But I'll go into as much detail as I can without naming names (Festival or otherwise).
I learned on Thursday (Dec. 10th, Day 1) that MMF is the result of the FILMIAMITown Hall Meeting focusing on local music which took place on June 2nd 2009 @ the Miami Museum of Science. When I heard about this meeting, I was excited and intrigued, so I promoted it, thinking it's exactly what we need! I found out about it last minute, which was strange, but I still blasted it out to cyber space and my text contacts.
Only about 30 people attended this meeting. Some I knew, some I didnt. But about 10 of them were people who I invited myself. Had this been better promoted and more musicians, promoters and venue owners/managers came, I think it would have been great. But it seemed to serve only one persons agenda, disguised with interest of booming the local tourist industry and putting miami's local music scene on the map. It seemed as though they picked and chose who they wanted to hear from, judging by how they wouldn't call on someone who had their hand up during the whole meeting. After the meeting I handed out my card to everyone. The next day, my friend told me of a conversation they had with one of the organizers of that meeting, The owner of Transit Lounge. It was suggested that since I was an important part of the local music scene, I should be included in anything on the subject.
I learned that 2 weeks later, They had a follow up meeting, but it was by invitation only. Mine and the other 10 people who came because of me must have gotten lost in cyberspace.
Enough about "The town hall meeting that would have been great if..." for now. On to MMF...
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".
Months go by...no response. The subject came up while talking to a friend of mine. He thought it was absurd that anyone would have a local music event of this calibre and not include me, especially after I contacted them. So he contacted someone he knew and they contacted me immediately. They informed me that booths range between $2,000-$35,000! I had to decline. The $2000 booth space does not even allow sales of any kind, not that I have anything to sell. I'm not a big time money balling promoter, plus MMF is in December (so close to the holidays). Are they out of their minds? My friend said he would ask all the bands I've worked with to donate $20 until we had enough to get me a booth. I begged him not to do that because it just wouldn't be right. After thinking about it, I realized I'd be better off walking around and networking personally, handing out my business card rather than stuck behind a booth. Well, they contacted me back, lowering the price to $1000. I still declined. Then lowering it to $500. Still Declined. Then lowering it to $250. I felt the need to apologize profusely to my friend and thank him for all his efforts in trying to get me involved, but I still had to decline. At this point I felt insulted that MMF hadn't contacted me to begin with.
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!
I did hear the 93ROCK radio ad, but that was last minute and for the saturday night Tobacco Road showcase only. Not for the event as a whole. And it didn't name any of the bands.
None of the bands names were on the flyer. They were on the website, but with no links, no music, no pictures. If I were new to miami or visiting and interested in what Miami had to offer musically, I'd think "great, I'll check out MMF, but where do I start"? With so many bands playing at so many scattered locations, I wouldn't know who I'd want to see. And with the venues so scattered, i wouldnt want to travel back and forth and pay for parking all over town (to some places that aren't even known for live music!) without knowing who I want to see. Especially for the price they were charging for admission!
Admissions... again, are they nuts? I wonder who really paid $150 for the all access pass? did anyone? I was lucky enough to get mine for free from someone (THANK YOU!). And thats what I heard from alot of other people. I think the crowd was made up mostly of the band members themselves. I know from experience it's hard to get people to come to a $10 show, never mind a $50 one. Oh, wait, they can pay $10 if they just wanted to go to ONE venue. Although I overheard some people were being charged $15 at the tents. So, despite my grudge against the festival, I still attended as a music fan. I was there to support the bands, not the event- even though they got a few weak $8 drinks out of me (plus the generous tips, since i felt so bad for the bartenders).
From what alot of bands told me, They were charged a $35 fee just to submit an application to perform. $35 isn't alot. But when you consider the hundreds who submitted, well, there's no telling how much money was made off the bands alone. Some bands were invited to play by sponsors who paid the fee for them.Some bands didnt even pay, so thats proof of how corrupt this event was. The same rules should apply to all.
Also, some bands were automatically turned down because they weren't over 18. Ok, if being over 18 is a rule, they should at least be refunded their $35 fee. But they were not. And to top it off, I saw at least 2 bands with underage members performing. So why were some denied and some not (and not refunded)?
Much of the complaints I heard from the bands were about the sound issues. I was told that the bands had to sign contracts stating that there would be no soundcheck and the sound was to be adjusted only to the engineer's liking. The engineers whom, by the way, were SAE students. No offense to them, But I think MMF could have spent their sponsorship money, pre-sale ticket income, vendor and band fee's, oh and the $20,000 grant they received- on some professional engineers (but instead they invested in some fancy laser lights aimed at a high rise with a dancing stick figure- what a waste).
None of the engineer's or door guys even knew which bands were playing!
Every single band I saw in the tents were having sound issues. Also, the bands were told what was provided and what they needed to bring themselves as far as equipment. However, when they arrived certain things were NOT available to them. Some bands couldn't even play because of this miscommunication and unprofessionalism. This was frustrating to bands who PAID to play- In hopes for good exposure. Wich turned out to be a huge slap in the face because they were not presented or promoted well.
Thursday night was a big disappointment. The venues were overstaffed and overstocked, expecting a huge turn out. The poor employee's who rely on tips were beyond angry. The bands were playing to only a handful of people. Some to only the sound techs and bartenders.
