The Invitation
Invite a bunch of your friends! We will provide you with some precise language that we’ll need you to include in your invitations; but besides that, we want you to have fun telling your friends why you want them to come to the awesome event you’re hosting.
The language we’ll send you to use the invitations will read something like this:
“This is a donation based concert. Please come prepared to make a donation to the band at the conclusion of the show.”
We do not specify a suggested donation amount for our house concerts. The reasons for this are two-fold:
- In our experience, we do better financially at shows where people can donate what they are moved to in the moment without any previous expectations.
- Perhaps more important, if you have a friend who is cash poor but a lover of music, it’s important to us that they be able to enjoy the evening without feeling any pressure. While it is true that this is how we make our living, sharing music with people is the most important thing.
Occasionally, we have hosts who prefer not to ask their guests for donations and prefer instead to pay an upfront guarantee for the show. Either way is fine, and we’ve done both ways many times. If this approach interests you, please let us know and we’ll discuss the fee structure for scheduling a non-donation show.
Other invitation items
You may want to let your guests know you’ll have drinks and snacks for them if that will be the case; or perhaps you’d like to ask everyone to bring something to share. This is entirely up to you, and is not a requirement for hosting a house concert.
RSVP
Please be sure to ask your guests to RSVP in your invitation.
We’ve discovered that when guests are asked to RSVP, there is a much better turn-out rate as opposed to a “come by if you can” approach.