had been sold. Bands were then warned that they might not get paid at all (their 'cut' was not going to be high anyway), so many of them cancelled out at the last minute. What went wrong? Bad promotion and lack of sponsorship.

In order to be a successful concert venue, you have to book bands with consistent followings, and have shows every week - if you don't have something going on, you're just paying the bills with no income.

Hi guys,

I have found some places that can be transformed to music venue and the local Council has approved doing any music reference activities. Please see the attached pictures. I need your advice whether the place they call it studio which is 110 sqm can be the venue? What do you think? There's the other one which is 180 sqm but quite expensive. Do you want to see it as well?

Find out about the zoning, capacity, fire marshal requirements, ordinances on noise, parking and Insurance ... most importantly how the LandLord feels about your plans.

You are in Sydney? It looks like Asian script on the building a crossed the street and at the beginning jpg information below your posted pictures there is also Asian script. Is that a big thing in Australia these days? Just curious.

110m2 is not very big. What we would consider a medium-small venue here. Does that size include the utilities areas - bathrooms, HVAC, stairways, entry/exit access? Can't tell from the pictures - does the space even have bathrooms?
Add a bar/refreshment area, some tables and chairs, (a stage?) you're looking at capacity of less than 100 people (zoning laws would also specify this).
The 'listening room' place in the next town to me (where I had my CD release party) is almost that same size, divided into a small entry room and the larger performance space. They have sofas, tables, chairs, a small stage, storage (they also have art things going on). With 35 people, its crowded.

110m2 doesn't include the utilities area and it has one bathroom and one toilet room.
I can't sell alcohol if I don't get the license. As well I heard from the landlord that BYO is illegal. What a pity!
I have attached the 180m2. The walls with artworks are made of timbers which could be dismantled so it is a big square room. But it's quite expensive nearly double rent of the small one.

That space doesn't look much better (a floor plan would be better than a couple of partial space pictures). 150 people tops, probably.
If you can't sell alcohol, can you sell any refreshments? The laws in the US are very strict - health permits, training, inspections. How do you expect to pay for this? What would make people come and pay (possibly high) cover charges to hear music (and dance?)
You need to have a solid business plan - expenses, expected revenue, timeline = ROI (Return On Investment).