Brian Ferry (roxy Music) On Samui

[KSMF2006]

Steverino,

My thoughts as well.

However, I can see why the Brian Ferry's of this world want to tour SE Asia and cash in on his/their fame in contrast to younger bands who have a market to conquer and play in Europe or the US where their main target market is. When they really hit it big, they may consider doing a gig in BKK as part of their world tour. Most of the time they won't though, since how many units do they move in Thailand? Not as many as there are copies sold, hence why bother going there.

Hi Limbos,

I beg to differ....Many of these new Bands will be travelling to Aus from the Uk or the States and vice versa....If they can get an extra gig on a paradise island where they can make an easy buck, have a couple of days R & R, and play to an audience from many countries, why wouldn't they come here. I don't believe the target audience is the Thai record buying public, but the foreigners who are here on their Hols. Pretty much the same as the DJ scene on Ibiza.

I must emphasise though that the marketing needs to be a lot better and planned well in advance so the marketing can work. Not just Samui but SEA wide, World wide even, as travellers will make a point of including Samui on their trip so they can get to see a great Band in an amazing venue (Samui). I have done this before, so I know what the ins and outs are. Secret Gdn used to do a "Play and Stay" thing for passing Bands and performers, and it was fairly succesful. No mega Bands or artists, but some well known ones such as Sparko from Dr Feelgood and Matt Kelly from the Grateful Dead, Kingfish and New Riders, and of course Hans Vermeulen and many other European artists. I think Coco have got the clout to do something similar...They do seem to rush everything and have "last minute" bookings. Lethal in terms of marketing.

Some fair comments there - we know that in the past some of the marketing has been late and not up to spec. There were reasons for that, but that is not an excuse - we just have to do better in the future. Sometimes the opportunities to bring people here only come at the last minute. We have two months for Bryan Ferry and as soon as we have a deal we will start marketing and, rightly so as you say, not just in Samui. The opportunity to do this only came up about ten days ago, and with the best will in the world, negotiating with agents etc takes time and we cannot start marketing until we have a commitment.

We are always on the look out for bands travelling through and we do not limit ourselves to Blues or Jazz etc. Maybe you did not see them but the Red Organ Serpent Band who played here for ten days in the summer could hardly be called the traditional Blues Club band. We have also done the play and stay scenario and it does work for some artists, but not all.

[Samuian]

Steverino is dead right with many of his comments!

Marketing, planning ahead, there is quite a bunch of professionals in BKK, Pattaya and CNX, but who the heck can just jump off the job without notice?

There are direct flights from KL, Hongkong, Singapore...

Why not at the "Chaweng Lake"?

I (personally) do like Ferry's stunts, but what about todays kids?

Why pull "the mummies" out of the attic?

ahhhhhh well, after all, it's "up to you".

I wont lose any money, just a thought.

[KSMF2006]

Steverino is dead right with many of his comments!

I have already accepted and commented on that.

Marketing, planning ahead, there is quite a bunch of professionals in BKK, Pattaya and CNX, but who the heck can just jump off the job without notice?

There are direct flights from KL, Hongkong, Singapore...

BF is playing in Hong Kong which is why he is available to us here but we will certainly be looking at Singapore and other cities.

Why not at the "Chaweng Lake"?

Not possible for many reasons

I (personally) do like Ferry's stunts, but what about todays kids?

We cannot please everyone

Why pull "the mummies" out of the attic?

We look at who is available regionally. BF was offered to us - so I started this thread to judge the reaction to which there has been a reasonable amount and some fair comment. Will it happen? Probably but I do not know for certain yet as the deal is not finalised - but should be very soon

ahhhhhh well, after all, it's "up to you".

....as the say!! Yes it is.

I wont lose any money, just a thought.

[womble]

To get sponsors on board you need a long time. You can't just approach them and get a contract signed, it takes lots of meetings and even then you won't get cash. Maybe stock, bit of advertising etc. The only way to get cash is to have something regular and prove yourself with sales over time. In Thailand these guys are not interested in linking their brand with these names they are interested in how much of their stock you can shift during the event. Most of these Thai's will say "who is Brian Ferry". You would be far more likely to get sponsorship with a thai act than farang. You will get more people turn up aswell.

Most sponsors will not give anything to farang, even if it is a farang alcohol company, they want the handouts to go to Thai people, remember nearly all the reps are Thai. The few farang reps that there are seem to work with farangs, although you still need to prove yourself. I suggest you find them.

You need minimum 3 months advertising for an event like this. If you have to pay his fees, don't risk it with anything less. Live stuff is expensive to do, and you need proper advertising to get the numbers here in order to even break even.

The only way to make this work is to get him on a holiday deal, flts, acom + expenses, if he wants 10g+ fee you will never make your $ back. I'm telling you now, even if he only wants 2g, you will lose.

It's hard enough doing these events in western countries where there are lots of potential punters, but here in Thailand there really are not as many people as you would think.

You'd be much better to work with Thai acts. This is Thailand afterall and there are lots of thai's.

There really are not enough people here to do large scale pay events.

If I were you i'd knock this on it's head before you lose your shirt, it takes lots of experiance to do these events and that's something you guys don't have.

So find acts that will perform for expenses only,

and......

Good luck!

