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From: The Troubadour <mike.agranoff@folkproject.org>
Sent: Tuesday, July 7, 2020 10:37 AM
To: 'FP Board' <fullboard@folkproject.org>
Subject: Troubadour Booking Report to the Board -- Supplemental July 7, 2020
NOTE: This addendum to my previously submitted report of July 1 is based upon developments subsequent to that date. New information is in this color. For those of you who do not receive formatted text in your email, I’ve attached a PDF of the report in color.
Resumption of Concerts
Very little to report. All Troubadour concerts and other activities a MUF have been canceled through the end of August. MUF will be closed through “the end of Summer” according to them, but I have no specific date for re-opening of the building from them. I asked for an update, and they will decide at their upcoming meeting on Monday, July 6. I will report any further information at Our Board Meeting on Tuesday. On the books, I have Troubadour and Open Stage events resuming in September with a provisional schedule as follows.
Sept 4: Mike Agranoff with the Annie Donahue Trio
Sept 11: Open Stage
Sept 18: Bill Staines with the Greystone Singers
Sept 25: Jean Rohe (new) with opening act TBD
All acts are aware that this schedule is provisional, conditions permitting. Those conditions primarily concern safety of the staff, performers, and attendees. But there are other factors to consider. Social distancing will likely reduce our room capacity, and therefore the ability to meet performers’ guarantees. If we decide to go ahead with the schedule, I may have to ask performers to renegotiate their guarantees. I will ask MUF to consider adjusting rent appropriately as well. I will ask the Board to come to a decision on whether to resume operations in September at the August meeting.
Morristown Unitarian Fellowship
I’ve heard back from the Unitarian Fellowship this morning, reporting on their meeting last night. They still do not have a firm date for resumption of Services in the Meeting Room. The best information I have is “We plan to keep the building and grounds closed for the rest of July. In August we will begin opening up the grounds and then the building.” This makes a resumption of Troubadour concerts in September less likely, as we’d need to know by the end of July if the building would be open by then. They also asked a number of questions about our plans regarding enforcing social distancing, and cleaning of the facilities after we’re done. I told them we’d follow whatever guidelines they would establish for their own Services. I had not thought about the cleaning of the facilities, and told them so.
Local COVID-19 Statistics
The COVID-19 statistics I had found at https://covid-19.direct/county/NJ/Morris have taken a turn for the worse since July 1 for Morris, Union, and Somerset Counties.
*average over the 7-day period preceding the date
This indicates that the probability of encountering someone with COVID-19 is still quite small, but reversing what had been an encouraging trend over the previous couple of weeks. It is worth noting that with numbers as small as these, the change of only one or two cases per day can make what seems to be a dramatic change. Also note that these are only new cases reported, not total cases out there.
Webcasting of Concerts
John Lamb has identified a web streaming service called OnlineConcertThing.com, that appears to be a similar operation to Concert Window. Its capabilities, monitizing services, and cost are comparable. I will look into establishing an account with them, and hope to resume live streaming of our concerts in September, or whenever we resume. I am thinking of going for a ticket price in the region of $5, instead of the $2 we charged with Concert Window, particularly if our seating capacity will be reduced due to Social Distancing. I’m contemplating a scenario where admission to our concerts is by advance sales only, so people will know in advance that they have a seat, and anyone without an advance ticket will watch the show online. These are all general concepts and ideas, and not yet firm policy. I will discuss all this with Jean Scully, John Lamb, John Mahon, Todd Dennison, and other interested parties before coming to any firm decision.
I have contacted OnlineConcertThing, and spoken at length with the founder, Ben DesChamps. I like what I’ve heard. It is a very small operation based in Toronto, currently consisting of only 3 people. All personnel are touring folk performers themselves, and started the operation to cover a perceived need in the community. Like Concert Window, the operation is primarily designed to serve musicians streaming their own concerts. However, they are more cognizant of venues and their needs, and are more willing to tailor the venues’ accounts to suit them. I discussed with Ben the difficulties we had in getting any technical help from Concert Window, and he assured me that this would not be the case with OnlineConcertThing. Unlike Concert Window, he gave me his personal phone number to call for tech support. John Mahon and I will run a test broadcast with MUF equipment in the weeks prior to our resumption of live concerts (whenever that may be).
ASCAP and BMI
I submitted 2nd Quarter reports to BMI and ASCAP consisting of letters informing them that we had no ticket revenue for the Quarter, and therefore incurred no charges. I also asked if we would still be liable for our minimum annual fees at the end of the year, considering the shutdown. Both organization have yearly minimums of around $250, which we exceed handily in a normal year.
Mike Agranoff
Program Chair
The Troubadour Acoustic Concert Series
Morristown, NJ. USA
www.Troubadour.FolkProject.org
From: The Troubadour <mike.agranoff@folkproject.org>
Sent: Wednesday, July 1, 2020 11:38 AM
To: 'FP Board' <fullboard@folkproject.org>
Subject: Troubadour Booking Report, July 2020
Very little to report. All Troubadour concerts and other activities a MUF have been canceled through the end of August. MUF will be closed through “the end of Summer” according to them, but I have no specific date for re-opening of the building from them. I asked for an update, and they will decide at their upcoming meeting on Monday, July 6. I will report any further information at Our Board Meeting on Tuesday. On the books, I have Troubadour and Open Stage events resuming in September with a provisional schedule as follows.
Sept 4: Mike Agranoff with the Annie Donahue Trio
Sept 11: Open Stage
Sept 18: Bill Staines with the Greystone Singers
Sept 25: Jean Rohe (new) with opening act TBD
All acts are aware that this schedule is provisional, conditions permitting. Those conditions primarily concern safety of the staff, perormers, and attendees. But there are other factors to consider. Social distancing will likely reduce our room capacity, and therefore the ability to meet performers’ guarantees. If we decide to go ahead with the schedule, I may have to ask performers to renegotiate their guarantees. I will ask MUF to consider adjusting rent appropriately as well. I will ask the Board to come to a decision on whether to resume operations in September at the August meeting.
One hopeful factor for resumption of our schedule are some statistics I have found at https://covid-19.direct/county/NJ/Morris, which is a site that tracks statistics for new cases of COVID 19 and deaths. As of yesterday, the number of new cases per day (averaged over the previous 7 days) is as follows:
(For those whose emails do not show formatted text, the above chart is also attached to this email as a PDF)
This indicates that the probability of encountering someone with COVID-19 is quite small. Not as small as those percentages imply, because that is only new cases reported, not total cases out there. But it’s an encouraging sign.
John Lamb has identified a web streaming service called OnlineConcertThing.com, that appears to be a similar operation to Concert Window. Its capabilities, monitizing services, and cost are comparable. I will look into establishing an account with them, and hope to resume live streaming of our concerts in September, or whenever we resume. I am thinking of going for a ticket price in the region of $5, instead of the $2 we charged with Concert Window, particularly if our seating capacity will be reduced due to Social Distancing. I’m contemplating a scenario where admission to our concerts is by advance sales only, so people will know in advance that they have a seat, and anyone without an advance ticket will watch the show online. These are all general concepts and ideas, and not yet firm policy. I will discuss all this with Jean Scully, John Lamb, John Mahon, Todd Dennison, and other interested parties before coming to any firm decision.
Mike Agranoff
Program Chair
The Troubadour Acoustic Concert Series
Morristown, NJ. USA
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