Fran Snyder | musician | favorite artist | founder

Try This at Home

Have designs for turning your living room into a musical mecca? ConcertsInYourHome.com founder Fran Snyder offers a few tips for budding promoters.

Where to Begin
While a site like Fran Snyder’s is a good start, it’s just as simple to look up a musician you love and send a friendly e-mail or two. Let the musician know that you’re a fan, your friends are fans, and you’d love to host a show if he or she comes through town. Guaranteeing a crowd and a bed to crash on is no small thing for the up-and-coming touring musician. Be a Good Host Snyder calls house concerts altruistic, and in terms of local laws, they have to be lest a host run afoul of local licensing laws. Additionally, house-concert hosts typically offer the performer a place to sleep and a meal. Getting your guests to chip in some dishes à la potluck makes the latter easier and more fun.

Start Small
Keep in mind that a full band isn’t going to sound great in your living room. “Setting up a drum set is going to be rough acoustically and take up half the space,” Snyder points out. Unless you’ve rigged a stage in a spacious backyard, you’ll want to stick to solo artists and duos.

Regularity Isn’t Necessary
Though some die-hard music fans host frequent events, Snyder recognizes that not everyone wants to “rearrange their furniture every month.” It’s common to limit your philanthropy to a favorite artist or band, and musicians tend to prefer having a favorite fan in a given city to visit on an annual basis.

Don’t shout, “Freebird!”
“When some people hear house concert, they think house party, ” Snyder says. With living-room concerts, don’t expect to shove a band in the corner while your friends mingle loudly; these musicians plan to perform their own songs and tell stories in between. “The beauty of house concerts is how well they focus the audience on the entertainer,” he says.