Founding membership — first 20 members, $15/mo
Guild Live guarantees the artists on stage before a single ticket is counted. That guarantee has to be funded, and there are only two places it can come from: the musicians, or everybody else. We have chosen everybody else. Sponsorship is what lets us pay artists properly without charging them more to be paid.
The live music economy in most cities runs on a quiet transfer from the people on stage to everyone else in the building. The artist takes the risk, absorbs the cost of getting there, and is paid last out of whatever the door happens to produce. We think that is the wrong way round, so we do not do it. Guild artists are guaranteed before doors, and that figure does not move because the weather was bad or the room was quiet.
Membership pays for a great deal of what the Guild does, but it cannot carry the guarantee on its own without pushing the price of membership up — which would mean charging musicians more so that musicians can be paid. Sponsorship breaks that circle. It is the part of the model that lets the artist fee stay where it should be and the membership stay at a price a working player can justify.
In return a sponsor gets something scarcer than impressions: a room full of people who are present, attentive and predisposed to remember who made the night possible. Guild audiences are members, their guests, the artists’ own followings and invited industry. They are not scrolling.
We keep the number of sponsors per show deliberately low. A stage plastered in logos devalues every one of them, and the whole point of being named on a Guild night is that it means something.
One night, one season, or something built for you. Everything below is negotiable except how the artists are paid.
$500per show
One night, named. The most direct way to put a business in front of a full room and find out whether this audience is yours.
$1,500per season
Your name on the series rather than a single date, with a physical presence in the room at every show and time to become familiar.
By arrangement
For brands who want something the packages above do not describe: a named stage, a recorded series, a residency or a campaign built around the Guild.
Show and series sponsorships can be split across a category — one gear retailer, one bar, one studio — so that no sponsor is standing next to a competitor. Category exclusivity is available and is agreed in writing rather than assumed.
A sponsor never selects the artists, never approves a set list and never receives rights in anybody’s music or footage. The artists are chosen on merit by the Guild and they keep everything they make on our stage. We say this at the outset because the businesses worth working with will respect it, and the ones who will not are better identified before the money changes hands.
The inner circle
Limited runs, shop specials and setup tips from the bench — straight from Austin, no spam, unsubscribe anytime.