(I’m presuming the initial Jo Fo/Lewes connection came about through them playing This Is Tomorrow nights, though someone stop me if I’m wrong)

I suppose as there are a range of nights in Birmingham, all with their own approach to putting on bands, there are a range of different artists with their own styles too. I really like Lizzlizz - http://www.lizzlizz.com for example. It’s funny, lo-fi and generally leaves you with a smile.

I was just wondering at the end if we could get a list of artists or promoters together for everyone (I wasn’t originally thinking about The Autumn Store, but if someone wanted to help design a poster then do get in touch).

The question isn’t whether gig-goers will pay a premium on gig admission for high-quality posters, which they clearly won’t. It’s more a case of whether the expenditure on said posters will translate into increased turnouts and consequently more money on the door to pay the bands and what-have-you.

I half-agree with Peter’s comment above: while I don’t believe “slick” posters would harm the night in any way, neither do I think they’d be of much benefit. Good-quality printing simply isn’t an option for the promoter on a budget as short runs are prohibitively expensive (even if the art is cheap), and going by past experience our turnout was actually down on the month we did decent-quality colour posters!

However, the economics of such things will obviously vary from event to event. In the case of large-scale promoters like Capsule, they will certainly have to include such promotional costs in their budgets in order to help spread the word about their gigs- gorgeously designed as they are, they wouldn’t do them if they didn’t help them promote their nights and break even on their investment.

I’d also like to draw some attention to Matt of This Is Tomorrow, who’s done a fantastic job of branding his suite of nights using beautiful artwork penned by the enigmatic Lewes Herriot- I don’t doubt that his posters have helped him raise the profile of his events and consequently his turnouts.

Anyway, great post as ever Dunc.

I know a guy who’s involved with some sort of artist group of people based at the custard factory, I’ll have a word and see if this might be something he could bring up with them.

With that said, though, I’m sure most regular promoters with a recognisable identity (such as - say - The Autumn Store) would have a fan or two with a bit of artistic skill who wouldn’t mind chipping something in for free. There are some nice folks knocking about.