Comments on: Miami Music Town Hall Meeting: The State of the Miami Music Industry http://www.revmiami.com/2009/06/miami-music-town-hall-meeting-state-miami-music/ Miami Music, Art, Events, and Counter-Culture Magazine Tue, 29 Nov 2011 11:40:35 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Ric http://www.revmiami.com/2009/06/miami-music-town-hall-meeting-state-miami-music/comment-page-1/#comment-8398 Ric Tue, 15 Dec 2009 20:25:18 +0000 http://www.revmiami.com/?p=2799#comment-8398 This is incredibly sad to read. From all the initial reports I've heard that MMF was a failure and most bands ended up playing infront of miniscule crowds. Of course, following the money trail is even more disturbing, and I post this comment with the warning that anyone reading it should take it with a grain of salt because of the annonymity of it. I welcome the author of the comment to get in touch with me and I would be more then willing to post his comment as an article on REVMiami as long as they were willing to come out of hiding and be willing to quote their sources of information they wrote about. My email is ricdelgado@revmiami.com Just a note here: When a comment is posted on a blog annoymously, complaining of specific people or actions, it just makes you look like a disgrunted musician. I could just as easily ask, how much effort did you put in to the event? How many fliers did you pass out? How much work did you do to try to make the event great? Additionally, complaints about the $30,000+, I warn that not knowing the specifics of where the money was spent just looks envious (unless you can prove where the money really went). And if the turnout was as low as I've been hearing, then trust me, a lot of people lost a lot of money on MMF. This is incredibly sad to read. From all the initial reports I've heard that MMF was a failure and most bands ended up playing infront of miniscule crowds.

Of course, following the money trail is even more disturbing, and I post this comment with the warning that anyone reading it should take it with a grain of salt because of the annonymity of it. I welcome the author of the comment to get in touch with me and I would be more then willing to post his comment as an article on REVMiami as long as they were willing to come out of hiding and be willing to quote their sources of information they wrote about.

My email is ricdelgado@revmiami.com

Just a note here: When a comment is posted on a blog annoymously, complaining of specific people or actions, it just makes you look like a disgrunted musician. I could just as easily ask, how much effort did you put in to the event? How many fliers did you pass out? How much work did you do to try to make the event great? Additionally, complaints about the $30,000+, I warn that not knowing the specifics of where the money was spent just looks envious (unless you can prove where the money really went). And if the turnout was as low as I've been hearing, then trust me, a lot of people lost a lot of money on MMF.

