I'm a musician and host of The Unstarving Musician podcast. Subscribe for conversations with working musicians, creative pros and industry professionals on the craft and business of sustainable creative careers.
Unstarving Musician | She abandoned club touring. Here's what the data showed.
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What would it take for you to completely abandon club touring? For Shannon Curtis, the answer was a five-month experiment that she didn’t plan — just house concert filler dates on a West Coast club tour, to see if anyone from her email list would host while she was passing through. After comparing the results, the decision was clear. On every measurable metric — revenue, mailing list growth, merchandise sales, social engagement — the house concerts were winning. Comprehensively. She hasn’t played a traditional venue in six years. Episode 349 is the full house concert business framework, drawn from five conversations: Shannon Curtis, Tom Meny (who calls himself a self-appointed house concert ambassador), Amy Killingsworth (who has hosted 25+ events and promotes across nine channels), Nicole Wagner, and my own earlier solo episode on the topic. THREE INSIGHTS FROM THESE CONVERSATIONS: 1. The economics are better than most venue gigs — at any size $20–25 per person, with attendance ranging from 30 to 150 guests at established series. That’s $600 to $3,750 per show before merch. Tom Meny played a barn in Rhode Island to 150 people. Shannon Curtis has families who’ve hosted her seven consecutive years. The format is standard: potluck, 45-minute set, break, 45-minute set. Ninety minutes total. 2. Breaking in is less mysterious than it seems Ray Prim described trying to learn about house concerts as “like trying to learn about the Illuminati.” But Amy Killingsworth — who has hosted 25+ shows — said what actually works: attend house concerts as a guest first, be explicit about your interest in performing, use Folk Alliance regional conferences (where hosts specifically set up hotel-room showcases to discover artists), and reach out to hosts with personalized, thoughtful communication. Generic emails don’t make the cut. 3. Build your own circuit rather than tapping existing networks Shannon Curtis looked at the established house concert matching platforms and found them too similar to venue booking — fees to apply, fees to access lists, cold outreach to strangers. Her model: work from your existing email list. Ask supporters if they want to host a show for their friends. Most of her new hosts each year were guests at someone else’s show the previous year. The community grows itself. 🎧 Episode notes and related links 🔗 WANT THE IMPLEMENTATION TOOLS? An upcoming edition of Liner Notes Insider includes the House Concert Launch Kit:
If you're not yet a Liner Notes subscriber, the free edition covers frameworks from this and 340+ conversations: Sign up for Liner Notes Liner Notes Insider gets you the complete implementation tools: Sign up for Liner Notes Insider Peace, love and more cowbell, This episode is brought to you by Podcast StartupWhether you're launching your first episode or adding video to your show, Podcast Startup eliminates the guesswork with the systems and strategies I've developed from producing 250+ podcast episodes—without the trial-and-error that cost me months. Learn more at UnstarvingMusician.com/PodcastStartup. Support the Unstarving MusicianIf you find value in this podcast, please consider a donation via our online tip jar – click, tip, done. Or visit UnstarvingMusician.com/CrowdSponsor to learn about the many other ways of showing your support. Your support = love 💟 Share this email and/or read it on the web Stay in touch! Feedback, comments, complaints? Reply to this email. I'd love to hear from you. 📭 Where to Listen to The Unstarving Musician Click here to listen on Apple Podcasts Click here to listen on Overcast Click here to listen on Spotify Click here to listen on YouTube Click here to listen on Pandora |
The Unstarving Musician
I'm a musician and host of The Unstarving Musician podcast. Subscribe for conversations with working musicians, creative pros and industry professionals on the craft and business of sustainable creative careers.
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