Archive for March, 2011
Wide Days: Broadening your musical horizons
Wednesday, March 16th, 2011
The second annual WIDE DAYS takes place at Edinburgh University’s Teviot House on April 7. The music seminar and showcase event is a spin-off of the more regular Born To Be Wide events in the capital, which in the past year has covered engaging topics such as music photography, gig promotion and booking, and even a German-themed night.
The project is headed by Derick Mackinnon and Olaf Furniss, well-known figures in Edinburgh’s music scene through their work on The Scotsman’s Under The Radar column (not to be confused with the Radar blog) and New Found Sound.
The line-up for this year’s Wide Days features leading industry figures and is a mixture of discussion panels, workshops and live music.
Here’s a rundown of the seminars:
MAKING TOURING PAY
How can an impoverished band build a fanbase by taking to the road. Panelists include:
Robert Hicks [Beyond Promotions], Jason Edwards [13 Artists], Keren McKean [Manager / We Make Music Work], Caroline Winn [Hebrides Ensemble], Moderator Michael Lambert
NOT JUST SXSW
Which showcase events do not involved visas, can be reached by van or budget flight and will still leave you enough money to record and tour an album? Panelists: Shaun Arnold [goNorth], Ruth Daniel [Un-Convention], Martin Elbourne [The Great Escape/Glastonbury]
MUSIC IN FILMS
How to bridge the gap between film makers and musicians, it will cover legal aspect and rights, as well as the artistic and technical aspects which need to be considered. Panelists: Caroline Gorman [Rage Music], Nigel McCune [Musicians Union]
DIY VS RECORD LABELS
New online services are launched every month, but what do they really offer and can they substitute the role traditionally associated with labels? Can the artist get the best of both worlds and do these services work for labels as well? Panelists: Stewart Henderson [Chemikal Underground], Joe Porn [Music Glue]
The workshops are as follows:
MAKING MONEY WITH PPL
Dan Millington [PPL]
MUSIC MAKING MONEY
Scott Cohen [The Orchard]
HOW TO WRITE A KILLER BIOG
Neil Cooper
ONLINE PROMOTION
Inner Ear
Although Wide Days will primarily appeal to those involved in, or keen to be involved in, the music industry, several Scottish acts – Rachel Sermanni, Withered Hand, Capitals, Letters, GoGoBot and Paws – will be playing short showcases at Cabaret Voltaire, Electric Circus and Sneaky Pete’s, which are free for fans to attend. To get on the guestlist, just email your name to the appropriate address: rachel@widedays.com or witheredhand@widedays.com or capitals@widedays.com or letters@widedays.com or gogobot@widedays.com or paws@widedays.com
Tickets for Wide Days are available to purchase here.
Rachel Sermanni – Eggshells
Capitals – Hello World
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Music Alliance Pact – March 2011
Tuesday, March 15th, 2011
Welcome to the 30th edition of the Music Alliance Pact, which has been arriving on the 15th of every month without fail since October 2008.
As ever, bloggers around the world have vouched for one song from their respective home countries, all served up as free, legal mp3s -yours to download either individually (right-click on the song title) or collectively (via MediaFire).
The latest Scottish act on The Pop Cop’s list of must-hears goes by the name of LITTLE ESKIMOS, from Stirling. Hit it, boys…
To download all 36 songs in one file click here
SCOTLAND: The Pop Cop
Little Eskimos – Start It Up
You’d never guess that Little Eskimos’ anthemic debut album Are You Still With Us? (available on Bandcamp) is the work of just one man – chief songwriter Kevin Harper played all the instruments and recorded it himself before getting a band together. Little Eskimos clearly owe a huge debt to the West Coast slacker rock sound, and the infectious Start It Up will leave you counting the days until their second album comes out in the summer. Keep up with them on Facebook in the meantime.
April 8, Captain’s Rest, Glasgow
(more…)
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The collateral damage of SXSW
Thursday, March 10th, 2011
Withered Hand should be heading for SXSW. Instead, moronic US immigration officials in Vermont froze his visa and challenged the Edinburgh musician to prove that their qualified assertion he is “not of extraordinary ability” was an inaccurate one. One can only imagine they came to such a conclusion after believing ‘Withered Hand’ to be a thinly-disguised pseudonym for Abu Hamza.
After incessant campaigning from fans and well-wishers on Twitter, Facebook and even a formal petition with 750 signatures, at 3.30pm on Thursday, 10th March – a mere 41 hours before Dan Willson’s transatlantic flight leaves Edinburgh Airport – his visa approval finally came through. However, with Dan having to rush to London for an interview at the US Embassy, it’s still touch and go as to whether this nightmare will have a happy ending. (UPDATE 13/03/11: It did have a happy ending. He made it to America, with just his first gig in New York having to be cancelled)
Dan told The Pop Cop just how much of a financial hit he had to take to arrange the ill-fated expedition, which included not just the SXSW music event in Texas, but flights between his various scheduled shows in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Dan: “The whole trip, solo, was costing me roughly £3,000. That included me staying with a host family in Austin to save on accommodation. My visa application alone cost $2,300. You don’t really make any money at SXSW so that’s a lot of money to cover from gigs and merch sales. Throwing that money away and not getting to play SXSW and my other shows will set me back years.