]]> By: LOCAL ARTIST'S MIDDLE FINGER 2 TRANSIT http://www.revmiami.com/2009/06/miami-music-town-hall-meeting-state-miami-music/comment-page-1/#comment-8382 LOCAL ARTIST'S MIDDLE FINGER 2 TRANSIT Tue, 15 Dec 2009 06:33:46 +0000 http://www.revmiami.com/?p=2799#comment-8382 THESE MEETINGS WERE B.S. - Meetings {supposedly} regarding the improvement of our local music scene took place as early as Spring of 2009, organized by the {not so} well-intended people of Transit Lounge in cahoots with the people of Filmiami- the local film industry. They were called "Town Hall Meetings" but not everyone in town proactively associated with or established within Miami's local music scene was invited. Only a select few. How these few were chosen still remains to be known. In July another meeting took place. Many thought it was the first meeting and that they were actually being invited to take part in the uniting of Miami's scattered music scene, so they embraced it with enthusiasm. But it had not been the first meeting, there had already been others before the July meeting. And they were not being invited to anything, they were being think-tanked into giving up their ideas, ideas that would later be used in what looks like the biggest scheme ever to rape the local artistic and musical community. For example, one local music store owner {who will remain unnamed here} suggested at one of these meetings that maybe someone should seek government funding through grants and organize a showcase of local talent. They even suggested a name: Miami Music Festival. Fast forward to Fall of 2009: The plan unfolds as the {supposed} largest live music event in Miami ever to feature local talent became announced. And what was it called? Funny, they named it Miami Music Festival. And how did they spark the concept? With $20,000 worth of grant money given to the owners of Transit Lounge with which they were to create an event that would bring Miami artists and bands into focus while boosting local economy, promoting local indie talent within the scene, and hopefully drawing in a new area of tourism; coming to Miami now for the music. An unknown number of bands paid $35 JUST TO BE CONSIDERED to play at the event. The event boasted having 300 performances in their fliers, so 300 times 35 equals over 10 thousand dollars ladies and gentlemen. That's a lot of mullah. And that is just the ones that played. We are not even counting the number of local bands and artists who applied and were turned down and lost their money {refunded only in wrist bands good for attending the festival that they were declined to play at). But we'll only count the accepted acts here, that is over $10,000. Add to that the $20,000 in grants and we are now up to thirty grand estimated to be handed over to Edwards and Transit Lounge. The information highway is a glorious thing, and if you search around you will find online ads posted by one "Lisa" at "@TransitLounge.us" recruiting volunteers to work at The Miami Music Festival. So they saved money on employees. Bands were forced to sign contracts stating that there would be no sound checks done at the festival and that any sound adjustments would be done to the taste of the sound technicians {who by the way, were SOUND TECH STUDENTS, not professional experienced sound guys, so yeah, they also saved money on sound} not sound done to the liking of the performers. The participating bands {who paid to be considered to perform} did not get paid, nor did many of them the get free parking they were promised to have while they were performing for the festival. Most performers were charged $10 per car by parking lot attendants who insisted that they had not been told that the performers could park for free and added that all festival-related parking spaces were reserved or already full. So what did a performer get out of playing this event? One would guess exposure, right? Nope. No bio information or genre categorizing detail was included for any of the bands in any of the fliers or event program booklets that were handed out. All you got was a list of band names and venue locations between pages loaded with big sponsor ads {yes, they also got money and other items from sponsors, too}. So in other words, if you were someone who only wanted to hear local rap artists you would have no idea where to go see them. And you would think that the festival's official website would then include links to the band's myspace pages or audio samples or youtube videos or something, right? Nope. Not one single drop of promotion of any kind for these artists, artists whom were already struggling as it is, and who had to pay $35 to apply to perform, and who were not compensated for performing in any way, and who on top of it all probably had to pay for their parking when they arrived at the gig. Local Miami Music Reporter Jordan Levin lashed out at the festival when she witnessed the disgusting display of disregard for local artists that she witnessed while attending the event. Feel free to look up her articles under the name "Miami Music Matters." So then we ask, where did all this $30+ thousand dollars go? We don't know. Radio promotions started on the week of the festival. Only three or four people in all of Miami "claim" to have seen a TV ad for the event but say that it ran at 3:00 AM on some obscure cable channel, never on a locally syndicated network channel. So where did the budget for promotions go? We'll tell you. They apparently spent $30,000 on a handful of banners that they hung from certain buildings in downtown Miami and Brickell. You could probably count the banners with both hands. That was the extent of the promotion that these bands got for their performance, and for their talent and time, and for their application fee. Thank you so very, very much Mr. Edwards! You are truly a soldier for the local music scene man! And this was all the end result and fruit of what started out as a series of so called "town hall meetings" that took place several months ago and into the summer. This was what it was all REALLY about. I hate to be the bearer of bad news for all of you out there who support live music and want to see our local scene bloom, but your local scene just essentially got raped by some very, very greedy people. I invite you to go online and research this all yourselves. Read comments posted online by people who attended and performed at Miami Music Festival. Research who was behind the festival, and who was behind these "town hall meetings" and find out who got invited and who did not. You will be disappointed and shocked at what you will find. We have greed and corruption among us boys and girls. And it is disguising itself as a lover of local art and live music... THESE MEETINGS WERE B.S. - Meetings {supposedly} regarding the improvement of our local music scene took place as early as Spring of 2009, organized by the {not so} well-intended people of Transit Lounge in cahoots with the people of Filmiami- the local film industry. They were called "Town Hall Meetings" but not everyone in town proactively associated with or established within Miami's local music scene was invited. Only a select few. How these few were chosen still remains to be known. In July another meeting took place. Many thought it was the first meeting and that they were actually being invited to take part in the uniting of Miami's scattered music scene, so they embraced it with enthusiasm. But it had not been the first meeting, there had already been others before the July meeting. And they were not being invited to anything, they were being think-tanked into giving up their ideas, ideas that would later be used in what looks like the biggest scheme ever to rape the local artistic and musical community. For example, one local music store owner {who will remain unnamed here} suggested at one of these meetings that maybe someone should seek government funding through grants and organize a showcase of local talent. They even suggested a name: Miami Music Festival. Fast forward to Fall of 2009: The plan unfolds as the {supposed} largest live music event in Miami ever to feature local talent became announced. And what was it called? Funny, they named it Miami Music Festival. And how did they spark the concept? With $20,000 worth of grant money given to the owners of Transit Lounge with which they were to create an event that would bring Miami artists and bands into focus while boosting local economy, promoting local indie talent within the scene, and hopefully drawing in a new area of tourism; coming to Miami now for the music. An unknown number of bands paid $35 JUST TO BE CONSIDERED to play at the event. The event boasted having 300 performances in their fliers, so 300 times 35 equals over 10 thousand dollars ladies and gentlemen. That's a lot of mullah. And that is just the ones that played. We are not even counting the number of local bands and artists who applied and were turned down and lost their money {refunded only in wrist bands good for attending the festival that they were declined to play at). But we'll only count the accepted acts here, that is over $10,000. Add to that the $20,000 in grants and we are now up to thirty grand estimated to be handed over to Edwards and Transit Lounge. The information highway is a glorious thing, and if you search around you will find online ads posted by one "Lisa" at "@TransitLounge.us" recruiting volunteers to work at The Miami Music Festival. So they saved money on employees. Bands were forced to sign contracts stating that there would be no sound checks done at the festival and that any sound adjustments would be done to the taste of the sound technicians {who by the way, were SOUND TECH STUDENTS, not professional experienced sound guys, so yeah, they also saved money on sound} not sound done to the liking of the performers. The participating bands {who paid to be considered to perform} did not get paid, nor did many of them the get free parking they were promised to have while they were performing for the festival. Most performers were charged $10 per car by parking lot attendants who insisted that they had not been told that the performers could park for free and added that all festival-related parking spaces were reserved or already full. So what did a performer get out of playing this event? One would guess exposure, right? Nope. No bio information or genre categorizing detail was included for any of the bands in any of the fliers or event program booklets that were handed out. All you got was a list of band names and venue locations between pages loaded with big sponsor ads {yes, they also got money and other items from sponsors, too}. So in other words, if you were someone who only wanted to hear local rap artists you would have no idea where to go see them. And you would think that the festival's official website would then include links to the band's myspace pages or audio samples or youtube videos or something, right? Nope. Not one single drop of promotion of any kind for these artists, artists whom were already struggling as it is, and who had to pay $35 to apply to perform, and who were not compensated for performing in any way, and who on top of it all probably had to pay for their parking when they arrived at the gig. Local Miami Music Reporter Jordan Levin lashed out at the festival when she witnessed the disgusting display of disregard for local artists that she witnessed while attending the event. Feel free to look up her articles under the name "Miami Music Matters." So then we ask, where did all this $30+ thousand dollars go? We don't know. Radio promotions started on the week of the festival. Only three or four people in all of Miami "claim" to have seen a TV ad for the event but say that it ran at 3:00 AM on some obscure cable channel, never on a locally syndicated network channel. So where did the budget for promotions go? We'll tell you. They apparently spent $30,000 on a handful of banners that they hung from certain buildings in downtown Miami and Brickell. You could probably count the banners with both hands. That was the extent of the promotion that these bands got for their performance, and for their talent and time, and for their application fee. Thank you so very, very much Mr. Edwards! You are truly a soldier for the local music scene man! And this was all the end result and fruit of what started out as a series of so called "town hall meetings" that took place several months ago and into the summer. This was what it was all REALLY about. I hate to be the bearer of bad news for all of you out there who support live music and want to see our local scene bloom, but your local scene just essentially got raped by some very, very greedy people. I invite you to go online and research this all yourselves. Read comments posted online by people who attended and performed at Miami Music Festival. Research who was behind the festival, and who was behind these "town hall meetings" and find out who got invited and who did not. You will be disappointed and shocked at what you will find. We have greed and corruption among us boys and girls. And it is disguising itself as a lover of local art and live music...

