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Update on Postering Downtown
| Message Board > General Chitchat > Update on Postering Downtown |
| Metropol User Info... | Hi Everyone - just wanted to give an update on the poster situation in downtown Victoria. Two months ago a thread was started on this site in which several promoters outlined their concerns about the current climate of postering. Key concerns included overpostering, the drain on time and resources that goes along with postering and the tremendous waste of paper involved. The thread resulted in a meeting at Thursdays Pub in early February which was well attended by the parties involved and the media. At this meeting, we unanimously agreed to reduce our postering to one event per pole. Three weeks after this meeting - convinced that there was a need to a poster management service - Metropol Event Poster Services was launched. Metropol's clients have agreed to put up one poster, every second pole in a zone system that allows for 18 different posters to be displayed on each corner. Largely the system is working. Currently, Metropol's clients include Atomique Productions, Steamers Pub, Soundgarden, Lucky Bar, Upstairs Cabaret, S.O.S. Productions, High Tide Entertainment, Drive Through Productions and Enigmatica Entertainment. In the last three weeks, Metropol's clients have put up an estimated 17,000 less posters than they otherwise would have. Metropol employs two people that were poster people for other venues, negotiated so there would not be too much displacement in this job market. I spend most of my day picking up posters, sorting them into bags, negotiating contracts, and trying to get my clients to pay (part of doing business). I am also working very hard on getting the city to replace the worn out and out-dated cylinders downtown with larger, more efficient ones. Currently the city is working on a prototype for these cylinders, based on design specifications submitted by Metropol. We should start seeing these cylinders in the next four weeks. No word yet about cylinders outside of downtown, but I assure you that the pressure is on. With this amount of work going into this concept - spending a tremendous amount of effort making sure everyone is advertised fairly on a free resources - it is disheartening to have someone come along and cover an entire 18 events with 2. To the independent promoters: Everyone has the right to advertise on the poles - but recognize that there are a lot of people out there (namely the bar your show is in) trying to make postering an economically and environmentally friendly way to advertise all of our events equally. Please, on behalf of my clients, put up one poster per pole - or better yet, one every second pole like we do. Or contact Metropol to get your event in rotation with everyone else's. The rates are fair and your will use far less posters. It will create a better scenario for everybody. I promise you that. For more info on Metropol, check out the website at http://www.moondude.tv or some recent media links at http://www.mondaymag.com/monday/editorial/8_2003/features.htm and http://www.canada.com/search/story.aspx?id=52f1b4a1-1efe-4759-9628-74e616f6823f Thanks for supporting the scene, Steve Webb Metropol EPS [email protected] (250) 884-6944 - Wed, 12 Mar 2003 5:13pm | ||
| Bullshit detector | SCREW YOU STEVE YOU GREEDY BASTARD..YOUR BULLSHIT COMPANY DON'T WORK AND ALL OF YOUR CLAIMS ARE FALSE! POSTERS ARE GETTING EVEN LESS EXPOSURE TIME THAN BEFORE AND MANY PEOPLE ARE NOT PAYING ANY ATTENTION TO YOUR LITTLE MONOPLIES RULES..GIVE IT UP OR WE WILL MAKE YOU BY ALWAYS POSTERING OVER YOUR SHIT..WHAT WE DON'T NEED IS ANOTHER COST ASSOSIATED WITH THE ALREADY EXPENSIVE ENDEVOR OF PROMOTION FOR LOCAL SHOWS. METROPOLE IS TOAST!! - Wed, 12 Mar 2003 6:58pm | ||
| Anonymous | Wow, "nice" first reaction. Good for someone for stepping up to the plate and trying to do something, no matter what their motivating factor. Good luck with it. - Wed, 12 Mar 2003 7:50pm | ||
| Metropol User Info... | Hi BULLSHIT DETECTOR - thanks for your comments. Metropol is a poster management company, not a monopoy. I offer a service to anyone who holds events an opportunity to advertise on a level playing feild. Ask my clients how they feel about ther service. Seroiusly. Call Lucky, Steamers, Soundgarden or Atomique. Speak to the numerous independent promoters I've helped out over the last couple of weeks. Ask Wayne Carlow at the City of Victoria or City Council how they feel about the amount of paper Metropol has saved. Ask supporters of music, the arts and culture in general how they feel about an ability to economically spread the word about what they do in the space that is provided for EVERYONE. Ask them how it feels to be part of a community that supports each other. The big picture, my friend, lies in everyone's success. In the end, we benefit by working together. Metropol supports the big picture; and that is far, far more vast than your $5 at the door show. How did that last one work out for you? Did the $250 you spent on postering pay off? Was it worth is suffocating the 31 events Metropol advertised last week with your 1 event to bring 50 people out? Hold on, let me get a calculator... Best of luck in your future endeavors, Steve Webb Metropol EPS [email protected] (250) 595-2899 - Thu, 13 Mar 2003 4:24am | ||
| Mike- Esquampton | Silly Steve, our 200 posters cost, i think it was $15.54 to print and twenty-four bones for the artwork. We postered for free and it took less than 45 minutes combined, all over the place, not just in town. Grand total of $39.54 and that was covered by the return of our empties. We poster because that is our belief, we poster because we are not here to make anyone money and that even goes for ourselves, if we do thats a bonus but its not about the money. The idea is to spend less not because we are cheap but just because. Almost forgot the other bands chipped into the fund and the cost for everyone was less than a soda pop! Now go have a rootBEER big feller. - Thu, 13 Mar 2003 6:34am | ||
| Anonymous | We post one per pole and if possible overtop of expired gigs. There should not be just the 'one' but good on ya fer helpin out. - Thu, 13 Mar 2003 6:46am | ||
