We have researched this odd custom (which amounts to an indirect form of scalping) and found interesting origins. Originally, in the 1920's, the "cover charge" was levied by a bouncer or monitor at the entrance of a nightclub to discourage people from coming into the place on packed-out nights, and this bit of cash usually ended up in the pockets of the bouncers. The nefarious charge was also used to keep out the local "riff-raff" as determined arbitrarily by management or the bouncer.
Somehow, this custom got warped into a way for venues to recoup the cost of their live music entertainment. In2une believes a cover charge ultimately hurts business. However, there are three situations In2une will accept as valid for the use of a cover charge:
- 1) It is levied when the house has reached capacity and there is a line waiting to get in (pay it as a bonus to the band).
- 2) You are offering your venue as a rental hall for bands to charge at the door to pay themselves (the bands provide the door person).
- 3) It is an pre-advertised admission price for a national touring act. (We discourage this because it introduces inconsistency in your venue offering-some people may be coming to your venue without knowledge of the national act. Advance ticket sales for reserved seating stage-side is far superior.)
Beyond these three situations, In2une strongly recommends against a cover charge. These are our reasons:
- Most local and regional bands can be seen elsewhere for free.
- The prime directive is to get people in the door to spend their money inside.
- Cover charge deprives you of a customer for food and drink.
- The band is competing with the bar and/or restaurant-a conflict of interest.
- It is better to have a person there buying nothing, than no person there (remember, once inside, you now have the opportunity to gain their participation and thus profit from their word of mouth after they leave).
- It is much easier to create that "critical mass" of attendance on a slow night.
- Using cover charge to pay the band fosters an atmosphere of mistrust, as it's your math against theirs (the exception is #2 above). And it is bad artist relations.
We have researched this odd custom (which amounts to an indirect form of scalping) and found interesting origins. Originally, in the 1920's, the "cover charge" was levied by a bouncer or monitor at the entrance of a nightclub to discourage people from coming into the place on packed-out nights, and this bit of cash usually ended up in the pockets of the bouncers. The nefarious charge was also used to keep out the local "riff-raff" as determined arbitrarily by management or the bouncer.