The biggest misconception about ArtRoom is that you need a large or fancy house to organize a concert. Of course it is nice if you are among the lucky few who do, but it is absolutely not required! Most ArtRoom concerts have taken place in small apartments in Boston and Amsterdam. Here’s how we made that happen:

• The closer you are to the musicians, the more you see and the more intimate the performance
• A standard ArtRoom concert only lasts 2x 20 minutes, thus many guests don’t mind standing, sitting close to one another or even sitting on some pillows on the floor
• An ArtRoom concert doesn’t have to be expensive. You can book an artist starting from €80. If you are looking to share the costs with your guests, you don’t need a big audience to cover the artist’s payment
• Artists have a fixed reward per concert, thus don’t mind playing for a small audience

You can host an ArtRoom concert anywhere you want! Our only criteria for artists is that they play music that is well suited for living room performances, mostly meaning it is acoustic. However, this music is also well suited for other venues. You are free to contact artists to perform in any venue – please always do inform them about the type of venue/event.

A special note on outdoor performances: not all instruments are well suited for outdoor performances. Typically, guitar and wind instruments work well. If your event is taking place outdoors, consider these types of artists or contact a different act but inform them about the situation.

You can always be lucky last-minute, but to be sure the artist with the right instrument and price range is available we recommend to contact artists at least one month prior to your concert date - ideally 6-8 weeks. In case you would like to organize a concert more last minute, we recommend being more flexible around your terms and contacting multiple artists simultaneously.

Currently we have not incorporated artists’ schedules into ArtRoom. You therefore first need to send them a request to check if they are available on the given date. Note we also require all communication between hosts and artists to go via the ArtRoom platform.

We send you a payment link about a week before the concert (TIKKIE in NL, Venmo in USA). You have to pay us before the start of your concert. ArtRoom charges a 10% booking fee to maintain the platform (this is included in your agreed upon compensation).

In case you indicated shared payment, you are still responsible to transfer us the full amount using the payment before the concert. You can collect the contribution of the audience yourself using your preferred method (e.g. TIKKIE, Venmo, cash, wiebetaaltwat, splitwise, etc)

We hold the payment in escrow until 72 hours after completion of the concert before we pay the artist. This allows you 72 hours after the start time of your concert to inform us of any problems with your booking.

In the unfortunate event your artist cancels, you are free to contact a new artist as a replacement. We also urge you to ask your artist to find a replacement, if you desire so. In case your artist cancels last minute, or you have difficulty finding a new artist, please reach out to us via the contact form on our website and we will assist you in finding a suitable replacement.

To ensure your guests make a payment, consider the following:

• Communicate clearly in advance you expect all your guests to make a minimum payment; also make clear this is per person not per couple/family
• Share the payment link in advance
• Most importantly! Take a minute after the concert to thank your audience and ask them to fill out the payment link collectively. We also recommend asking specifically at this stage to donate more to the artists if guests want
• Send reminders immediately after the concert, don’t wait too many days

To ensure you gather enough guests to split the payment with, consider the following:

• First gauge which dates work for your friends/family before booking an artist
• Send out a save the date as soon as you have booked the artist
• Invite more people than you require to reach the minimum payment you want, because there will always be some last-minute cancellations
• Tell your guests some information about the concert, e.g. the artist, instruments and genre, to make it a tangible event they are looking forward to
• Ask your guests to confirm and commit
• Send out reminders to your guests a week and a day in advance

In case you cannot gather sufficient people, consider the following:

• Ask all your guests to bring one or two friends / acquaintances that like music
• Ask your artist if they have a few guests to bring
• Don’t worry about mixing friends with family and colleagues
• In case all else fails… contact us and see if we can help!

• Download this ppt file: ArtRoom standard invitation - change all between [].pptx
• Personalize all information between []
• Note: this invitation is based on shared payment – if you are paying the artist in full as the host but would still like to use this template, delete the bottom right paragraph “after”

You cannot enter dates/day preferences in ArtRoom, but if you have specific dates/days you are always/never available you can include this information in your description.

For now, artists will only be able to add one act per email address. If you have multiple acts within which you would like to perform (e.g. both solo and duo), either create a new profile with a different email address, or provide these details in your description/act name.

In the unfortunate event you have to cancel the event, contact your host immediately. We highly appreciate it if artists find their own replacements, in consultation with the host. Please reach out within your network of artists to find a suitable replacement. You are also welcome to browse the ArtRoom database for replacement acts. In case you have trouble finding a replacement, please contact us.

Hosts pay directly to ArtRoom. Upon successful completion of the concert, we will ensure you get paid the agreed upon compensation, after taking out a 10% booking fee to support or platform. You are welcome to increase your preferred minimum payment with 10% to reflect this charge. We typically hold the payment in escrow for 72 hours after the concert. Our preferred method of payment is through a TIKKIE. You are responsible for your own tax payments (incl. BTW/VAT). Note: your compensation level on your profile and the compensation you agree for the booking must include all taxes.

We recommend artists not to price too aggressively until sufficient reviews are generated to warrant a high price.

You can add videos to your ArtRoom profile by embedding YouTube links. This means you need to upload your videos on YouTube first. You can do this by creating a free account on YouTube.com and clicking the camera button on the top right. In case you have audio files you would like to upload, you have to combine them with a picture (of yourself) in a program like Windows Movie Maker or iMovie to create a “movie". You can read how to do that here: https://www.apowersoft.com/upload-audio-to-youtube.html

In our experience, adding some context to what the audience is hearing highly improves their experience. Typically artists share 5-10 sentences about each piece.

Think about sharing a selection of the following type of facts:

• Background about the artist: fun facts about the artist, where was he/she living when this was composed, how old was he/she, ...
• Background about the period: when was this composed, what else was going on in the (music) world at that time
• Background about the piece: is it part of a larger opera/concerto, is there a meaning behind the music, if there are words to the music; what is a summary of what is being said/sang, why/for whom did the artist write this piece etc

Below please find two example introductions:

• The next piece is by one of the most beloved composers of all time: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. As “wonder kid” he played violin, harpsicord and organ and started composing at a young age. At age 19, he wrote five of the world’s most famous violin concerts in less than two years’ time, although violin wasn’t his favorite instrument. Most people know a lot about Mozart, but a fun detail is that you might be carrying him with you right now: he is pictured on the Euro coin from Austria.
• We are about to perform a sonata by Schubert. He has composed four sonatas, all of which were published only after his death – partly because he died so young. He only turned 31 years old. He didn’t turn very old because he was very often sick, he had limited money for food and often crashed with his friends. He only performed one concert in his life. This was such a success that he could by a grand piano, but he wasn’t able to enjoy this for long.