]]> By: Lacy http://www.revmiami.com/2009/06/miami-music-town-hall-meeting-state-miami-music/comment-page-1/#comment-3015 Lacy Tue, 23 Jun 2009 22:58:45 +0000 http://www.revmiami.com/?p=2799#comment-3015 Pretty good post. I just found your site and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed reading your blog posts. In any case I'll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you write again soon! Pretty good post. I just found your site and wanted to say
that I have really enjoyed reading your blog posts. In any case
I'll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you write again soon!

]]> By: Ric http://www.revmiami.com/2009/06/miami-music-town-hall-meeting-state-miami-music/comment-page-1/#comment-3012 Ric Tue, 23 Jun 2009 22:17:53 +0000 http://www.revmiami.com/?p=2799#comment-3012 Music fan and local music fan are definitely not mutually exclusive. A lot of times music fans, i.e. people who solely attend mainstream/large concert events, are more attracted to seeing a famous person perform music, while a local music fan typically goes to music events to either see their friend's band or to discover music at the "basement level". Music fan and local music fan are definitely not mutually exclusive. A lot of times music fans, i.e. people who solely attend mainstream/large concert events, are more attracted to seeing a famous person perform music, while a local music fan typically goes to music events to either see their friend's band or to discover music at the "basement level".

]]> By: La Guardia http://www.revmiami.com/2009/06/miami-music-town-hall-meeting-state-miami-music/comment-page-1/#comment-3002 La Guardia Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:24:21 +0000 http://www.revmiami.com/?p=2799#comment-3002 "Business-wise, it makes sense for bands to explore other avenues of attention besides focusing on the local music market. There are now a billion resources to reach a national and international audience. Any band, or business not taking full advantage of the internet (MySpace, Facebook, blogging, Twittering, etc.) is missing out on huge opprotunities. Develop your merchandise and product. Edwards even pointed, “this is the music business for a reason.” " Word and...word! And I agree that there are alot of people "just not into" the local music scene, but they'll fill up the AAA for what they do like. On the other hand: if fans pack a local concert for Rick Ross or Pit Bull, are they local music fans? "Business-wise, it makes sense for bands to explore other avenues of attention besides focusing on the local music market. There are now a billion resources to reach a national and international audience. Any band, or business not taking full advantage of the internet (MySpace, Facebook, blogging, Twittering, etc.) is missing out on huge opprotunities. Develop your merchandise and product. Edwards even pointed, “this is the music business for a reason.” "

Word and...word!

And I agree that there are alot of people "just not into" the local music scene, but they'll fill up the AAA for what they do like. On the other hand: if fans pack a local concert for Rick Ross or Pit Bull, are they local music fans?

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