Host Guidelines

Thank you for agreeing to host a CouchConcert. A CouchConcert is a private show in your home or other private area. A CouchConcert typically has 20-30 attendees that you, the host invite. The artist will perform for an hour. Guests will donate through the CouchConcert mobile App when they RSVP for the event.

The CouchConcert format is carefully designed to cultivate a consistently intimate experience for both artists and guests, deliberately avoiding the role of background music for parties. The establishment of an intimate "listening room" significantly enhances the overall experience for artists and attendees alike. The well-organized format also ensures that hosting an event is a straightforward and stress-free endeavor.

Key features of a CouchConcert event encompass:

• Ensuring that all attendees are comfortably seated around the artist.

• Setting the tone at the beginning of the event by requesting guests to keep conversations to a minimum (suggesting the use of another area for more extensive discussions).

• Adhering to a structured schedule, with the performance beginning 30 minutes after the doors open and guests departing within 30 to 60 minutes post-performance.

• Discouraging late arrivals after the performance has started to maintain the event's flow.

• Actively promoting donations and encouraging attendees to engage in post-event conversations with the artists.

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Hosting a CouchConcert is easy and will not take a lot of time. We have compiled a list of host responsibilities, tips, and pointers to ensure your event is successful. The list is separated into the following categories

• Identify Space

• Selecting Artists and Planning the Event

• Day of Event

• After the Event

Identify Space

The event should be intimate, so you will only need a small space. Traditional homes work well for CouchConcerts: living rooms, garages, patios, and backyards. If you don't feel like you have enough room at home, other options could be a community room, a shared neighborhood space, an apartment complex, business conference rooms, churches, or even off-hours at a winery or coffee shop.

The space should allow all guests to be seated close together directly in front of where the artist will perform. You should not have guests standing or listening from a separate room. Seats could be blankets outside or small mats inside the living room, but you want everyone seated. If people are standing or too far away, they will be more likely to chat. If you are outside, keep all the guests in front of the artist in a tight space with no physical barriers between the viewing area and the artist. Keep the environment intimate. A CouchConcert is not about creating background music for a party. The artist is the focal point of the event.

Selecting an Artist and Planning the Event

It is up to the host to find an Artist for their event. Hosts can review the various artists available and watch their promo videos. If there is an artist that you are in contact with that is not on the platform, you can invite them through the platform to join and then schedule them for an event. The CouchConcerts App only enables artists to communicate with host if a host has initiated contact.

Once you have identified an artist, you can create an event request for a specific date or a range of dates. The artist will review the request and you can message back and forth with the artist within the app and agree on a date. When the artist agrees to the event, they will confirm through the app. At that point, you can publish the event and invite guests.

To make the event financially viable for the artist, you should have 20-30 people attend the event. Inviting about twice as many people as you expect to attend. You can invite a guest that is not on the platform by providing their name and email. The guest will be notified of the invitation and provided instructions for responding.

The host always controls who is invited (or allowed to invite others to the event). There are options the host can turn on and off to control who can invite people to the event including:

• Only the host can invite guests

• Artist are allowed invite guests

• Guests are allowed invite guests

• Public is allowed to request an Invite

• Public is allowed to attend without an invite.

When publishing the event, you can let your guests know you will be providing and what you would like them to bring. This doesn’t need to be a big ordeal with lots of foods and drinks. You could provide a few snacks and ask guest to bring the beverage of their choice, you could have a pot luck, or you can keep it simple and provide water and tea and focus on the music. It is entirely up to you, but the food and drink should not distract or delay the performance.

We will not share your phone or email address. It is your choice whether to provide it to guests or artists. The host will have access to the contact information for people in your venue crew as well as to guests that have accepted the invite. The event address will only be provided to guests once they accept the invite.

Hosts and guests that have accepted the invite have a forum to post questions and comments before or after the event. This is a great way to keep people enthusiastic about the upcoming events. You can post (or email out) artist videos, songs, and interesting facts about the artist; this will drive up attendance.

If you would like help selecting an artist or are having trouble getting a response from an artist, please contact us at info@couchconcert.com

Day of Event

On the day of the event prepare the seating area for the guests. Ask the artist if they have any specific needs for the performance area. Please provide a table for Artists to display and sell their merchandise. The merch table is where the artists will interact with the guests after the show, so it is helpful to put it where people walk by it when leaving.

The host should provide a donation container. The container should be labeled and placed in front of where the artist will be playing.

The following is a typical timeline for an event that starts at 7:00 PM.

