Making money as a local venue in 2024: Dhruv Chopra, founder of Brooklyn venue Elsewhere, talks memberships, building community, and how Gen Z gig-goers want more than cheap beer
Ep. 159: Dhruv Chopra, co-founder/CEO of Brooklyn venue Elsewhere, joins Joe Sparrow to talk about finding new ways of running local independent venues. Dhruv and Elsewhere are reaching around to find a new business model in a new gig-going world. Today, music is consumed, created, performed, played, discovered, experienced and valued differently – and yet, the basics of live music are the same: a group of people in a room while some music happens. So Elsewhere is trying something that is both the same, and yet different – by exploring what a local live music venue can be in 2024, and how it can make money. The model that they have landed on involves a subscription membership, a digital Discord community, and a real-life “cultural epicentre”. It’s perhaps all the things that local venues have always been, but with more explicitly-defined models and platforms. Dhruv also talks about the state of the small venue ecosystem in a post-pandemic era, when young consumers are demanding more from their live experiences than cheap beer, and $150 stadium show tickets are monopolising the budget of gig-goers. Elsewhere: https://www.elsewhere.club Dhruv's music pick: Herbie Hancock, Michael Brecker & Roy Hargrove - Directions In Music - Live At Massey Hall https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8nB_kzUf2w ------ 👋 The Knowledge, Music Ally’s free weekly newsletter: musically.lnk.to/knowledgepo 👉 FREE Amazon Music for Artists courses & certification: https://learn.musically.com/courses/amazon-music-for-artists/ 🎉 You may be eligible for a FREE Music Ally subscription, worth over £400/year, via our corporate and sponsored subscriptions. If you work for a DSP, a major label, an indie label, or if you’re an artist manager, an employee of a CMO or a publisher, check here to see if you’re eligible: musically.com/subscription-options Ⓜ️ Subscribe to Music Ally's industry-leading analysis, reporting and news: musically.com/subscribe Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musicallybiz Twitter: https://twitter.com/musically Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/musicallyfb