Miami Music Festival, Yet Another Failed Music Festival
I'm not sure if the let down is quite as big as with Future Classic Festival, but from all reports, it seems as if Miami Music Festival was yet another poorly organized event, and some going as far to call it a "scam against artists."
I personally didn't make it out, but what first grabbed my attention was an annonymous comment on a post I had put up about attending a Filmiami Meeting where they asked for brainstorming ideas from the local Music community:
"An unknown number of bands paid $35 JUST TO BE CONSIDERED to play at the event."
"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"
"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."
Oh boy... here we go again.
Of course, annoymous comments posted on blogs should usually be taken with a grain of salt, until I read reviews from the Queen of the Scene and the Miami Herald's Jordan Levin.
Here is QOTS's full article, which will later be part of South Florida Indie Mag Aristocats.
The worst part of reading QOTS's review is how much I felt I could relate to her excitment for a big Miami music event. I suppose it's something that we learn to live with in Miami, getting your hopes up that someday someone can pull off a well run, non-scammy Music Festival -- and perhaps what I always forget to mention are several successful local Festivals that do go off quite well, like Wallflower Gallery's yearly Medical Marijuana Benefit Festival, Notorious Nastie's 420 Music Festival, and Tobacco Road's Festival Celebrating 420 to name a few (interesting how two 420 Festivals are successful here, wonder what that means about South Florida?).
From QOTS:
"So I heard about MMF about 4 months ago. I was so excited, I immediately contacted the email address on the website asking how I could be involved. I didn't know who was putting this event together, so incase they didn't know, I told them who I am and what I do. I mentioned that I would love to have a "QUEEN OF THE SCENE" stage and if that wasn't possible, I would love to have a vendor booth and if that wasn't possible, just slap my logo on the website/flyer and I would gladly promote the event for free. I wanted, no, I HAD TO be a part of an event called "THE MIAMI MUSIC FESTIVAL"."
Also, and this was something that I had been wondering the whole time before the event, but where was the promotion? At least Future Classic Festival had an enormous marketing campaign. I first saw fliers for FCF being handed out at an Incubus concert. But as QOTS puts it:
"Promotion for MMF was not very good. Bands were not told of their time/venue until about 3 weeks before the festival. So even without MMF promotions, the bands couldn't even promote themselves.
Yeah, MMF had a commercial on TV. Only a few 3AM spots on certain cable channels. I myself never saw a commercial, except for online. And Despite my "beef" with the event, I still wanted to promote the local music scene and support the bands involved, so I blasted the youtube version of the commercial online and even on the front page of my website. They also invested in some big vinyl banners. Yet walking on south miami avenue, I had people and cars stopping to ask ME what was going on, even though the banners were right in front of their faces! I would talk to friends (many of whom are musicians) that had no idea about MMF. HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?!?!?! This event should have been finalized and promoted in-full months ahead of time. Not just the name of some festival that is happening, but ALL THE INFO should have already been available to the public. And not just available, but SHOVED DOWN THEIR THROATS!"
So, to set up the scene: they're denying participation from other promoters or people who want to take part in the event, and then their own promotion of the event is almost nonexistant.
QOTS then goes on to say that admission was as high as $150 for the whole event, to $10-$15 per venue, even though it was being set up as "attend as many different places as possible," in the vein of SXSW and other city-wide music festivals.
She then also writes about the problems with inexperienced and disinterested Sound Engineers (a major downfall of FCF as well).
If that weren't enough, I went over to the Miami Herald's blog, Miami Music Matters, and read over Jordan Levin's post on the MMF as well. To sum her words up in a sentence, it was half-assed -- not the best bands, not well promoted, and done all over the place.
Crossfade's Arielle Castillo doesn't give her high praises either.
Not surprisingly, I woke up this morning to find an email from Filmiami titled Miami Music Festival Wrap UP, where they boast about how well the event went, and then link to this web page. Compare that to the photo's on Queen of the Scene's page and the over-hype cycle begins once again.
But, if anything there's something to be said for perseverence, and even though MMF doesn't want to admit that this years festival was a failure, at least they are moving forward to try again next year. Hopefully, they'll learn from their own mistakes and the mistakes of what others have attempted. Don't overhype, don't overcharge, and do the groundwork! Present things fairly and realistically, and don't put in a halfassed effort.
Maybe next year will bring some real festivals.
