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How to make your own backstage passes
Written by Andy Patterson
So, one nice gift you can use to help with promotion is to give out backstage passes. Obviously they aren’t really giving backstage access to your fans, but it all goes to help making them feel a part of the show – and can also help towards the holy grail – getting fans to visit your website after the gig, and hopefully stay in touch.
So, how to persuade them with a Laminate. You can get them professionally produced, but they can cost between £2 and £3 each. Great if you’re selling them, but not so great if you’re giving them away to the audience. Especially when they may only have spent £5 on the ticket. Once your venue and ticketing service have taken their cut, you’re not left with much, so you can make them yourself….
Well, first thing is the artwork. Your typical laminated backstage pass is around about 6.5cm x 9.5 cm. Some sites offer templates that you can use to create your artwork. Add your usual band branding and logos. You could link to a private page on your website, or using sites like Bandcamp, you could create free download codes.
Once your design is finished, you’ll need to print them out. One thing you might want to do, is print more than one out on a page (to save paper/card), and this isn’t always as easy as it sounds.
One way, on a Mac to print out multiple images on a page is as follows: Save your image as a jpeg and open it up in Preview. Preview is generally an application that is overlooked when it comes to working on the Mac, but it can actually be quite powerful and useful for some tasks. When in Preview, click file and then print, and in the print dialogue box, change the scale to 100%, which will mean the image isn’t scaled to the size of the paper (A4 usually). Then make sure auto rotate is switched ON, and then change the copies per page box. I recommend to 6. Any more and they’re too close together.
So, once you have your artwork, you need a laminator and some lamination pockets, and you’re ready. We got ours at Rymans, and they have £2 off their cheapest model at the minute. So, cut out your passes from the card and insert them into the lamination sleeve (use 250 microns to get the thick authentic feel). Place 6 or 8 into the sleeve and slide the fold end first into the laminator. Let it feed through at its own speed and when its finished, give it a second to cool. Then cut each pass out. Either use scissors or a craft knife and a cutting mat (with a safety ruler). Use scissors to round the corners, as otherwise they’ll be sharp.
The last stage is to put a hole in the top for your lanyard to go through. Use a standard hole punch and make sure you punch it in the middle.
All you then need are the lanyards. We got a bunch from ebay, for a good price. If you’re in a band, set up a production line, and you can have them made in no time at all. Its different, its quirky and can make a difference for big gigs.
We’ll post some photos of the ones we make for our gig at the Half Moon in Putney. Here’s our prototype:
If you make some, then send us pictures and we’ll post them here!