| Metropol User Info... | Hey Mike - If you only put up 200 posters for a show (let's say over a week) on your own time (which you don't mind doing) and only spend $40 to do it - keep up the good work. You don't need Metropol. We just ask that you continue to respect our efforts (one per pole please). I'd be careful of anything you put up "all over the place, not just in town" because anything you put up on a hydro pole could net those nice folks at the venue that got the the gig a $100 fine and a possible suspension of their liquor license. - Thu, 13 Mar 2003 12:36pm | ||
| Anonymous | Some of the venues don't advertise EVERY show. I've done shows where the venue doesn't advertise the show independently of my own postering, and basically the reason I was doing my own postering was because the venue wasn't. Sounds like a 'catch 22' to me. If you watch over a period of time, it's the 'bigger' bands' that the venues poster for. The venues don't bother to poster for the 'smaller' bands because the expense won't be made up for at the door. The venues will make up posters for out-of-town bands and the more established bands in town, but what about us? We're playing the same venue as the other bands that get the postering done for them, yet we must do our own. Can Metropol make sure that EVERY single little band playing these venues gets advertised? - Thu, 13 Mar 2003 12:44pm | ||
| Metropol User Info... | We'll try our best. It's working at Steamers. I think we're currently getting about 90 of the bands at Lucky on the poles. Metropol holds a 3 zone contract with Lucky and Liam has told the bands to give him the posters instead of attacking a system he subscribes to. He, in turn, gives them to me and we work them in to the two runs a day, and can often spread them our further so the coverage is better. If you have a show at one of the major venues in town, and want to know if you're being represented - call Metropol. If we are not currently running your poster, we will find a way to. - Thu, 13 Mar 2003 1:18pm | ||
| brandon User Info... | ha! - Thu, 13 Mar 2003 1:20pm | ||
| Anonymous | bullshit detector and mike squamton are obviously morons who are only interested in their little events rather than the big picture...keep up the good work metropol - Thu, 13 Mar 2003 1:43pm | ||
| FINALLY | no doubt. Victoria needs a system like this. Before postering downtown was a lot of walking for a lot of posters with very little exposure since they kept getting covered by the next guy. Average lifetime of a poster 30 mins or so? not a lot of time since most people don't have the time to hang around downtown all day every day making continous runs. Maybe if the bars have to spend less on poster promotion they'll have more to pay the bands or more expensive/effective forms of promotion. This solution is good for bars and bands. "MORONS" like you are obviously 15 year olds in a "band" who have no idea how this town actually works. If you are, however, over the age of 15 and/or have extensive gigging experience in town, your stupidity is overwhelming. - Thu, 13 Mar 2003 1:48pm | ||
| atomique User Info... | As far as we're concerned Metropol is doing a great job, and we intend to keep on using their services. Look at who their clients are so far. The fact all those entities can agree on using the same service is a major acomplishment in its own right. As far as I can tell Metropol is not demanding that you use their service, or trying to control all postering. They are simply asking that if you don't, that you have a little bit of courtesy. Is that really so bad of them to ask? Dimitri - Thu, 13 Mar 2003 3:46pm | ||
| anthonymous | It baffles me that anyone would think this is a bad idea. Bullshit detector and squampton should realize that there is always room for competition. I see this as a true promoter trying to find a way to give people the exposure they need, without wasting everyones time. Constant overpostering is embaressing and shortsighted. Finally someone has come up with a good idea and those that lack brevity react, fueled by their own lack of understanding. To call metropol a monopoly is silly, no-one stands guard at the poles. - Thu, 13 Mar 2003 4:42pm | ||
| Anonymous | Exactly! No one guarantees the posters will be seen ...but metropol makes money regardless. Just one more outfit makin' money off the backs of musicians! - Thu, 13 Mar 2003 5:03pm | ||
| Chris Logan User Info... | I don't see how Metropol is a monopoly--if someone else can provide the same service cheaper, faster, and/or better, more power to 'em. Whether or not you choose to use Metropol, covering up other people's posters 3 at a time is just stupid. - Fri, 14 Mar 2003 1:58am | ||
| Anonymous | dimitri's a snake - Fri, 14 Mar 2003 11:44am | ||
| Bong | I'm still convinced that postering is not even worth the time at all..but the simple way to tell is to survey the people at your next show..ask the front door staff to ask about were they heard about the show? Monday, radio, TV, Poster...I bet poster is at the bottom..I wish steve the best of luck cause he is a nice hard working guy and ya gotta love that!, but I think in the long run there are way better ways to get your event known...radio ads are cheeper than you think ..TV too.. and most club owners would glasdly take the $50 bucks you spend on posters and increase the size of their Monday Ad to feature your show...Monday is seen by 100,000 people a week, how many do you think see a poster on a pole? - Fri, 14 Mar 2003 12:12pm | ||
| ROSS B AY User Info... | Actually, it depends on what style yer band is. Most shows I've played, almost everyone says they saw the poster and that's how they knew. It works really well for punk and metal bands, mostly because those fans hang out in the street lots! I guess for rock bands and other styles, it wouldn't work so well, but why not do it anyways? It's cheap as hell if you have the means, and if you have the time, there's no reason why not to. I know I don't play shows without postering first, I'd rather put in the work, even if it means only 10 more people show up. It creates word of mouth. - Fri, 14 Mar 2003 12:57pm | ||
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