Hi there, I'm running a poll for a music cafe to be opened in singapore. If my dream is to open a music cafe that showcase all kinds of music talents in singapore, will it work. This cafe will serves nice local food and old favourites like coffee, tea... and encourages students, adults to performance. Don't have to strictly for english pop or chinese pop. But for anyone who loves music. Will its work? Don't have to earn big bucks but reasonably to survive for the month.
Music Cafe in Singapore
- Thread starter carinac
- Start date
The-Warlord
New member
Excellent Idea - Do it man!
As in any business, it depends more on your method, connectivity & some luck.
There are already a lot of live music cafe out there, so what make you think you can muscle in on a slice of the pie. So the above will play an important part.
It seems that you are not having a particular theme to run the place, which does not bode well. A saying "A jack of all trade, but master of none". Practically all drinking joint with music have a theme to follow, this is the basic model to work on.
You must look at the customer viewpoint. (Example. If I like oldies english rock, and I like a pub atmosphere, I become a 'resident' there. Then the next week they host a xinyao session, and I happen to be there, my mood will be lost, I may leave early, drink little. Worst, I go look for another pub to become resident.)
So although your idea is well meaning in theory, but practically, you can't hold on to regular customers. In business, it's the regulars which keep the business alive, casual customers are less important to the well seasoned businessman.
Having a regular theme is more advisable, and the norm is for pubs to have one night or so with "Free Jam Session". A bit trial and error for different pubs.
Just PM me if you need help on the music equipment setups.
There are already a lot of live music cafe out there, so what make you think you can muscle in on a slice of the pie. So the above will play an important part.
It seems that you are not having a particular theme to run the place, which does not bode well. A saying "A jack of all trade, but master of none". Practically all drinking joint with music have a theme to follow, this is the basic model to work on.
You must look at the customer viewpoint. (Example. If I like oldies english rock, and I like a pub atmosphere, I become a 'resident' there. Then the next week they host a xinyao session, and I happen to be there, my mood will be lost, I may leave early, drink little. Worst, I go look for another pub to become resident.)
So although your idea is well meaning in theory, but practically, you can't hold on to regular customers. In business, it's the regulars which keep the business alive, casual customers are less important to the well seasoned businessman.
Having a regular theme is more advisable, and the norm is for pubs to have one night or so with "Free Jam Session". A bit trial and error for different pubs.
Just PM me if you need help on the music equipment setups.
HeartRockSingapore
New member
Location!! Location!! Location!!
afterdeath
New member
sound kool 2 mi but $ wise........ how much u think u can afford 2 lose?....... 
:twisted:
:twisted:
I agree location is very important. But in SG, location is always tied to one factor, the more prime, the higher the price. No escaping.
So carving out a niche is the probable solution to escape cost. Even if you have a cheap setting (like...hmmm....Gillman Barracks), some advantage (eg..free ample and convenient parking, good beer...etc) and a speciality could spell a hideout crowd puller.
So carving out a niche is the probable solution to escape cost. Even if you have a cheap setting (like...hmmm....Gillman Barracks), some advantage (eg..free ample and convenient parking, good beer...etc) and a speciality could spell a hideout crowd puller.
The-Warlord
New member
mikemann said:
Although, the regular customers may be people who just like to go to a palce with ever changing live music...
The-Warlord said:
Hmmmmm.... could be, could be.....
If the pub owner is very very innovative, can be possible.
But a tot about this kind of crowd, fickle. So a fickle crowd could mean a fickle income. But overhead costs are not fickle, its very stable in running down a bank account without input.
Ya think quite a few music cafes in singapore le.. and for chinese music cafes like muchuan, ai qing hai, my opinion is that they are not as hot as before... dunno why...muchuan had to close down its suntec branch a few years back..
UNLESS you can think up a NEW, EXCITING idea that will attract pple to come..
Pier.
UNLESS you can think up a NEW, EXCITING idea that will attract pple to come..
Pier.
Maybe you can pick a rotating roster of 2 or 3 bands and build the musical concept around that.
A word on location.. Sometimes it's damn sickening to be stuck in the Clarke Quay area after all the MRTs and buses are dead, have to take taxi, so expensive! It wouldn't hurt to have this kinda thing in a busy HDB hub.
Not too glam la, but if it's local music you wanna promote.. What better place than at the doorstep of them local people?
A word on location.. Sometimes it's damn sickening to be stuck in the Clarke Quay area after all the MRTs and buses are dead, have to take taxi, so expensive! It wouldn't hurt to have this kinda thing in a busy HDB hub.