“It’s particularly galling as I have jumped through every hoop asked of me, and at the right time. I spent hours on all this and was feeling pretty pleased at having managed to tie in dates in NYC, San Francisco and LA around SXSW.
“The only reason I thought about going to SXSW in the first instance was to meet my US label, the tour bookers who had expressed an interest in working with me and needed to see me play, and to support the US release of my debut album Good News on Absolutely Kosher on March 15.”
Sadly, he’s not the only musician to suffer visa troubles this week, with Dam Mantle also in the same boat.
Officially, there should be 15 Scottish acts in total at SXSW – Admiral Fallow, Dam Mantle, Errors, Jackmaster, Kid Canaveral, Rachel Sermanni, The Twilight Sad, Unicorn Kid, Withered Hand, Bronto Skylift, Edwyn Collins, Jon Fratelli, King Creosote, Popup and Twin Atlantic.
The first nine of those have been financially supported by Creative Scotland, while Bronto Skylift, Edwyn Collins, Jon Fratelli, King Creosote, Popup and Twin Atlantic have had to fend for themselves.
In addition, two London-based bands featuring Scots will be at SXSW – Veronica Falls, who include two former members of The Royal We in their line-up, and the Oracadian-fronted Erland And The Carnival.
Austin-based Peej Reid, who runs Dear Scotland, a culture website popular with expats, explains the two major steps in the SXSW process for Scottish acts.
Peej: “First of all they apply for SXSW in the autumn. They usually hear back in November/December. Once accepted, they then apply for Creative Scotland funding. There is nothing to stop a band who is officially accepted by SXSW but denied funding from making their own way to Austin, but it makes things tougher. So it is quite common for bands to announce that they have been accepted to SXSW, only to later drop off. SXSW always accept more bands than they can accommodate because they know everyone won’t make it.”
Half-a-dozen Scots acts came into just that bracket this year – Django Django, Steve Mason, Unkle Bob, The Xcerts, Flood Of Red and Woodenbox With A Fistful Of Fivers were all invited but elected not to go. The latter two had claims for financial support turned down by Creative Scotland, while Django Django, Steve Mason and The Xcerts weren’t eligible for funding as they are now based in England.
Julian Deane, The Xcerts’ manager, knows just how agonising a decision it is for fledgling British bands desperate to play before the music world’s movers and shakers at events such as SXSW, yet faced with the prospect of racking up astronomical debts if they do so.
Julian: “We’re extremely creative when it comes to finding ways of doing things we can’t necessarily afford but this time SXSW was a step too far, even though we were chosen.
“One of the big problems is the US visa, which to me is a huge scam. We paid the best part of £2,000 in visas to get a three-piece band to New York for CMJ in October 2010 to ‘work’ for two shows which they weren’t getting paid for. The logic being that people are ‘paying’ to see them play, so whether they are being paid or not is irrelevant.
“The funding on offer falls way short of the real costs of such a trip. You need additional backing from a well-funded label, a rich patron, a good credit card, nerves of steel and an understanding bank manager. I’ll leave you to guess what we have.
“We’ll do these speculative trips when we can, and I think in the long-term they pan out, but you can’t expect solid business propositions in the short or even medium-term. We’ll keep our heads down, work as hard and as creatively as we can, and wait for people to take notice. Obviously it comes with its own frustrations when drivel is flavour of the month, but year on year we are winning.”
As you’ll no doubt have gathered, deciding who does and does not get funding is far from an exact science, so here are a few pointers any future SXSW hopefuls should take heed of, with some words of wisdom from Creative Scotland development officer Stuart Thomas.
- Earning an invitation to SXSW is not enough to secure funding
Stuart: “SXSW has to be part of a larger plan for the act and must dovetail into their album and touring schedules. It should not be considered as a standalone event. Creative Scotland’s international showcasing fund criteria seek to examine this and their plans for the event. SXSW is such a competitive showcasing environment that bands need to be well placed to achieve successful outcomes.”
- Successful applicants will never get their entire costs paid for by Creative Scotland
Stuart: “We make our awards at a standard per head rate. This year it is £750 per band member, with an additional £750 available for the band’s management if they are based in Scotland. This is broadly in line with our general approach to supporting artists to showcase (where we would usually pay a maximum of 55% of the costs).
- Make friends with Scotland’s major promoters (or at least don’t get on the wrong side of them)
Stuart: “The funding decision is made by Creative Scotland, advised by our SXSW steering group which consists of staff from DF Concerts, PCL Presents and Vic Galloway.”
Further reading:
List of Scottish gigs at SXSW
BBC’s Scottish team at SXSW on Twitter
Detour Scotland at SXSW (they will also have a live link-up at Glasgow’s Bar Bloc on March 16)
Creative Scotland international showcasing fund
Withered Hand – Love In The Time Of Ecstasy
The Xcerts – Nightschool (live at King Tut’s)
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