If You Enjoyed This Post, You May Also Like:
- The 2nd Annual Cultura Festival at Tobacco Road 5/29/09
- Filmiami announces Miami Music Festival
- Future Classic Festival Has Arrived
- La Guardia goes to Colombia
- Harvest of Hope Festival 2010
NOTE FOR COMMENTS: Do not flame or leave obnoxious comments, THEY WILL NOT BE APPROVED. Constructive criticism should always be welcomed by any artist, but don't be a d-bag, show some class. Thanks. - REVMiami Staff
The only thing that really bugged me (aside from knowing at least a few bands that got to play without paying the 35 bucks.. one I played with included in that number) is that the lack of promotion and seemingly bad coordination was enough to guarantee low turnout unless you got a great time slot.
And that's cool.. that stuff happens frequently and you go on and kick ass anyway.. the sad thing is that I know a few friends' bands (including a side project of mine) that simply did not get to play because clubs were apparently over booked, and in some cases admitted to simply not having enough equipment to support all the acts (forcing places like Club Mekka to close a whole room Saturday so the show got so delayed that 5-6 bands went home partly because, despite acts being booked AT 2am to play, the Club managers insisted the place closes at 2am...). Apparently some other people had experiences like that but that's just my own.
I can imagine how those that payed for the 'experience' felt
But then again I played 2 great sets over that weekend too, but those were at miami-staples like Tobacco Road so hopefully at the very least people got to network at some potentially new venues that they hadn't been exposed to prior?
Well, it's good to hear that there were good experiences considering that there is so much bad press going around the webs right now.
Not everything was all bad. I went during the nights when I was not performing and I discovered some really cool bands that I had never heard of before. I know a lot of local bands. So it was refreshing to see new faces and hear new voices. I'm glad those acts got a chance to play. Otherwise I might never have heard of them. And wasn't that the whole purpose to this?
Nah.. the purpose was technically to prove Miami could have a festival (or in the future have potential to hold) something like Austin's SXWX or whatever it's called. I like discovering new bands too (and surely enough I did - but I feel you can find new local bands by being a good local music supporter and visiting your local venues.. instead of waiting for some trumped up event). But MMF was, from what the promotion and buzz suggested, supposed to prove or at least communicate that Miami could throw a huge music-mecca sort of event (outside of Ultra Fest)- listing all these industry names that were apparently coming, etc..
Considering the very basic failures of communication between the venues, promoters and bands that seems like a far shot =/
I personally want to hear more about Transit's involvement etc as there have been a lot of rumors circling that
I really wish i didnt have such negative things to say. I really wish this event was what we all hoped it would have been. Albert, i get what you're saying. it wasn't all bad. I heard from alot of bands who were happy to just be apart of something like this. I too saw some great bands. but would you feel the same way if you paid for the $150 pass? if you traveled from out of state to see what the buzz is in miami? i mean, it was great to have so many different venues involved, i liked that idea. what i didnt like was that they were so far away from each other. had it been like, south beach or another area that is known for high pedestrian traffic, buses & cabs, it might have made better sense. Maybe a hotel with alot of conference rooms or a convention center. The brickell area was fine, but they should have left it at that. they should have narrowed down the list of bands to something more diverse, yet appealing. and they shouldn't have charged so much. The conference might have been real cool, but who the hell wakes up at 8am for these things after being out till 3 or 4 at the shows? SXSW is different, people know it's worth it!
The brochures they had were nice....full of advertising. yet nothing about the bands! no pictures, websites, genre grouping, etc... not even on the website!
which just goes to prove the sole purpose of this had nothing to do with the bands or the music. there was another agenda. and im willing to bet that a certain venue had ALOT of involvement.
I'm not saying I could pull something like this off on my own. I know it was not easy. but had they gotten the right people involved and not looked like a shady pyramid scheme, it could have been what we all hoped it to be. and if it failed, at least we'd know we tried. but now it just seems like miami failed. we were represented in a bad way.
Okay...so I heard about this festival the day of it...how lame was that. Usually Queen shows are promoted months in advance, and everyone and their mother knows about them. This was just a cheap attempt at trying to bring Florida Music Festival down here. The board had the exact same panelists that Florida Music Festival had...not that any of those panelists really give good information to begin with. All they really teach you is to get an entertainment lawyer to skip you ahead of the line in the demo listening. As for the price...not even FMF charges that, and they have national bands closing out the event. And who were half of these bands on this roster anyway...I had never even heard of these people. They should have at least put in SoFL strongest on the line-up.
