Concerts in Your Home

Fran Snyder and Other Artists Bring the Music to You

Story by Pete Dulin.

Published: Friday, March 21, 2008

Making music in small venues and intimate settings near the audience is a powerful way to encounter the shared experience of live performance. Two years ago, musician Fran Snyder launched a web site, www.concertsinyourhome.com, that serves as an online clearinghouse where musicians from across the country can be booked by music fans to perform in the host's home. CIYH is an online community with more than 400 artists, 300 house concert presenters, and the tools and resources to create, book, and promote a house concert series.

Hosting live performances by professional musicians (rock, pop, classical, folk, blues, bluegrass) in house concerts has grown steadily as a trend. Dwindling budgets and tour support from record labels for emerging artists has forced musicians to become more creative in promoting and performing their music before new audiences. Web sites such as MySpace.com are ubiquitous as a means of posting music and maintaining an online presence, but the proliferation of web pages clutters the field. Even when a band or artist gains traction, generates umpteen thousand "plays" of a song, and accumulates "friends" faster than a bacterial infection spreads in a high school, the task of bringing music directly to the masses is a daunting one.

For indie and unsigned acts, house concerts are a means of interacting directly with fans. House concerts enable artists to reach small clusters of people who can build effective word-of-mouth, buy CDs to support artists, and sustain musicians of all genres at the grassroots level of the entertainment ecosystem. Snyder's service aids artists eager to take their act on the road by taking some of the guesswork out of logistics - booking tour dates and locations, finding cheap accommodations for room and board, promoting a show locally on a shoestring budget, and building a fan base.

fran snyder 225 Snyder has released five recordings on his independent label, Better Records, toured and performed in 35 states, opened for acts including Cowboy Junkies, Don Henley, and Shawn Colvin. He has also produced other artists like Air's Beth Hirsch (now on Universal). Recently, his label released its first compilation CD, featuring 19 tracks from known and up-and-coming acts from around the United States. The disc is a promotional tool for the concept of house concerts as well the artists who are members of the CIYH site. Among the artists included are Michelle Malone, Sioban Quinn, Adrianne, Rod MacDonald, Jay Mankita, and Fran Snyder. So, he is more than a musician and entrepreneur who has built a better mousetrap; he has done so based on a wide range of firsthand industry experience. The singer-songwriter shares more details about how house concerts work.

Presenting: Fran Snyder, Co-founder of www.concertsinyourhome.com

Present: What is the format for a house concert and what is involved for the artist and the host?

Fran Snyder: Generally, the host and artist schedule a date, and agree on an amount for the suggested donation; often $10-15 per guest. Then, the host invites neighbors, co-workers, and friends and generally tries to get enough guests to fill the room where the performance will take place - usually 25-35 people. The artist may also invite a few local fans and friends to attend.

The performance is usually two 30-40 minute sets, with a 25-minute break in the middle, to allow people to stretch, refill, and purchase CDs. It's quite common to have a potluck dinner beforehand, to allow some social time before the show. Once the show starts - no distractions. The show is often like an intimate conversation between friends. The audience is up close, and the artist tells the stories behind the songs, and the kind of detail you often won't get in a traditional concert setting.

Hosts do this purely for the love of music and to entertain - the money is collected in a donation jar or hat, and all the money goes directly to the artist. Traditionally, hosts will also feed and put the artist up for the night. For a traveling artist, this can make even a modest turnout very rewarding, when they don't have to spend most of what they made on food and hotel for the night.