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DESIGNER MAGAZINE
WHY PLAY A MANCHESTER GIGS FOR DESIGNER MAGAZINE?
Designer Magazine have been running as a music website for 13 years and as gig promoters for 8 years
* In 2012 Designer Magazine's promoter Alex McCann was an Olympic Torchbearer for services to music
* 8 years experience of gig promotion
* A pedigree of bookings which includes Bombay Bicycle Club, Kids In Glass Houses, Athlete, The Heartbreaks, Dear Eskiimo (The Ting Tings), Fearless Vampire Killers and many many more (see below)
* 128 written Facebook recommendations from Manchester bands to play our gigs
* Our Social Media arm is ranked number 1 for Social Media Marketing in the UK on Freeindex
* Our website gets 27,000 page views a week - every band that plays for us gets a chance to submit a guest blog for extra promotion
* We only use music venues rather than pubs
* We only put gigs on weekend nights unless high quality touring bands get in touch - non of this midweek / Sunday night gubbins
* Roadhouse gigs - recorded so you have audio to use for free downloads etc
* Dry Bar - weekend gigs have free afterparty's till 4am
But don't just believe us - look at our Facebook Testimonials from bands that have played for us recently by looking at page right here
www.facebook.com/designermagazinemanchester
As the adverts say - Go Compare - simply look at other local promoters and see what online promotion they offer and we can guarantee you will come running back to this page 100%
Also if you know any friends who aren't in bands, but wish to be involved in the gigs - point them to our promo team page
To get on one of our Manchester gigs please fill in your details in the form below and we'll be in touch about specific dates
VENUES WE CURRENTLY PROMOTE AT
* Dry Bar (350 capacity)
* Manchester Roadhouse (300 capacity)
Previously we've also promoted at Ruby Lounge, Night And Day, Satans Hollow, Retro Bar, Gullivers, Moho Live, Jabez Clegg and many more
OUT OF TOWN BANDS
If you're a band from outside Manchester / Northwest please email us seperately on designermagazine (at) hotmail.comFESTIVALS
Designer Magazine are promoters behind
* Hungry Pigeon Festival
* In The City Fringe FestivalFEATURED ARTISTS
Launched in Jan 2012 our featured artists is extra exposure for bands and we have good SEO so features will soon get to near the top of google
Bands that will be featured: Bands that have played for us long term and have shown committment to Designer Magazine ethos of #supportthesceneBands that more than likely wont be featured: Bands that play naff gigs like Academy Unsigned, Surface Festival, Live & Unsigned and other mediocre BOTB comps
** WANT TO PLAY A GIG - SIGN UP TO MAILING LIST - CLICK HERE **** WANT TO PLAY A GIG - SIGN UP TO MAILING LIST - CLICK HERE **
OUR GOLDEN MOTTO IS SIMPLY PUT ON THE BANDS WE LIKE AND THEY'VE FEATURED
* Athlete
* Kids In Glass Houses
* Dear Eskiimo (now The Ting Tings)
* Bombay Bicycle Club
* Twisted Wheel
* Kid British
* Nine Black Alps
* Scarlet Harlots
* Doll & The Kicks
* Robbie Maddix (Stone Roses)
* The Heartbreaks
* Fearless Vampire Killers
* The Mandigans
* Kid 4077
* Brigade
* Linchpin
* El Policia
* Engerica (now Baddies)
* The Displacements
* Pure Reason Revolution
* The Hussys
* Tom Hingley (Inspiral Carpets)
* The Dead Formats
* The Violet May
* Spy Catcher (Gallows)
* The Third Man
* Honestly Express Yourself (ex-Primal Scream)
* Supajamma (ex-Audioweb)
* State Kuban (The Wombats Side Project)
* The Book Club (Ex Milburn)
* Skint & Demoralised
* Rowley (now Airship)
* Drive Like I Do (now Big Sleep)
* The Headstart
* Kiss Corona
* Doyle and The Fourfathers
* Strangers
* Four Short Of A Miracle
* Never Means Maybe
* Hellbound Hearts (Ex-Terrorvision)
....and many hundreds more!!!
