the economics behind a social club

The primary source of our funding comes from annual members dues, followed by ticket sales, followed by donations. Membership dues helps us de-prioritize making money from alcohol, which in turn aligns our interests with our members; everyone’s good time to come from the experience. We strongly believe that forming a private club for people who love similar kinds of live music where the members pay annual dues allows us to think about programming and vibe and less about liquor profits.

Why did going to small concerts and shows start to suck so bad? Because, by and large, most of what you pay for a ticket to see a show goes to the artist (and venues often have to pay a deposit months in advance), the ticketing companies, and in some cases the promoters, who are often the ticketing companies, too. What’s left goes to the venue, but if the tickets don’t sell, the venues take it in the shorts. So…booze became the primary financial mover of venues. We love cocktails probably more than the next person, but in order to make a bunch of money from booze a venue must charge a LOT, or hope their customers drink a lot, or ideally both. So, venues start rooting for not just the artists that draw large audiences, but also the large audiences that also drink a lot.

How it works for us…