[limbos]

Steverino,

My thoughts as well.

However, I can see why the Brian Ferry's of this world want to tour SE Asia and cash in on his/their fame in contrast to younger bands who have a market to conquer and play in Europe or the US where their main target market is. When they really hit it big, they may consider doing a gig in BKK as part of their world tour. Most of the time they won't though, since how many units do they move in Thailand? Not as many as there are copies sold, hence why bother going there.

Hi Limbos,

I beg to differ....Many of these new Bands will be travelling to Aus from the Uk or the States and vice versa....If they can get an extra gig on a paradise island where they can make an easy buck, have a couple of days R & R, and play to an audience from many countries, why wouldn't they come here. I don't believe the target audience is the Thai record buying public, but the foreigners who are here on their Hols. Pretty much the same as the DJ scene on Ibiza.

I must emphasise though that the marketing needs to be a lot better and planned well in advance so the marketing can work. Not just Samui but SEA wide, World wide even, as travellers will make a point of including Samui on their trip so they can get to see a great Band in an amazing venue (Samui). I have done this before, so I know what the ins and outs are. Secret Gdn used to do a "Play and Stay" thing for passing Bands and performers, and it was fairly succesful. No mega Bands or artists, but some well known ones such as Sparko from Dr Feelgood and Matt Kelly from the Grateful Dead, Kingfish and New Riders, and of course Hans Vermeulen and many other European artists. I think Coco have got the clout to do something similar...They do seem to rush everything and have "last minute" bookings. Lethal in terms of marketing.

Some fair comments there - we know that in the past some of the marketing has been late and not up to spec. There were reasons for that, but that is not an excuse - we just have to do better in the future. Sometimes the opportunities to bring people here only come at the last minute. We have two months for Bryan Ferry and as soon as we have a deal we will start marketing and, rightly so as you say, not just in Samui. The opportunity to do this only came up about ten days ago, and with the best will in the world, negotiating with agents etc takes time and we cannot start marketing until we have a commitment.

We are always on the look out for bands travelling through and we do not limit ourselves to Blues or Jazz etc. Maybe you did not see them but the Red Organ Serpent Band who played here for ten days in the summer could hardly be called the traditional Blues Club band. We have also done the play and stay scenario and it does work for some artists, but not all.

Steverino,

Part of the problem will be budget. Everyday on the road without a gig costs lots of money, any band that travels from Europe to Aus or vice verse travels with more than just the band members and costs add up, acco, food, per diem's, salary etc.

It's also different to fly one or two DJ's in compared to a whole R&R band with all equipment and staff.

Mgmt won't be too pleased to loose 3 or 4 days to do one gig in Samui, since they will not see any advantage in it (punters, sales, image). The examples you mentioned are good, but can't really compare to 'young' bands who are on the road to sell units (at the end of the day). The names you mentioned and the young touring bands have different agendas. Believe me, I wish it was different.

Maybe if you happen to know the manager or a bandmember and they may be attracted to come and stay a few days.

[womble]

Full live is just too expensive to do in samui, + with so many people traveling you will end up paying full fees + transport for band members and their equipment.

A DJ with a live PA is possible, there are places that do that already, this means just one or two flights and no extra transportation costs for equipment, the singer only needs a mic.

This style may not be your particular taste but it works and is popular. Maybe you could try a format that works for you, get your own musicians who can play the music, then find singers who are traveling through with their bands and will do the show on their own between two bigger gigs.

You may find one who will do it at a price that would make it doable.

Really though you need to be pretty connected to pull this kinda thing off.

[limbos]

Womble,

Band and singer need to reherse as well.

[LindsayBKK]

and charge a rediculous price for tickets so nobody will bother going?

The island needs positive thinking people trying to do something for the island and the people who live here and visit here, not negative whiners all the time.

When are you going to get some Bands ar artists who are young enough and recent enough to pull in the youngsters...you keep getting all this old crap that very few people are interested in....UB40, Jerry Lee Lewis, and now Brian Ferry! Haven't you heard of Kasabian, The Coral, etc etc At least modern bands would be worth paying 1000 baht plus for....as for the samui music festival, what happened....I saw 2 banners on the road, I think one was outside Tesco's...anyway if one's on or in a vehicle you don't even have time to read the detail. I didn't see any flyers or ads in any of the Bars or on any of the streets, or even in my motorbike basket.....

Three years ago, Coco put on a great Festival in various locations that were accessible to all, without having to drive to Chaweng. They called it a Blues Festival and it was pretty successful and good in relation to the last two festivals. Because one could see the Bands in Bophut and other locations (Bangrak Secret Gdn I think) one got the urge to go to Coco's and watch the Bands there as well. I think you got to decide who your target audience/punter is going to be...residents or tourists? Who's got the most money to spend ?

This ain't a whinge, only trying to give some constructive critisism, but I assure you I'm not going to come to Cocos for any artists from the 70's, however much I liked them at the time. The Bands you have on a regular basis are just fine....Bring back Chip!

As an over 40 I can say I listen to a variety of music but I grew up on stuff like Brian Ferry and most people living in Thailand are more my age and above so you young kids will have to wait or go to another venue to see YOUR favourite bands. This forum was asking the question "would you go see Brian Ferry"? Ok! Now go back to the mirror and pop another pimple.