Category: for hosts

Press Release: Listening Room Festival 2023

For Immediate Release

Florida “House Concert” Festival Connects Fans from All Over the World

LRF logo on white

The 12th Annual Listening Room Festival invites house concert presenters, artists and fans to join in this year’s festivities. Music-lovers from around the globe are traveling to St. Petersburg, FL to enjoy the house concerts, showcase, and planned group activities from March 9-13, 2023.

Five international contest winners will play the Festival Showcase (March 10) at the Palladium Theater in St. Petersburg, as well as house concerts in the surrounding region. This year’s artists are Peter Mulvey, Ariella, Jeffery Straker, A Tale of Two, and The Rough & Tumble . Reserved seats to the festival showcase are available ($45, $100 for VIP) at the festival website http://www.ListeningRoomFestival.com

The main showcase at the Palladium Theater features all five acts. Four of them play the main stage, and The Rough & Tumble will play the VIP after party downstairs at the Side Door. The music is acoustic-driven genres varying from folk, to blues, country and soul.

House concerts, the core of the festival, stem from a tradition that is hundreds of years old, but has seen a resurgence in the past few decades. Music fans volunteer to host living room concerts, and invite friends to attend an up-close-and-personal show by a professional touring artist. Attendees are asked to make a suggested donation of $20-25 per person directly to the performers.

17 House Concerts are scheduled for Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday of the festival. You can get the schedule and invites to these concerts by joining as a Listening Room Network FAN through the free link at http://www.ListeningRoomFestival.com

About the Listening Room Network:

Listening Room Network (LRN) creates and nurtures opportunities that pay artists to perform in a listening environment while bringing communities together with a renewed passion for live music. LRN and its signature websites (ConcertsInYourHome.com, OfficeConcerts.com) are leading innovators in the live music industry.

Contact/Press Photos:

Fran Snyder 727-280-6208, fran@ListeningRoomNetwork.com

Website: www.ListeningRoomFestival.com

Free house concert guide: Download (Link to PDF)

HighRes Press photos: Festival Artists.

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LRN Fan Bulletin Upgrade!

I believe the new layout will be more compelling and effective for getting LRN fans out to your shows.

I once thought it was best to give folks the scope of our network, so they could share with friends in other areas, or check out shows where they travel.

Now we’ll focus on home regions, with lovely colorful pictures. Bulletin goes out every two weeks to fan members of LRN.

Enjoy! Fran

How to promote your LRFest show AND the festival showcase!

Here is how I promote my house concert and the festival showcase in the same email. Feel free to copy this and substitute your webflyer link in the first section!

Dear Friends,

Coming up soon is the most fun week of the year, where we celebrate house concerts all over the Tampa Bay area with the Listening Room Festival! I’m inviting you to join me at two events:

  1. Our house concert, featuring A Tale of Two, on Monday March 13th.
    Here’s the webflyer – please click the RSVP button to join us!
    https://my.listeningroomnetwork.com/event-fsnyder20230313

2. The Festival Showcase, Friday March 10th! This features all the festival artists, at the beautiful Palladium Theater. Use the code “smile” to save money on VIP or Reserved Seats. http://www.ListeningRoomFestival.com

Your fan,

Fran Snyder

Why Listening Room Network is Absent from Social Media

While sharing my thoughts, experiences, wishes, and dreams on social media has led to many blessings, I am now becoming more private online, and that includes ListeningRoomNetwork, our festival and related business activities.

There was a time when we didn’t know each other’s every fleeting thought. And it was OK. Maybe it was better?

There’s something about human nature that seeks to find patterns, something in common. And there’s something about us that is riveted by conflict. Posts on social media, especially Facebook, seeking to share and explore issues too often descend into disrespectful conflict.

There’s also something about us that craves products that seem FREE. The hidden cost is the corporate abduction of our data, repackaged and sold to advertisers, spammers, and even thieves.

The final straw for me was learning that 3 of our Facebook pages (ConcertsInYourHome, ListeningRoomNetwork, and ListeningRoomFestival) had been taken from me. I had invested many thousands of dollars creating and promoting these pages. Some hacker in eastern Europe managed to remove me as admin, severing my access to my followers. How do I know this? Facebook told me.

And even though Facebook has a record of every keystroke I made to create and maintain these pages for years, they would not return these pages to me unless I gave them a copy of my driver’s license. It would be rudimentary for them to establish my identity with the gobs of information they already have. They just want more. I refused.

Of course, after 10-15 years of feeding them my data, I still have tons of useful connections and friendships with my Facebook profile, and it’s difficult to look away. There are interesting and kind people that I can only connect with via Facebook. But if I post something that has anything to do with my business, Facebook finds a way to hide that from you, unless I pay them.

Give us more money. Give us more data.

