What's on
this week.

How to get the most from the gig register

What the register is

The gig register is every local gig we can get our hands on, from Thursday open mics to sold-out Saturdays, listed free by artists and venues. People can search it by suburb, this week or this month. We don't sell tickets, we're not the venue and we don't take a cut. Every listing gets a human check before it goes up.

Write a listing people act on

Someone scrolling the register wants to know four things fast: who, where, when, how much. Everything else is a bonus. If they have to message you to find out the start time, most won't.

1. Title: who's playing, in order. "Low Tide Club + Fern Street + Mara" beats "Big Night Out".
2. Venue and suburb: the real venue name as it appears on maps, plus the suburb.
3. Date and time: doors and first act if you know them.
4. Price: the real number. "A$15 + booking fee", "Free" or "A$10 on the door". No surprises.
5. Age: say if it's 18+ or all ages. Nothing kills a night like a mate turned away at the door.
6. One line on the vibe: "Three loud guitar bands, done by 11."

Timing

List early. As a rule of thumb, get it on the register as soon as the venue confirms, then push it again a week out and on the day. People plan around pay day and their mates, and a gig that appears two days before is competing with Netflix.

Things change. Drummers get the flu and pubs run out of ice. If your gig moves or is cancelled, update or pull the listing straight away so nobody turns up to a dark room. Spot something wrong on someone else's listing? Email us and we'll pull it.

After the gig: get paid for your songs

This is the bit most new artists miss. If you're an APRA AMCOS member with your songs registered, you can submit a Performance Report after playing live. It's a digital form listing which songs you played, where and when ^[1]. Royalties come from licence fees that venues pay, and without a Performance Report APRA AMCOS can't connect your songs to your show ^[1].

You submit through the free APRA AMCOS app, and they advise doing it as soon as possible after you perform ^[1]. You can include covers so the songwriter gets paid too ^[1]. Royalties are paid quarterly ^[1].

• Keep your setlist photo from the night.
• Note the venue name and date exactly as listed.
• Submit the report that week, before you forget.
• Make sure every original on the setlist is registered with APRA AMCOS first.

Common mistakes

• Listing a gig before the venue has actually confirmed it.
• Leaving out the price or age rule.
• Listing every act except yourself in the title.
• Forgetting to pull a cancelled show.
• Skipping the Performance Report and leaving money on the table.

How to get the most from the gig poster maker

What the poster maker gives you

Hit "Make a poster" on any gig in the register and you get two PNG images straight away: a 1080 x 1350 px portrait for feed posts and a 1080 x 1920 px version sized for stories. Same details, our look, ready to share. The info comes from your listing, so a clean listing makes a clean poster.

These files are built for screens. 1080 px wide is perfect on a phone, but printed at proper print quality (300 dots per inch, or DPI) it's only about 9 cm wide. For a printed A3 poster you'd want roughly 3508 x 4961 px. So use ours for socials, and if you print, get a print-size file made or print small.

Make a poster people read in two seconds

• Biggest thing: the act names. Then date. Then venue. Then price.
• One image or one colour, not both fighting.
• High contrast. Light text on dark or dark on light. Test it at thumbnail size.
• Keep the bottom 15% clear on stories so app buttons don't cover your date.
• Add your smart link or ticket link in the caption, because people can't tap a picture.

Where to put printed posters in Brisbane (legally)

Here's the bit that catches people out. Under Brisbane City Council's Advertising Devices Local Law 2021, a "fly poster sign" is a prohibited device ^[1]. The law defines it as a printed paper poster, multiple copies of which are glued or otherwise attached to walls and other fixtures in a public place ^[1]. Council officers can remove low-value advertising from roads, public infrastructure like power poles and lighting columns, and council land without notice ^[1]. Installing an advertising device without approval carries a maximum penalty of 50 penalty units ^[1].

Ads inside a building or on land that can't be seen from a road or public place are exempt from needing approval ^[1]. In plain English: inside is generally fine with the owner's permission, the street is not.

• Ask the venue first. Most have a poster wall or a window and want you to fill it.
• Cafés, record stores, rehearsal rooms and guitar shops often have noticeboards. Ask at the counter.
• Uni and TAFE noticeboards, following their rules.
• Libraries and community centres sometimes have community boards. Check the rules at each one.
• Never: power poles, traffic signal boxes, bus shelters, construction hoardings or someone else's wall.

A simple poster plan

1. Two to three weeks out: post the feed version and pin it.
2. Same day: ask the venue if they want printed copies, and what size.
3. One week out: drop A4 or A3 prints at friendly shops, with permission.
4. Day before and day of: post the story version with the ticket link.
5. After the show: take your posters down from wherever you put them. Shops remember who tidies up.