R5 Productions is a "Do It Yourself" show promotions agency owned and operated by Sean Agnew whose main goal is to provide the Philadelphia area with cheap, friendly, all ages shows, in a honest intimate setting. Philadelphia suffers from a lack of a medium sized all ages venue, creating a situation in which band often play other major east coast cities such as New York or D.C. , but skip over Philadelphia.

Shows are done in various small to medium sized club locations, halls, warehouses, basements, colleges and universities. Door prices generally remain between $5-$8. And we make sure not to implement over-the edge club policies. There are no over-aggressive bouncers, no security preventing you to go outside, no one charging you $3 for a bottle of water, no one keeping you smushed behind a giant barrier with your favorite band 25 feet away. This type of sterile environment usually creates for a less fulfilling live music experience. As they said in the old days...For The Kids, By The Kids.

What separates R5 Productions from the pack of other DIY shows, is the amount of professionalism that goes into the show. R5 Productions hires and brings in full professional sound systems, advertises in the weekly entertainment newspapers, makes sure everyone in the area knows about shows through thousands of flyers, ticket giveaways on noncommercial radio stations, e-mailing our large e-mail list, advertising on the appropriate internet sites etc etc.

R5 Productions makes it a point to meet band guarantees, often at times paying them more than the actual agreed upon guarantee, we essentially do all the work a normal large club would do for their shows. Generally the bands are paid even more than a club could, because we have a greatly reduced overhead and expense tallies. We can/will meet riders, provide bands safe dressing and equipment areas, and treat them as actual people..rather them with the cavalier attitude most clubs seem to have of "another band another day." R5 Productions firmly believes that for most given bands that we deal with, in this so called "underground", we can offer a far better alternative than any other possible club or promoter in Philadelphia

R5 Productions teamed up with best friends Andrew and Tony of Stalag 13, and opened a new legal and licensed venue in West Philadelphia called 4040. 4040 for nine months hosted quite a few amazing shows, and provided a somewhat stable home base for larger all ages shows. In February of 2001 Sean with the help of many friends including The Foundation, once again established a new and better all ages venue named "The Rotunda". The Rotunda was a smaller more intimate room with much more character, much better suited and designed to handle the type of shows we enjoyed to establish. The main goal of the venue was to provide a consistent home in Philadelphia to local and national independent artists, who shared our common ideology and philosophy about the "independent music scene". Unfortunately due to a growing amount of conflicts and differences in philosophies, Sean and the landlords of the building mutually parted ways to make sure the integrity of R5 Productions was not compromised.

After a few months of intense planning and thinking, it was decided to not open an actual 24/7 dedicated venue. Instead more time and energy was to be placed to help build and nourish the smaller scene most of us personally identify with, while maintaining an all-ages entrance policy, to offer people a quality live experience of bands they may have not previously ever heard. To introduce challenging bands of different political beliefs and aesthetic styles. To present people new ideas and fresh perspectives on current issues. To do all this in a process that everyone feels comfortable with, for a price that is fair and accessible while simultaneously supportive of hardworking artists. It is very easy to imagine all of that changing very quickly if a new dedicated venue was to open, when faced with having to pay several thousands of dollars in rent and bills each month, while simultaneously competing with larger national entertainment companies like Clear Channel. We encourage you to check out what shows are coming up to get an actual feel for what we are all about.