Not too glam la, but if it's local music you wanna promote.. What better place than at the doorstep of them local people?
rottenramone
Active member
..
think that the threadstarter will pull off moderate success if he was to create a niche audience amongst us.
a great example of a music pub would be prince of wales at little india. cheap beer and great ambience. but personally speaking, that's more for an "unplugged" setting. which suits most ppl fine, cos you're tired after work and wanna chill out with your friends without the music blaring over your conversations.
then maybe you can arrange those "let your hair down" evenings on fri and sat nights? have some hard rockers or ska bands those nights.
but please, get good bands who can get the audience's attention. good example would be the unexpected at wala wala. the band has great chemistry with the audience, but its too bad the audience doesn't appreciate their original material.
on a final note, to make it really really sucessful, you gotta have girls girls girls and girls. :lol:
think that the threadstarter will pull off moderate success if he was to create a niche audience amongst us.
a great example of a music pub would be prince of wales at little india. cheap beer and great ambience. but personally speaking, that's more for an "unplugged" setting. which suits most ppl fine, cos you're tired after work and wanna chill out with your friends without the music blaring over your conversations.
then maybe you can arrange those "let your hair down" evenings on fri and sat nights? have some hard rockers or ska bands those nights.
but please, get good bands who can get the audience's attention. good example would be the unexpected at wala wala. the band has great chemistry with the audience, but its too bad the audience doesn't appreciate their original material.
on a final note, to make it really really sucessful, you gotta have girls girls girls and girls. :lol:
MichaelAngelo
New member
ya, i agree with rottenman's idea that having a specific day weekly dedicated to rock. To add on, maybe have a specific and fixed day of the week for a different genre of music so people who wanna listen to their kind of music can come regularly and stick on with patronising the cafe! After some months of trial and error, maybe u find that this certain genre not attracting much customers, so u do away with it and make that day become a feature for the most popular genre as well, so more customers! 
rottenramone
Active member
..
hmm.. other fine examples are bar none, hideout.. and remember moods?
perhaps on those specific nights as michaelangleo suggested, you also shd get in touch with gig organizers such as aging youth, double yellow line, awakening, rockstar collective, etc to have a theme night of sorts.
hmm.. other fine examples are bar none, hideout.. and remember moods?
perhaps on those specific nights as michaelangleo suggested, you also shd get in touch with gig organizers such as aging youth, double yellow line, awakening, rockstar collective, etc to have a theme night of sorts.
hmm...
maybe, the cafe dun haf to be in town area.
okok, my pointers are:
-close to an mrt station or a bus interchange
-cafe area must be quite big for the crowd
-cannot sell alcoholic drinks coz u mentioned students performing
the "weekly dedication to a specific genre" might be a very good idea.
so, how about for weekdays, its a cafe for open performances. any bands who want to perform can like, book performance time or sumthing.
then on weekends, the cafe turns into a gigging ground, with different genres every week.
well, i'm juzz a kid. juzz giving opinions here...
hope it helps...
--peace--
maybe, the cafe dun haf to be in town area.
okok, my pointers are:
-close to an mrt station or a bus interchange
-cafe area must be quite big for the crowd
-cannot sell alcoholic drinks coz u mentioned students performing
the "weekly dedication to a specific genre" might be a very good idea.
so, how about for weekdays, its a cafe for open performances. any bands who want to perform can like, book performance time or sumthing.
then on weekends, the cafe turns into a gigging ground, with different genres every week.
well, i'm juzz a kid. juzz giving opinions here...
hope it helps...
--peace--
ellenshane
New member
heyhey i think thats an absolutely cool idea. if u have the money & the ideas, go ahead!! in fact if u need any people to join in, i'll be happy to help out. hahaha
actually there're some really cool music cafes in places like taiwan. the wall (http://www.the-wall.com.tw/news/sino/) is a great example. it combines cafe with live performances with fashion retail with a music school/music shop. there's even a tattoo shop! so its like this place where you can do everything related to music & fashion. by doing this u also can split rent, although u might have problems finding a suitable venue in singapore. nevertheless, i think its a very gd idea (if fact i've always wanted to do sth like this!) so u just DO IT!
all the best!
actually there're some really cool music cafes in places like taiwan. the wall (http://www.the-wall.com.tw/news/sino/) is a great example. it combines cafe with live performances with fashion retail with a music school/music shop. there's even a tattoo shop! so its like this place where you can do everything related to music & fashion. by doing this u also can split rent, although u might have problems finding a suitable venue in singapore. nevertheless, i think its a very gd idea (if fact i've always wanted to do sth like this!) so u just DO IT!
all the best!
It could well be a very good idea in Singapore! Lots of other countries have cafes with music themes, like the famous Crocodile Cafe in Seattle where Nirvana performed at. Perhaps you could showcase indie acts at first until profit margins are a bit wider than invite well known bands like Ronin or Electrico to perform there? Alternatively you could also tie in with event organisers to have like meet and greet sessions or autograph sessions there when overseas bands come over.
Mobius
New member
Or u can have something like a "Open Mic Night" where anyone is allowed to go up the stage to perform...
Or u can be ambitious and model ur cafe like the legendary CBGB in New york where it churn out bands like The Ramones and Blondie in the 70s and 80s
http://www.cbgb.com/
Or u can be ambitious and model ur cafe like the legendary CBGB in New york where it churn out bands like The Ramones and Blondie in the 70s and 80s
http://www.cbgb.com/
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