* We have also co-promoted gigs at Moho Live and put bands alongside the likes of The Futureheads, The Beat, Boxer Rebellion, Gomez, The Music, Hundred Reasons, Slow Club, Longview, The Delays, Goldie Lookin Chain, Everything Everything, Futures, Strung Out and many more
* Our showcase nights have been featured in national papers such as The Telegraph, Observer Music Monthly, Independent On Sunday, national music magazines such as NME and Clash Magazine and made the front page of Manchester Evening News. Our gigs have also had major features on Radio 1, XFM Manchester and all the local radio stations. Each gig is pushed out individually to 1250 press and media contacts
* A few people that have attended our gigs include Elbow, Simon Amstell, The View, Grimmers (Radio 1), Terry Christian, Bez, Julian Barratt (Howard Moon from The Mighty Boosh), cast members of Shameless, Corrie, Waterloo Road and many more
* Previously we've managed 2 great Manchester bands - The Mandigans / El Policia
IMPORTANT - THINGS WE DON'T DO - PLEASE READ
We always believe the best gigs are when the promoter / band work hard to make the show a success and approach a show with a positive attitude - but there's a few things we don't do, which sometimes we get asked about so we thought we'd state clearly what we don't do.
MANCHESTER ACADEMY GIGS
We love Academy gigs when established touring bands fill the place out..... unsigned local bands there, not so much.* At 500 capacity, even a band with a larger fanbase of say 50 people, the atmosphere is non existent in such a cavernous venue.
* Agents contact us daily with new hot bands with Radio 1 / 6Music Airplay, NME coverage - they never ask to put these bands on the Academy
* Look at the Manchester bands having success now or hot new band tips for 2011 from local Manchester press such as ourselves or City Life - How many regularly feature on the Academy Unsigned listings? Seriously - think of one band in the last 15-20 years that has come through Academy unsigned gigs...
* When was the last time you randomly thought i'll go and check out a band at Academy Unsigned gig compared to the NQ venues such as Night & Day, Roadhouse, Dry bar,Ruby Lounge or other venues such as Deaf Institute etcSo think - don't be blinded by the lights - just keep re-reading the above!!!
BATTLE OF THE BANDS
Apart from Road To V, Orange Unsigned and Glastonbury Emerging how many BOTBs winners can you name that have gone on to great success.There's a couple of notorious BOTBs comps we'd advise staying clear off, but if a comp involves about 6 or 7 stages to the final with tickets increasing to £10/12 we'd suggest steering clear of them
FREE ENTRY GIGS
Free Entry gigs aren't bad as such - in fact a couple of years ago we ran free entry weekly shows at Bar Amp in South Manchester and put on hundreds of bands over 2 years (and we also have a few free entry events as part of Hungry Pigeon Festival)However those were the days when bands could play a free show, but make some money selling CDS in a venue that was aimed 7 days a week at indie / alternative music fans.
Nowadays its a free download to promote a free entry show on a poor PA, where only the bar (which on the other 6 days a week has karoake, R&B / chart pop nights) makes money.
At our shows we want bands to
A) Play through a great PA with qualified sound engineer
B) Get paid for the show which allows them to invest in new recordings / photoshoots / merch to further their career
C) And us have a marketing budget for flyers / posters to go all round ManchesterDespite us not doing Free Entry shows we always keep gigs to an average entry price of £5/6
** WANT TO PLAY A GIG - SIGN UP TO MAILING LIST - CLICK HERE **
** WANT TO PLAY A GIG - SIGN UP TO MAILING LIST - CLICK HERE **
© 2000-2010
Designer Magazine unless otherwise stated.
All Interviews by Alex McCann unless otherwise stated
NB: Please seek permission before using any articles within this siteContact us: designermagazine@hotmail.com
