Why it is so difficult for Saga to tour the US

[Uschi]

Basically it is for any prog band difficult to get to tour the US. From one discussion on an American Forum I took the contribution from one of the organizers of the CalProg Festival, so see for yourself:

Let me get this out of the way first...

The show featuring Erik Norlander and Lana Lane and most of the Rocket Scientists, and a new group called "Nima & Merge" (of downtown Disney fame) is TOMMOROW NIGHT @ Steamers Jazz club in Fullerton. That's Wednesday January 25. Check out the CalProg website for details: http://www.calprog.com

And let me add SoCal proggers that this is where it starts, Getting out to these shows on the rare occasions that they happen, even though it may force you to TIVO West Wing or Law and Order.

It's interesting reading everyone's speculation on this topic. I have plenty of my own as well. In addition I have been involved in collecting marketing data from prog shows going back to the Spock's Beard V tour where we got maybe 50 responses from stops throughout the country, to CalProg '04 where a fairly formal questionnaire was distributed to people who bought tickets and we got about 70 responses back. This has given us a little bit of tangible evidence as to what is going on in the minds of potential prog attendees. But by NO MEANS does this mean that I can render an expert opinion on this subject, but just that my educated guesses are slightly more educated. Here are some random points.

From the CalProg survey: 95% of respondents said that they learned of prog events through the internet. When asked the types of sites they visited the responses were fairly evenly split between "Mailing lists, messageboards, band web sites, and generalized prog rock sites". That isn't too surprising. This was consistent with the results of the V tour responses. But this next part (I thought) was: 50% of those people said they visited those sites once a month or less. This means that if your advertisement isn't in prime view on those sites during that one time in the month they visit it, they will never know about your event.

Three major events have been held at the Whittier venue in the last 2 years. The venue holds 400 people. Neal Morse (with Mike Portnoy) Testimony concert drew an OVER capacity crowd, mean ticket price was $40 and the event was on a Sunday night. CalProg 04 which featured 12 hours of prog by 5 bands on fourth of July weekend with a mean ticket price of $60 drew about 300 people. Here's the one that kills me, The Musical Box presented on a week night, mean ticket price $60, 2 hours of music, competing with the Henry Fonda Theater which holds 1200, and was held on the following Saturday, again drew an OVER capacity crowd, as did the Saturday Henry Fonda show. All of these events were marketed in basically the same way although the marketing has gotten somewhat more aggressive with each event. In addition there is a growing email list of people who have purchased tickets, which in my opinion is the most responsive group that is marketed to. Draw your own conclusions from these numbers.

At CalProg 1/3 (about 100 people) came from a distance of 200 miles or farther. About 50 came from other states. Prog fans will travel to see bands that are otherwise unavailable. In contrast, less than 50 people who attended TMB were from > 200 miles. 95% of respondents from the CalProg Q said they would be "extremely interested" in future CalProg events.

When it comes to the issue of advertising, especially here in SoCal where there are literally hundreds of music events offered every month, it is not cost effective to try to advertise via expensive mass media conventional means, because our target demographic is such a tiny microcosm of the general population. I truly believe that targeted marketing is the only effective way to advertise. The trick then becomes identifying your target demographic and getting the word out to the places they are likely to be found. This is where opinions start to vary all over the map. Here is my basic theory (FWIW): There are 3 main groups that are likely to be interested in prog shows.
1) Current prog fans who are abreast of the current wave of new prog (that's the obvious one)
2) People who were fans of the original wave of prog in the early 70's who are not aware that there is a new prog movement (old Genesis/Yes/ELP fans, etc)
3) The same people TODAY who got interested 30 years ago (college students exploring options "outside the box", musicians, free thinkers)
How we get at groups 2 and 3 is anybody's guess, but I'm sure we all can think of some creative ways to find those people. I DO know that at The Musical Box show (based on anecdotal evidence) at least 2/3's of the crowd was from group number 2. Many old prog fans came out of the woodwork for this show, and I seized that opportunity to let them know that there is a new wave of prog happening now, and to try to make them aware of CalProg and its undertakings. Whether that seed takes root will start to be known with tomorrow night's show at Steamers, and even more so at CalProg 05.

OK, that's enough from me for now. I hope this has given you guys some stuff to think about. And next time you see me pushing a CalProg event and you wish I would get swept away by the next Tsunami, cut me some slack realizing the uphill battle that's being waged!


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PapaJ's Matinee - Web Radio
Saturday 7:00pm Pacific
http://www.deliciousagony.com
CalProg Live CD w/Morse, Izz and Norlander:
http://www.calprog.com

[Mdf34]

It still boils down to if not having hits get airplay on the radio, which boils down further to who controls the radio stations and the demographic they want to pursue.

[Uschi]

Prog bands don't get airplay, what so ever, but the internet is a vital tool in spreading the news. If you have a forum with more than 2000 subscribers with several hundred reading daily then this is a good place to make advertisement for the own music or have people doing it for you.

Believe me, I wouldn't have a clue about Strangefish, Karda Estra and many other UK bands if it wasn't for the internet.

The radio and music industry simply has shiftet too much away from art to artificial