Has anyone personally organised a hip hop night/event ?

has anyone here organised such an event?

i landed in malaysia about 4 weeks ago and i've met up with a couple of hip hop and drum n' bass crews here who are itching to get their own nights setup.

previously these kids have been playing for free under the banners of other movements and collectives, mostly DJing collectives.

the older guys who have established themselves seem intent on making the newer crews "pay their dues" as it were, but making them play for free, as if they were doing them a favour by letting them play for free while they pocket the cash from the venues.

i dont know much about this stuff, but that just sounds plain wrong, so i asked them what it was that was stopping them from doing their own event. at the end of the day it comes down to a lack of funds.

as a result of my big mouth, its now fallen onto me to see if we can sort something out because there is a niche to be filled.

has anyone actually organised an event from scratch?

how did your events go? did you guys atleast manage to break even for the night?

making money is not that important, but it would be nice if a) this became self financing and sustainable, and b) the crews and anyone else performing could walk away with some cash.

and about the marketing, did you do anything other than flyers and posters and maybe radio adverts?

i'd appreciate it if anyone could drop some lines about their experiences if theyve done this before, cos although it does sound like a big massive headache to organise, at the very least it'll be one nice big@ss party

cheers guys.

i actually organized one event back in 2006...

first off, i did it with this local culture-center so i dint have to pay for shit...
best (and cheapest) way of marketing is the flyers and poster (a whole **** lot of em all around, its best to start promoting about 1-2 months earlier)... radio commercials are really expensive so if you arent millionaire or have much good supporters / sponsors you wont have money for that (believe me i didnt have)... there is lots of thing you should do... theres all the basic shit like getting the line up of artist done... most important where you gonna find a place for the event ? how much will it cost, and the most important after that is to get the PERMITS to have the event from local police (thats where i got the permits)....... there is all kinds of shit that you need to do before you get to the actual organizing... i know it would be nice if the artits would have some dough out of the event but in the normal case if the artists arent that well known they will usually get food arranged to them in the backroom and the normal shit but not money, because even if youd have lots of money from tickets you´d still have to pay for the permits and the rental of the place, cleaning...

if hiphop aint BIG in malaysia and in the city you are in (and in the city you gonna organize it) you cant as much for the tickets (maximum about 5 €)(and that just depends of the fact is hiphop big and will the event arouse many people to come to your event)...

if it´ll be the first time this kind of event is organized there dont ask for anything for the people to come because if they like it and you gonna organize events like this again theyll pay you good money of it cause the know its gonna be quality event ! ! ! and better than that they will spread the word out to their friends that the event is dope and you´ll have even more exposure to the event !

just my two cents... i´d tell you much more about organizing the event if id be better in english...

peace and good luck !

thanks for your info deesprm, its much appreciated.

the venue i've found is actually an art gallery that has only just opened. and theyre actually quite flexible as far as the lease of the space goes, either a fixed amount or a percentage of ticket sales. so thats not toobad.

but yeah good point about the first event being free so we can charge a reasonable amount on later shows after word of mouth gets round. thats something i'll have to consider carefully. i was initially thinking of chargeing the equivalent of a few dollars as you mentioned.

i think permits arent an issue cos it is an art gallery after all, but thanks for reminding me to check on that.

its kinda hard to explain what stage the scene is at here,.. its a bit odd here. hip hop's kinda underground, but favoured by the uppermiddle classes...... theres a whole 'foreign stuff is better' mentality here so local underground doesnt really get much exposure despite their talent. and since alot of them are just western copycats its not surprising.

but ideally i'd like to make it a mix of street cyphers from the poorer hoods and upperclass artyfarty people.( performance art in itself hahaha!)

but yeah thanks again for your input, its given me alot to think about.

and dude your english is great dont worry about it, so i'd appreciate it greatly if you could tell me more about your event.

how did your event go?
are you gonna do another one?

Hey man, I've never put on a hip hop show but i have put on about 10 rock shows. (im in Seattle WA) The first piece of advice I have is to DO WHAT YOU SAY! dont make promises you dont know if you can keep.

I never had to worry about a permit because the venue itself has insurance and is in the business of live performances.
You will want to get contract drawn up for Every act detailing the WHO WHAT WHEN WHERE AND HOWS. Those are pretty easy to come by, I forgot the name of the site that i got mine for but just do a search for "performance contract" you might have to pay $15-$30 for one but its worth it. You can edit them however you want and use it over and over for each event.

I've broken dead even on a couple, lost a couple $100 on a couple, and made a couple $100 on a couple. It all depends on the night/performers/promotion/etc...

I'd plan out at least 2-3 months in advance, come up with a theme, find someone who is willing to make you a flyer for cheap, find a cheap way to print the flyers while still making them look professional, hand them out at every event that might be simiar to yours. or figure out who your market is and try to hit up their spots. A lot of businesses support this kind of thing so put stacks of flyers in their store....after you ask if its OK, of course. I suggest selling tickets through an online ticketing company, if at all possible. they only take $ from surcharges through the people who buy the Tix, they dont take $ from you...or at least they shouldnt.

The best way to promote is to find an opening act thats hungry and fresh...give them a few hundred flyers and let them promote....those are the ones who get the word out the best.

Prepare to be hit with some issues that you dont expect to come up....its all part of the proccess, you can NEVER be 100% prepared.

ohhh and its a good idea to at least CONTACT the local police department and tell them who you are and what your doing and what night the show will be on. That way if a problem does come up, they know exactly who to come talk to and you'll be on their good side because they know you contacted them and are on top of your game....your not just another punk kid tryinig to throw a party.....

hope that helps a bit

Have fun


II
Ainz