If You Were Picking The Bands For A Festival....

[rhat]

I just wanted to thank everyone for their input. Rhat, I got your recommendations. I'll take a look. And obviously, I've gotta keep Austin Cowbell on my short list. I found out our official budget on Monday. And it's not good. It's essentially zero. I'm fighting to get at least enough for a couple of headliners. But it's going to be hard. So yeah, expect to see a "Looking For Bands" post on Craigslist to fill what I can't fill myself through my own personal contacts. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to recruit bands that want to play for free. Sucks. But that's just the facts of life right now. If we lose money again this year, that will be the end of the festival. So they are being ultra conservative. I've got a few tricks up my sleeve though. I'm doing a promotion on The Texas Blues Roadhouse (my website) and we're going to raise money to pay one of the bands on my site (we'll be a sponsor, basically). I'm looking for other ways to raise cash for the bands. Gotta get creative. Micheal

Looks like you are pretty well stuck with local bands. the only suggestion I might have is to do it like an old school Battle of the Bands with a cash prize and actually get judges that pick the best band rather than the one that drags the most people. Have auditions if you need to weed out the trash... Those used to be an ok thing for start up bands. when they went to crowd choice they lost their cred. get local radio jocks to judge the thing.

No budget makes it tough.

[New Trail]

 

Ok, next question. How do I find a good talent agent in my region for the upper level talent? Word of mouth?

 

 

At the risk of sounding like a dick and I'm sorry but I've got to ask this: How do you get a gig like running and booking a festival when you seemingly have no previous experience doing so and you apparently have no musical contacts in your area?

[rhat]

At the risk of sounding like a dick and I'm sorry but I've got to ask this: How do you get a gig like running and booking a festival when you seemingly have no previous experience doing so and you apparently have no musical contacts in your area?

 

 

Run one that has no budget..... he has a tough job , but wants to see the deal come off. Its going to be a challenge. so he will have to be creative to not have it be a cluster.

[kmart]

If we lose money again this year, that will be the end of the festival. So they are being ultra conservative.

Ummm...yeah, and by being ultra conservative and giving no budget for the entertainment, do they realize they are more than likely making the demise of the fest a self fulfilling prophecy?

Is it that hard for those holding the purse strings to understand that if you offer crap, you should expect crap in return? In other words, no entertainment that will draw = lose money.



The suggestion above to seek sponsorship (music stores, radio stations, BEER companies, etc.) so that you CAN pay for entertainment that will actually draw people to your fest sounds like your only realistic hope. Otherwise, you may as well plan to have no more fest after this year.

[Austincowbell]

best thing they can do is look for newer unsigned but polished original acts. They really DO need exposure and might be willing to do it for free-ish. Honestly, if I lived in Dallas and I had CDs to sell I would do it for free if there was a pro sound setup.

 

try contacting Deep Eddy vodka. They are a new sweet tea flavored vodka (similar to firefly) and they might be interested. Also try famous vodka and maybe shiner beer.

 

IDEA - try recording to a DAT or CD right out of the board and offer the bands a live CD. It's not much but it would be a great incentive to play if they can get a HQ live recording.

[strathound]

Cool. Have you sought out sponsorship to pay bands?

 

 

Yes, that's what I'm working on now. We'll get a sponsor for the stage. I'm fighting to get as much of that money for the artists as possible. I'm also personally going to sponsor one band from my website. We're having a contest and raising donations. Link is below.

 

Michael

[strathound]

At the risk of sounding like a dick and I'm sorry but I've got to ask this: How do you get a gig like running and booking a festival when you seemingly have no previous experience doing so and you apparently have no musical contacts in your area?

 

I volunteered. And I work hard ... really hard.

 

Plus, I've got some experience:

 

1. Founded and organized the NTB Katrina Blues Festival. (my avatar pic is from that show).

2. Directed the main stage the first year of the Frisco Arts Festival.

3. I'm on the Board of Directors of the Frisco Association for the Arts.

4. I'm the founder of the Frisco Jazz Combo Society.

5. I'm the founder and owner of FriscoJazz.org.

6. I started the North Texas Blues Yahoo Group (750 avid blues musicians and fans.)

7. I founded the Texas Blues Roadhouse (350 members and growing).

8. I'm a member of the Collin County Songwriters Association.

 

So I know a lot of people. Getting bands to play isn't the problem. I have more of them than I need already. The problem is that I want to bring in some of the big dogs. And that costs money. I'm going to have to get creative.

 

Michael

[strathound]

Ummm...yeah, and by being ultra conservative and giving no budget for the entertainment, do they realize they are more than likely making the demise of the fest a self fulfilling prophecy? Is it that hard for those holding the purse strings to understand that if you offer crap, you should expect crap in return? In other words, no entertainment that will draw = lose money. The suggestion above to seek sponsorship (music stores, radio stations, BEER companies, etc.) so that you CAN pay for entertainment that will actually draw people to your fest sounds like your only realistic hope. Otherwise, you may as well plan to have no more fest after this year.

Well, realistically, this is an arts festival. They will have hundreds of juried artists that are paying for booths to display their stuff. That's a source of income. The music is a source of expense to them. We are building this up from the ground level. So it's a learning experience for all involved. Last year, the crowds for the bands were pretty light. So it's hard for me to argue that people came to the festival for the music.

As this gets bigger, we'll be able to get bigger and bigger acts. That will create a draw. Already, Pizza Hut is suggesting that next year, they will personally sponsor the headline act. And they will get someone who can fill that stadium. Baby steps. It's all about baby steps. And you have to start somewhere.

[strathound]

best thing they can do is look for newer unsigned but polished original acts. They really DO need exposure and might be willing to do it for free-ish. Honestly, if I lived in Dallas and I had CDs to sell I would do it for free if there was a pro sound setup. try contacting Deep Eddy vodka. They are a new sweet tea flavored vodka (similar to firefly) and they might be interested. Also try famous vodka and maybe shiner beer. IDEA - try recording to a DAT or CD right out of the board and offer the bands a live CD. It's not much but it would be a great incentive to play if they can get a HQ live recording.

 

 

Good ideas AC. Thanks.