[Dixielandjazz] FW: FW: RedGorilla Music Fest seeks bands - AustinTX

Thu Jan 18 12:45:02 PST 2007

		Hey Cash et al;

I've got to chime in on this one on two counts.  First, the French Quarter Festival in New Orleans is one of those pay to play festivals.  I was getting ready to put my group in one year until I heard about the fee, then I backed out.  But after I had thought it over, it would have been nothing to go around town and drum up some corporate sponsorship for that gig with the local businesses around the region.  The face of festival gigging has changed from being asked to play to finding your own backing and paying to perform and promoting your corporate sponsors.  Just think of the income potential if you've got merchandise to sell at a large festival venue.

The second point is, the "Dukes of Dixieland" didn't play that showcase in Las Vegas, Jon Shoup's "New Orleans' Own Dukes of Dixieland" played that gig.  The band "Dukes of Dixieland" died back in 1974 with the passing of my Uncle Frank Assunto, and thank goodness finally the jazz community is realizing this fact.  Word on the street in N.O. is that other band has been asked to take a pay cut on their gigs and they've been asked to cut back to a trio on their riverboat gig.

Mike
http://www.theDukesofDixieland.com
http://www.theREALDukes.com

----------------------------------------

				From: tcashwigg at aol.com
Sent: Thursday, January 18, 2007 2:51 PM
To: dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] FW: FW: RedGorilla Music Fest seeks bands - AustinTX 

Hi Jim:

There is a Very Large Basic Difference in these situations.

1. As in Kaye's situation while it may have been uniquely potentially 
beneficial for her other career,
it was not doing anything for the LIve music gig situation. Had she 
been doing it at a movie studio or on a movie set lot that would have 
been a whole different matter. As she would then be addressing and 
"AUditioning" for the specific people she was hoping to get work from.

#2. The Red Gorilla event is a Specific Advertising and Marketing 
Event that spends Thousands of dollars and man hours to organize the 
stages and P.A. Systems and and performance schedules of hundreds of 
bands and artists and spends Thousands of dollars in advertising those 
bands and the fact that they will be there to perform and be seen by 
people looking to hire them and or sign recording contracts with 
suitable ones etc.

Now one of the top Dixieland bands in the World ( The Dukes of 
Dixieland) just played a showcase in Las Vegas at a major Event 
Producers Conference where they were seen and heard by hundreds of 
Talent buyers with checkbooks and contracts in hand. The fee to get on 
that showcase was a Hell of a lot more than the Red Gorilla or SXSW 
events in Austin. They no doubt filled many dates on their calendar 
for the next two years from that endeavor. Not to mention that they 
did it unopposed by any other Dixieland bands on the program. The 
only thing any other Dixieland bands can hope for is that they get 
residual gigs after the Dukes play their dates and collect all that 
good money from buyers who did not have to go looking for all the 
invisible Dixieland bands in the world.

It used to be when this was once considered a Profession, that you got 
gigs from word of mouth and referrals like the Doctors and Dentists and 
Lawyers used to do. That is no longer a viable way to get enough gigs 
to keep a good band going all year long, at least in the USA. Times 
have changed, they all now advertise and the Chiropractors showed them 
how to do it, by taking their profession out to the public in large 
festivals and events where they could network directly with potential 
customers for future business, and they pay for the display booths that 
they set up there to demonstrate their services. Yes we all still get 
some referrals and residual gigs from each one that we do play, but 
they are getting fewer and further between for a variety of reasons.

Now here is a test: Name all the Dixieland Bands that immediately 
come to mind to the general public or committee band buying members in 
the world. Why such a short list ?? because nobody else advertises 
or markets like they do. A terrible thing happens when you don't 
Advertise or Promote " Absolutely Nothing ."

Preservation Hall Jazz Band

Dukes of Dixieland

Pete Fountain

Woody Allen

And I am certainly not advocating playing for Free but am savvy enough 
to know the difference between playing for Free and Promoting and 
Advertising my Band business, I often book very very well paid gigs 
and set aside the excess money to pay for just these kind of things 
which is an investment back into my Band business which always results 
in more and better gigs and therefore more and better money for the 
sidemen who only show up and play and take the check and go home.

I do not run a co-op band, I run a Business that employes musicians ( 
usually good ones who don't understand business or marketing or 
promotion ) and that the world is not just waiting to hear them play 
and give them big paychecks for doing it, especially if they can't find 
them. I realize Jim, that your band is a special and unique one 
having been together for 30 years very successfully, but you basically 
have no competition where you live, especially at your quality level. 
Here in the USA the market is glutted with musicians and becoming more 
crowded every year, not just in Dixieland. The dixieland gigs here 
are scattered all over the map and usually crammed into a small joint 
where if you are lucky 30 to 50 people show up, and all of them are not 
gong to book your band, so your exposure for future gigs is very small 
in that circuit. Just in my part of the world in the past two weeks I 
see 22 Dixieland Bands working for FREE for the very organizations 
that profess to be Preserving and Promoting the Music. I simply ask 
For Who and Why ? There are often at these events more musicians that 
audiences to hear them. Doesn't ANYBODY see what's wrong with this 
Picture ? or is anybody even LOOKING at it.?

Me thinks Not.

Cheers,

Tom Wiggins ON THE WAY TO THE POST OFFICE WITH 250 POSTCARDS :))

Maybe I could move my band to Barcelona and live out my days playing 
there with the closest Dixieland band being in Madrid :))

At least Jim and I could get together on the off days for a Beer or 
Sangria. :))

-----Original Message-----
From: jim at kashprod.com
To: dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
Sent: Thu, 18 Jan 2007 12:30 AM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] FW: FW: RedGorilla Music Fest seeks bands - 
AustinTX

Tom wrote, in response to whether paying to play a gig where you 
will be
seen is a good idea or not, & that in this case (the Texan affair) it
warranted the effort for the good exposure.

My comment about playing free-bees reverts back to a particularly nasty 
wave
of messages on DJML a few years ago, after Kaye (in Hollywood) said she 
was
doing a lunchtime gig for tips. Oh, my, did she get bashed! However, 
Kaye
is an L.A. based stuntwoman, and her gig was at a lunch place where the
movie people go. So, she was exposing herself to two types of possible
employers: movie & music people. No one mentioned that at the time,
though, as being a good thing, as is now being proposed right here on 
the
same forum. That was the reason for my post....the sudden (or belated)
change of opinion.

Tom continued:
Again I respectfully and enviously reiterate that you and your great 
band
live and operate in a different world, albeit a good one.

Thanks so much for the kind words...honest! However, we still need our 
name
out there, and do have our "lean" periods of the year. But, I won't 
play
for free, and sure won't pay someone so I can play. It's just plain 
"being
used"!

Jim

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