Unfortunately a lot of Miami's best local acts didn't want to pay to play, so the line-up was probably lighter for that reason.
Here is live performance video/footage from the Miami Music Festival, taken by The Queen of The Scene and posted to her YouTube page just last night: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XewBt2DAGuY
About MMF... I do hear what you all are saying. And for the record I am not disagreeing with any of you. I am simply saying that not all of MMF was bad and maybe we can focus on some of the good stuff a bit. I am also saying that we can't forget that this was a first and we should maybe give the benefit of the doubt and cut slack just a little.
Feel free to call me a naive optimist. I usually am too gullible and stupidly trusting anyway. But I *want* to believe that the things that could have been done better with MMF were accidental oversights. I think that this was the first time this was done and they were trying to feel it out and make it up as they went along and so flubs were inevitable. I guess I am *choosing* to try to focus on the good a little bit more than most.
I feel absolutely terrible for all the bands that were not sponsored and played. All they wanted was a chance to be heard and now all they keep getting are constant write-ups about how amateurish all the un-sponsored bands were. Yes maybe some of them were a bit green but we all were at some point. And I really did see some really good bands at MMF. And most of the ones that blew me away were not sponsored. MMF was a humbling experience for me because some of those guys are thinking so far outside the box with their music that I was just in awe. The guys playing the big company showcases had lots of money backing them up. They didn't impress me as much as the little guys. We have an a lot of talent here in Miami. Most of it is raw, underground or unknown and in need of support. I think we should consider those guys a bit whenever we talk about MMF.
I have friends in bands who paid to play and were rejected and lost their money. Really good bands all who work hard on their music. I felt for them. I also have a lot of friends who did play. Some were sponsored and some paid. Some of them had bad experiences and I heard about that from those bands too. I sympathize with them all. The difference between them and me is nothing more than luck. Maybe I was just lucky and got the good sound guy and the nice people to deal with. I guess it's possible. I know this. But because none of that bad stuff happened directly to me I cannot complain. My only really bad MMF experience was the parking.
Performers were told that we would have free parking while we played. Most of my friends that played MMF had to pay for parking while they performed. I had to pay to park too and that upset me because I had a very little cash on me. None of my band members expected to pay to park so no one had money and I paid for all our cars. There went my food and drink money for the night. But that was the worst of my MMF experience. For me everything else went pretty smoothly. Again maybe I was just lucky.
Stefano,
I do frequent local events and shows pretty regularly actually. That's why I know so many local bands. I practically lived out of Jazid and Churchill's once and when I was younger I was a regular at havens like Button South. I started getting organized and promoting and getting known in the last few years but I have actually been in the scene for over 12 years. Both as a performer and as a supporter and audience member. Believe me I am familiar with our scene. But I still came across new faces and voices at MMF that I had never heard of before. I have no idea where they've been hiding but they were great. And I discovered them at MMF. And I appreciate that. For that I am grateful.
Queen,
I don't think you should feel bad about anything. You are the voice of the local independent artist without representation. You say what many of them probably wish they could but feel that they can't or shouldn't. I read your article. I don't think you were so negative. I took it as constructive criticism that could only be used to make future events like this in Miami be better. And how can that be a bad thing? I think that very few people know the Miami live music scene and its inner workings as well as you. If anyone is fit to point out shortcomings at any music event in Miami it is you. And I agree with you about the MMF brochures and website. It could have offered a bit more info about us bands and helped promote the scene a bit better with links and band descriptions. That is why I printed mailing labels with my performance slot information and website url and spent a few hours sticking labels onto the MMF promo cards I was given. That's how I promoted. And one last thing. Thank you so much for taking that video of me and my band and posting it to your YouTube channel. You rule.
C,
Also agree. Prices for MMF could have been lowered a bit. Maybe that would have helped attendance numbers. Everybody that I spoke to about the event had no idea it was happening until I told them. This includes friends of mine in the local music industry. Even one friend who works for SONY had no idea what I was talking about. But again, this was the first year. Next year will not have any of these problems. You'll see.
Ric,
What you say is also true. Because even though I am choosing to stay optimistic, truth is truth. And the truth is that if my band had not been invited to play and had not gotten sponsored we would not have played MMF. We don't play for free either. Again, we were lucky.
Peace all, have a great holiday!
Albert