6:00 Artist arrives, sets up, and discusses logistics with the host.

7:00 Guests arrive and mingle with the artist and other guests.

7:25 Get people seated/hand out program.

7:30 Show begins.

8:30 Show ends, encourage donations artist moves to the merch table

9:15 Guest leave

It is essential to stick to the event timeline. Five minutes before the performance, the host or a designee should go around and encourage guests to move to their seats. If the artist has a program guide, this is an excellent opportunity to hand it out to the guests.

At the start of the event, the host should briefly introduce the artist and encourage the audience to silence their phones and discourage talking and distractions.

Just as the artist finishes their last song, the host should immediately stand up and thank the artist and everyone for coming. The host should hold the donation box and remind people this is a donation-based event. While this kind of announcement may be difficult for some, it is critical to the event's success. Remember, we do this to help our artists earn a living wage.

As part of the announcements, remind the guests to go onto the app and rate the event. Let them know it helps you and the artist to get a rating. You can also encourage the guests to post their pictures on the event page on the app.

After thanking the artist, you can help the artist move quickly to the merch table.

After the Event

After the event, a small but significant step is for the host to rate the artist. The rating is just four of five questions and a spot to give the artist a specific comment.

It is also a great idea to send a thank you note to the artist and all of the attendees. As part of the thank you note, it would be great to encourage guests to host an event on their own.

Tips and Pointers

1. Keep the audience Focused and Quiet - The intent is to create an intimate, magical experience for the audience. Just before the event starts, get everyone in their seats and encourage them to give the artist their undivided attention for the next 60 minutes. Designate a place for people to go if they need to make a call or have a conversation. Quickly address any distractions during the performance.

2. Encourage Donations - While this can be difficult for some, it is important to remember that CouchConcerts are about having fun and helping the artist earn a living wage. Your guests would undoubtedly be spending more if they went to see the artist in a public venue and it would be great to funnel some of this money directly to the artist.

3. Weekday Events - Please consider hosting some of your events during the week. Most people tend to have weekend events which restricts the artist to only working 2 or 3 days a week. Hosting a weekday event is highly beneficial to the artist. If you keep the event timely, people can still be home in plenty of time to get a good night's sleep.

4. Should Kids be Allowed? - Generally, the event should be for adults or at least restricted to younger folks who can sit quietly and pay attention for an hour. The event is intended to be an intimate experience; any noise and interruptions can detract from that. If the guest list includes people with young kids, consider having a babysitter and setting them up in a separate room to play or watch a movie.

5. Dogs and Cats? We love animals, but they can be a real distraction during a performance. Please put them away or take them to a friend’s house. You can bring them out right after the performance.

6. Sound System: Make sure the sound system and any PA equipment (if needed) are appropriate for the space. You want everyone to be able to hear, but it should not be too loud. Even if the event is outside, you want to keep people close enough to create an intimate atmosphere. Loud music could create problems with your neighbors and will also diminish the quality of the event.

7. What is a host guaranteed event?  For normal CouchConcert events the guests are requested to make a donation (default $20) when they RSVP for an event. For Host Guaranteed events, guests are invited, but not expected to make donations on the App. The Host can choose to donate the artist entirely themselves or guarantee a minimum donation for the artist. In the latter case the guests would be expected to make donations during the event. If the donations fall short of the minimum the host would cover the balance. The guaranteed amount is equal to the recommended donation (typically $20) times the minimum number of attendees typically 20.

We encourage hosts to have guests purchase tickets as opposed to setting up host funded events. Typically, artists will make more money from the combination of RSVP donations and donations at the event.

Normally a $4 platform fee is paid by the guests to fund the CouchConcert platform and our operation. However, in the case of Host Guaranteed events, guests are not making donations on the platform. In this case we charge a platform fee of $100 to the host when they publish their event.

1. What is your venue crew? The venue crew is a distribution list of people you commonly invite to your events. There is also a venue crew chat page where you can interact with your crew (e.g., asking what artist they might like to see next) or pick a good time for a future event.

2. What if not enough people accept the invite? To ensure you get enough people to your event you should invite 2 times the amount of people you expect to attend. You should send the invites out early and send regular ticklers to keep people interested.  If attendance is low two weeks before the event, you should assertively reach out to guests that have not responded.

• A week before the event, you have three options if attendance is still low.

• Go ahead with the event and pay for the remaining tickets yourself. Talk to the artist and decide if they want to:

• Go ahead with a smaller crowd

• Cancel the event, do not cancel the event less than one week in advance.