Elsewhere, an independent Brooklyn venue, is taking a new approach to ticket buying for its loyal patrons. Starting today, the multi-room venue will broadly launch a $2 to $30 monthly membership program offering tiered perks like free admission to shows, access to the venue’s Discord, and new music discovery. To do.
Freaks With Benefits is the cheapest tier at $2/month and offers perks like free coat checks, the ability to skip lines, and access to venue members-only Discord channels. At $6/month, Sonic Explorer offers members and guests unlimited tickets at half price and also offers Freaks With Benefits perks. For $30 a month, Patron Saint Membership offers free admission to shows and parties, half-price tickets for guests, reserved tickets to sold-out shows, free merchandise, and all the tier benefits mentioned above.
“Unlimited” free or discounted admissions included in the two higher tiers are marked with an asterisk. To reserve these tickets, members must book in advance and are subject to a “space permit.” Booking options are built into the backend of her website at Elsewhere, allowing members to book up to eight events at once. The venue has been beta testing her membership program since November, with 600 of her people signing up for her first 50 slots in just 48 hours. Jake Rosenthal“A big part of the testing was figuring out what this particular calculation is that feels like it’s getting enough access or feels like it’s very valuable,” he said. Limited reservations help members prioritize shows and prevent them from being “parked” at every show, which Rosenthal says is not sustainable.
“There is no limit to the number of events you can attend at a discount or for free,” explains Rosenthal. Book he uses one.But if you want to go to Elsweyr every night [without a reservation]you can do it forever and indefinitely.
The new program will help drive more customers to the venue. That means more artists being discovered, more bar and merchandise sales, and better show attendance, he says. While lower ticket prices for members mean less money to pay artists if a show sells out (Rosenthal says about 15% of shows meet this criteria), venues are more likely to pay more for memberships. They only hold a small portion of the rooms for reservations and artists are made. I am aware of the program in my contract.
“For 85% of our events, the incentives for artists and Elsewhere are very aligned,” says Rosenthal. The idea was, “How can we encourage people to attend the event, for example, because they are unfamiliar with the artist? Another reason is that $30 is too much, It’s possible we didn’t get to see what they were working so hard on.”
As Rosenthal puts it, the membership program is not a money-making venture, it’s about building community rather than offering VIPs the velvety treatment. That’s a long-standing goal of him and his Elsewhere co-founders. Durv Chopra and rami hykal manninghas been involved in Brooklyn’s DIY underground music scene for years. The three ran Williamsburg venue Glasslands Gallery before it closed in 2015, and opened her Elsewhere in 2017, which hosts more than 600 shows a year. Membership is also a way of recognizing the price pressures many face in and around New York. world.
“If you come to Elsewhere once or twice a month or more, you’re already doing your part to support the music scene in our community, so you can spend $30 five or six times a month. It shouldn’t have to be spent, says Rosenthal, “It’s built in that spirit to bring our communities closer together and make it cheaper to come more often.”