Friday night was a little better, despite the rain. Ok, the rain is out of anyone's control, obviously. But why was the tent area just a bunch of dirt and big rocks? Couldn't they have at least cleared the big rocks before the show? Or maybe invested in some rubber mats to make a walkway to each tent and a big carpeted or rubber mat area for the crowd to stand and watch the bands on? Sure, it would have gotten muddy by people trekking in and out, but could have been cleaned off periodically. It was a lawsuit waiting to happen. A group of girls in high heels told me they weren't going back to the tents because of the mud and rocks. Not to mention Tent #2 was so far back, hidden & poorly lit and they even had it gated off with security guards. Not very welcoming. Poor Bands, Poor bartender's. They are the ones who suffered.
Saturday, pretty much the same as Friday, without the rain, but still lingering mud puddles and rocks. I checked out some of the other venues and they just weren't....where a music lover would want to see a live show. Tucked away makeshift stages in venue's who dont regularly showcase live music, for a small crowd and bands who looked uncomfortable and lonely. It was sad, really. I think the most successful venue on Saturday night was Tobacco Road, due to the 93ROCK radio ads, and of course alot of the bands were kick-ass. Tobacco Road also seemed to have better sound techs, and I'm not just saying that because I do shows there. I'm being completely 100% honest, The outside sound tech was brought in by MMF, not a house tech, so I'm not being biased.
I want to know why all the bands were scheduled to go on on-the-hour. I think it would have been better to have only two of the big tents, with two stages in each tent, and have them play back to back. That would keep the crowd there and not all so spread out. Part of me wonders if it was just a big alcohol sales ploy....what do you do when there's no band playing and you're just standing around waiting... Drink.
I also wonder why they didnt get the empty grassy lot directly behind transit and across from tobacco road, to keep it more like a block party, closer together- just those 3 area's. close off the street and have just one entrance fee- $10 per day for the whole event, $20 for all 3 days. And have the vendors part of the show and not just the conference. Line them up on the fence. Great for the holiday season! Then again, I guess my thoughts, opinions, suggestions, help & support was just not important to the organizers of MMF.
All the bands I saw were great. I heard some were not even worthy of being on stage from other people. But as for what I saw and heard myself, I was pleased. I did expect to see some other bands who were not included though. I feel like a major part of the south florida music scene was left out. Music wise, as well as venue-wise and promoters and other avenue's of the local music scene who should have been included. It is such a shame that something that could have been such a unifying event and put miami in the spotlight for live music, turned out to be such a scam and left out so much and HURT the local music scene more than it helped. This event was a joke. Thats all it will be remembered for. I mean, they didn't even have event T-shirts (aside from staff, they sure didn't cut cost with those! Staff shirts with the MMF logo, Golf Carts to ride around on & Laser Lights were more important than SOUND TECHS).
How will people remember MMF? Not fondly, thats for sure.
And I know that alot of musicians and supporters of local live music will never attend a future MMF, nor will they attend Transit or anything that the owner is involved in ever again (without naming names, He is a main organizer/promoter -and i use the terms loosely- of MMF, and as I pointed out in the beginning, THEY KNOW EXACTLY WHO I AM). As a matter of fact, I think this event has dampened (pardon the pun) the spirit of South Florida Local Music Festivals as a whole. I'm afraid if and when anything like this happens again, it will get little or no participation and support from the Local Music Scene and no hype from local press/media.
This hurts me. As a music lover, supporter and event organizer. I hereby vow to never again name one of my events with the word "Festival" (aside from the ones that are already annual events such as FemmeFest, Kryptonite Metal Fest, etc).
I also want to point out that my shows/festivals are never scams. We don't charge the bands, we don't charge the vendors, we keep in constant contact with our booked acts and make sure there is no miscommunication. Everything is laid out in black and white, clear as day along with our contact info, our sound techs contact info, the venue's contact info. We have a "promo party" so the bands can come pick up their materials and see where they are going to play, so it wont be a suprise the day of. We promote as much as we can for being a 2-person team. We run stages back to back so there is never lag time, we make flyers with the bands names on them and give them to all the bands so they can promote themselves as well, we also make internet blasts with the bands info- links, bio's, pictures, etc. for our massive email list, my website, myspace, facebook, twitter, texts, and media contacts and other online sources for promotion, We hit the streets ourselves to hand out flyers and even PAY people to pass out flyers at some events that would be a good target audience for our shows. Plus we make T-shirts, sometimes even compilation cd's, posters, buttons...
thank you for writing this!!!!! and for including the "proof" and the other articles on the herald/new times.
The day after the "festival", I had to comment in one of these articles of how upset we were, and yes too many venues with too many bands for people to know where they want to go and who to listen to.
We basically had free "rehearsal time" on 2 out of the 3 performance dates.
we couldnt agree more.
Serves them right for having this event during my wedding. lol. I really was hoping it would do good though because some of my fave local bands were performing. I can't believe they were so pompous to decline QUEEN any option in the matter. I hope it doesn't come back next year, or if it does, then it should be more organized and should allow the help of the best promoters miami has to offer. Sounds to me like it was a Winter Music Conference rip-off only thing the WMC plans their event year round and is way more organized. They need to step up their game to compete with them.
The Miami Music Festival
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