Bar owners are an interesting group of people to work with.  There are lots of bars around Cincy that have live music.  Some of them are very successful and some…not so much.  But there is a trend in area bars lately that is discouraging for musicians and, I believe, reflective of a growing number of clueless bar owners.  Years ago when a band made an arrangement to play at a bar, the understanding was that the bar brought in the crowd, and the band's responsibility was to keep the crowd.  Sure, the bar owner wanted the band to draw a few more people than their regulars, but all in all, the ratio was somewhere around 75% of the crowd belonging to the bar and 25% coming because of the band.  Lately, there are more and more bar owners that expect the band to come in and fill their club.

We played at a bar not too long ago that we never played at before.  As with most bar owners, the owner of this place asked us how our crowds are at other bars when he booked us.  We told him we do pretty well everywhere we go (even in the part of town this bar is in).  We rarely play to less than 50 people and usually have over 100.  On the night we played at his place, only 29 people came through the entire night.  It was definitely a small crowd, especially for a bar that holds 225.  To us, it was just one of those fluke nights.  A lot of our regular followers didn't come because we were on our 4^th week in a row playing and because the bar was far out of the loop.  Let's face it, as supportive as our friends and family can be, it's hard to get motivated to drive a long way to go see the band you just saw the last three weekends.  So the crowd we brought was small and the bar's regulars didn't exist.  The manager of the place shut us down after our second set and paid us much less than our agreed upon amount.  We could have been jerks about it but it doesn't do us any good if a bar owner loses money on a night we play there so we let it go.  We've always been willing to give the bar owner a break if they have a tough night (unlike most bands), but we usually draw enough people that it's never come up.  While we were packing up, one of the bartenders and the manager that night (who I think is also a co-owner) came up to us and said we were one of the best bands to ever play there.  The next day, the owner of the bar calls and says we aren't welcome back there and blamed us for the worst night he's ever had.  Go figure.  Again, we could have been jerks but instead just told him "do what you gotta do."

I've played in lots of bars in my life and I've known many bar owners.  I've seen what it takes to make a bar successful and I've seen mistakes that unsuccessful bar owners make.  When you rely on your entertainment to bring in 100% of your crowd, you are in trouble.  That is one of the sure signs that a bar is dying.  Bar's are supposed to be places that have an atmosphere that make people want to come and hang out with their friends.  It's the bar that brings them there and the band that keeps them there.  A place that only brings people in because of their entertainment isn't a bar, it's a theater.  There are definitely some bar owners and managers out there that know their shit and do what it takes to make their bars successful.  Rick's Tavern, Putters, and Drew's On The River are a few.  They realize that you have to create an inviting atmosphere and let people know about it.  They spend money on marketing, they work out advertising deals with liquor vendors, they hold special events, they know that they have to do more than just open their front door to bring people in.  This guy that blamed us for his worst night ever is trying to be successful without doing any of that.  He bought a bar that already had a reputation for being a problem.  He changed the name to something that sounds like a seedy biker hangout.  He doesn't put anything into marketing (people that live within 5 miles of the place didn't even know about it when I mentioned it).  And he expects the bands to bring in all the people.   He's putting his fate into the hands of a bunch of musicians who really don't have a vested interest in his place (and let's not forget that many musicians aren't the most upstanding, responsible people).  I'll bet by next summer the place is closed.

It's frustrating.  There are a lot of bars out there that are like that now.  They come and go in less than a year.  They look promising when they first open and then you play there and realize that they are run by people who didn't want to get a real job and are too lazy to do what it takes to make the place a hit.  I guess it's up to us to find the good bars and stick with them – to not try to play everywhere, but to find a few that are professional and know how to run a club. 

So to the good bar owners we have worked for: Drew's On The River, Putters, The Mason Pub, we say thanks!  To all the others…well, you won't be around long anyway so it doesn't really matter.