Trust us. Trust Alexa. Trust Google. Trust that Ring Camera. Trust. Trust. Trust.
Never mind the constant parade of hacks and leaks of our personal information by corporations and government entities.

Give us your info and we’ll make your life easier and more fun. It’s mostly true!
The trend is so powerful. How can you resist? Everyone is doing it.
Do you really want to go backwards?

I have no desire to live in the woods and to cut myself off from modern life. I enjoy the city and I like Google maps. I occasionally like to make a ripple in the water and see who is swimming online.

So – I can’t promise you won’t see me on social media, but I will be as absent as possible.

But the NETWORK? Doesn’t it need exposure and promotion via social media?

Not really. Our members are free to use social media as they wish, and they often share our content. Over the years I’ve found that our best artists and hosts come from word of mouth, not advertising.

For example, one of our artists tells a talented friend, “You have to join this site – it’s where I get most of my best gigs!”

Or an attendee asks a house concert host, “How do you do this?” and the response is “I joined ListeningRoomNetwork.com – they make it so easy.”

So, I’m not paying for clicks on ads and pages. I’m going as directly as possible to the people who appreciate what we do, and working to inspire them so they’ll share what we do.

If you want more, you can subscribe to our Podcast or join our network as a fan.

What do you think? I welcome your feedback here. https://my.listeningroomnetwork.com/contact

Fran Snyder

Founder, Listening Room Network & Festival

#LRFest – Listening Room Festival 2021 Recap!

Showcase at the Mahaffey Theater, April 2022. Photos by Donna Green

 

Due to Covid, we were forced to explore outdoor spaces for our Listening Room Festival Showcase. Thankfully, we were able to rent the beautiful courtyard between the Mahaffey Theater and the Dali Museum.

This was a technical and financial challenge, as it was the first time we had to rent a stage, sound, and light in addition to the performance space. Our production choices worked out well, and Donna Green was able to capture some of our best pictures ever with this new setting.

We were also forced to scale down in terms of artists, selecting only TWO traveling acts instead of our usual 4 or 5. Joy Ike and Chris Trapper enjoyed enthusiastic audiences at house concerts as well as the showcase, and we were privileged to showcase local act Kristopher James as the opener for the showcase.

When we started LRFest in 2012, it felt like a moonshot. I wanted to create a gathering to celebrate house concerts, and to create a music showcase opportunity in the middle of a profitable tour. Most importantly, they build a base of friends, fans and potential gigs in Florida that will pay dividends for years to come.

As is the case with house concerts, the sweet, listening vibe and profitability are the obvious rewards that mask the more important developments of community and connection. On this front, each year, we see more hosts and fans travel to Tampa Bay area to attend shows and make new friendships. We see them cooperate for routing, lodging, and even for volunteer help at each other’s events. The festival community is creating a rich, cultural tapestry of music support in our region.

See you next year?

Will you apply as a performer? 
Will you host a show in Florida or the southeast?
Will you join your music tribe for a music vacation?

#LRFest – Listening Room Festival 2022 Recap!

Showcase at the Palladium Theater, March 25th 2022. Photos by Donna Green

As we approached our Tenth annual LRFest, we were still in uncertain times, with a significant portion of our community still concerned about Covid, vaccines, and Russian invasions to boot. Despite the jitters, we had a wonderful festival, and managed to please a fantastic group of performers – Danny Schmidt, Sam Robbins, Mare Wakefield & Nomad, and The Whispering Tree.

When we started LRFest in 2012, it felt like a moonshot. I wanted to create a gathering to celebrate house concerts, and to create a music showcase opportunity in the middle of a profitable tour. Most importantly, they build a base of friends, fans and potential gigs in Florida that will pay dividends for years to come.

As is the case with house concerts, the sweet, listening vibe and profitability are the obvious rewards that mask the more important developments of community and connection. On this front, each year, we see more hosts and fans travel to Tampa Bay area to attend shows and make new friendships. We see them cooperate for routing, lodging, and even for volunteer help at each other’s events. The festival community is creating a rich, cultural tapestry of music support in our region.

For me, the biggest thrill is the growing number of hosts and fans who travel to St. Petersburg for this event. They come from different cities, different states, and even different countries – to take in a music vacation filled with house concerts and time with their tribe. Thanks to Dani Goodband, Jim and DeBrenda Michienzi, and Alice Schaefer for making the trip this year!

We hope you’ll join us for this one-of-a-kind festival.

House Concert Photos from LRFest 2022. 

See you next year?

Will you apply as a performer? 
Will you host a show in Florida or the southeast?
Will you join your music tribe for a music vacation?

The Artist You Don’t “No”

House concert hosts and venues, over time, develop a “feel” for what artists tend to be like. Years on the road and stage can shape most of us in similar ways. Of course, artists are not all the same.

One way artists differ is how they book shows. There is a spectrum between distracted/disorganized/timid and focused/organized/tenacious.
The former artist will reach out once, maybe twice, and anything short of an enthusiastic reply means they will disappear from your life, for at least a year or two.

The latter artist will email again and again until you respond. Nothing short of a strict “No thank you” will deter them from reaching out until they have a solid answer. You might find them tiring because they “won’t get the hint,” but tenacious ones tour more and have longer careers. They deal with many hosts who are also distracted/disorganized, and the artist’s persistence leads to success often enough that they stick with it.

Some hosts are actually grateful that the artist hung in there and tried again.

Always keep this in mind. You should only host artists you are excited about. If you are unlikely to get excited about this artist, you are only wasting your time AND theirs by not saying so.

Artists are human, and in our network they are professionals. They deserve a clear answer.
It’s OK for a host to be uncertain, but if your gut feeling is “no,” it’s best for everyone if you just say it.

YES is our favorite answer.
NO is our second favorite answer.

The artist you don’t NO sometimes wishes you did.

Same Time Next Year? a.k.a. postpone, don’t cancel.

If you’re still dealing with having cancel or re-schedule dates, in many cases you can minimize the hassle by immediately choosing a new date a year later. Why?

  • Most hosts/venues aren’t booked 12 months out, even if they occasionally get to that point.
  • Typically if that month was good this year, it’ll be good next year.
  • It gives plenty of time to adjust, and reduces the chances that the show will have to be postponed a second time.

So rather than put it off, you can quickly pull your calendar, find the same time frame a year out, and choose the new date. Webflyers at LRN can easily be adjusted.

This way, you don’t have to repeat all the work of booking again, and trying to remember where you left off. Both parties decide, right away, to re-book. If the worst should happen and circumstances don’t improve, you’ll have plenty of time to make further adjustments if necessary.

Bottom line: it’s bad enough to postpone an event that both parties were looking forward to… why make re-booking harder than it has to be? It can take less than 5 minutes in most cases.

Even if the same exact month doesn’t work… in most cases it is still be better to re-book right away. Just get it done!

Ideas to Restart Your Concerts (#Covid)

Last Wednesday, a handful of hosts were able to join me on a Zoom call to discuss ideas and best practices for when we are ready to start hosting events again. In particular, how do we navigate audience size, promotion, proximity, food, bathrooms, schedule, etc.?

We didn’t cover everything, but here’s a recap of what we covered in 40 minutes.

How to Restart?

Start Small: LRN will recommend 50% capacity max for indoor shows. We’ll actively promote the TenTen Concerts format to encourage folks to do more shows, especially to help out local and regional acts.

Chairs: Spread them out more for obvious reasons, but also to minimize people touching each other’s chairs as they navigate to their seats.

Lodging: Book more local and regional acts who can drive home after the show.

Front Row: Singers/speakers have to project and can’t wear masks while performing, so it’s good to move the front row back further than usual.

Elderly and immunity-compromised guests should not be in the front row.

Outdoor setups provide more space, and allow people to bring their own chairs/picnic.

Merch Table: Disinfectant wipes should be available to wipe items.

Bath: Disinfectant wipes, lysol, etc. Enable people to clean whatever makes them more comfortable… toilet, doorknob, etc. One set concerts allow some guests to skip the bathroom altogether.

Food/Alcohol: Might be best to skip both – keep things simpler and cleaner. Invite guests to bring what they like, but not large portions for sharing.

Below are the suggestions I made before the conversation, which offer some additional context.

1. We’ll have to start small and/or outdoors for maximum safety. The point is to allow people plenty of space, not just between seats but extra space to walk around, especially in the congested areas. Consider limiting to HALF your previous capacity.

2. If possible start with local regional acts. With so much uncertainty, artists cannot confidently plan long trips. They will not be able to absorb cancellation costs or barely profitable touring anymore. Every gig has to make sense on its own. That means drastically reduced travel for the near term. Of course, if you have existing bookings, you should honor those if they still work for your artists.

3. We’ll have to limit the buffet and food sharing. There might be some creative answers here, but I think people will be most comfortable eating at home. Please consider how that might affect alcohol consumption… serving alcohol without food can be more risky.

4. We’ll have to be vigilant about safety and backup plans. What if you are scheduled to host a show in two days and now you have a cold/fever? Backup hosts/spaces would be very advisable. I recommend partnering with another local host for each event, especially if you do book an act that will be traveling. ONE of us will host this thing!
Also, audience members can be encouraged to wear masks. Have a “best mask contest” for each show!

5. Flexible pricing – if a number of our potential guests have lost work or income, it might be worthwhile to ask/promote a looser policy for donations. Please give less if you must, please give more if you can.

6. Smaller = more shows?
This probably sounds ambitious, but smaller shows are easier, and we’ll all be missing the opportunity to connect. Small house concerts will be one of the best ways to reconnect safely.