Bands fume over bounced checks from Bay Area Indie Music Festival

The Chivalry of the Entertainment Business and Ignorance of Some Entertainment Journalists.

In my 20 or so years of working in arts and entertainment Jennifer Maerz’s article about the Bay Area Indie Music Festival in the SF Weekly June 11, 2008 is “the perfect example of why people with little experience of the actual business of arts and entertainment should not be writing about the arts and entertainment business”.

Writing about people on stage or in front of the camera is one thing, but writing about behind the curtain and in the office is an entirely different subject. Also consider the unique psychology and protocols that go with working in the entertainment industry in
general.

Maerz has not only done a grave disservice to the San Francisco Bay Area independent music industry she has put the careers of the bands mentioned as well as a fund raiser for Bay Are music education in jeopardy. Arts, music and entertainment are not nine to five; everybody working on a production takes a risk. Some you win, some you don’t, but the show must go on and everybody is a good sport about it. That’s why we are all called troopers; cliché as all that sounds.

If the arts and entertainment industry were otherwise there would be no arts, music, or entertainment, or internet fun. Not everybody is prepared to take those kinds of risks for the enjoyment and education of others. There is no successful promoter or producer who at one point or another has not had at least show that failed to pay everybody. It is the nature of the business and the learning ground to do better. Be it music, film, concert, theatre, performing arts, fine arts, writing, pod-cast, or animation.

At one point or another everybody has been promised money to work on a show, something has gone wrong with that show, and they’ve not gotten paid. In the nine-to-five world, no this does not work, but in the arts world, it is mostly accepted with good grace. These unpublicized codes of chivalry help ensure that the producer has a chance to do better next show and eventually pay everybody. The alternatives are loosing another producer, show, audiences, as well as jobs for staff, talent, crew, and sometimes even entertainment journalists.

If Maerz had spent some years actually doing what it really takes to produce an outdoor festival, she would have taken the time to find how Bay Area Indie Music Festival are setting about to prevent and correct the mishaps of their previous show. It would have been a positive article that helps promote the Bay Area indie music scene, instead of weighing it down with another bad rap. Every show is a learning experience and admittedly not everybody learns from their mistakes, but some do, as is the case of Joshua Carter and 3 Udders Productions and the Bay Are Independent Music Festival.

For a Bay Area Indie music festival almost out of nowhere in two years come this far with this many resources, and unpaid bands still wanting to work with them, are very good signs of somebody worth working with. And basic public gathering legal 101 heads up: A
promoter cannot release certain information to the public or press until certain times of the legal time-line, even if the headliners are confirmed.

I’ve probably made every mistake in the book myself when it comes to entertainment business, and not just concerts. Yet if folks hadn’t given me another chance I never would have been able to learn from my mistakes, nor now be able help festivals create jobs and raise funds for invaluable community services.

FYI Dear Readers, Bay Area Indie Music Festival had pledged part of its ticket proceeds to the Castro Valley School District’s music education program, long before Maerz’s ignorant article was conceived. Bay Area Indie Music Festival not only is a vital injection to the growth of San Francisco and Bay Area’s lagging indie music scene and entertainment jobs, it is a vitally needed project to help children’s lagging music education.

So what are the choices put before us by Maerz?

Not support this festival and waste another opportunity of employment for the music and concert worker community, all because of the ignorant words of somebody who is does not actually work in indie music or concerts?

Or

Ignore the ignorant and support this festival to help create more jobs for San Francisco and Bay Area indie music and entertainment workers and music education programs for San Francisco and Bay Area children?

The ball is in the community’s court.

For more info on Bay Area Independent Music Festival please do check out www.bayareaindiefest.comDeborah Paulino

Festival Consultant

Gigslist.org

In the over 4 years that I’ve been doing concerts in the San Francisco Bay Area, I’ve been faced with so many challenges. Many of the challenges I’ve faced come with being a small business owner during one of the most tumultuous times in our nation’s economy. I myself have felt the strain as me and my family have been forced to move out of our home due to financial issues.

This past week, SF Weekly ran a story about last year’s Bay Area Indie Music Festival in Martinez, Ca. on August 27, 2007. I’m here to tell you that the story is very much incomplete.

I called Jennifer a week before she ran the story only after another industry person had told me he had been contacted by her and was told she was running a story about the financial problems that plagued the freshman Festival. She told me that she was indeed running the story and then proceeded to ask me very specific financial questions. Some of which I didn’t have the information since I was out of town on business. I let her know that I would get the info for her, but that it would likely have to wait until I returned.

Apparently that wasn’t good enough as Jennifer and the SF Weekly ran the story without all the information that probably would have swung the story in a more balanced direction. Instead, Jennifer and the SF Weekly chose to run a story that, was not only filled with editorialized comments, but really made no attempt to see what we’re doing to correct the situation. The column makes me and my company look like your stereotypical Promoter who is only out for himself. This is far from the truth.

It’s true that we still owe money to some of the bands that played last year’s Festival. But wasn’t disclosed was that there are some bands from last year’s Festival that still haven’t been paid, that would like to get on this year’s Festival. Also, in the 4 years that we’ve been doing this, it’s the first time we’ve ever had trouble paying bands.

When I started this company, I did so knowing that I could make a difference. I did so knowing that I could help bands in growing their careers by putting them on the same stage as some of the best acts in the world. We were the first company to bring Shiny Toy Guns to the Bay Area. We were one of the first companies to book Plain White T’s for one of their first acoustic shows. We’ve worked with some of the countries best venues like the legendary Sweet’s Ballroom in Oakland, Slim’s in San Francisco, and the place that started The Matches career iMusicast. And with one article Jennifer Maerz has put all of that remarkable history in jeopardy with her irresponsible article about the Festival.

Jennifer Maerz and the SF Weekly are proof that Entertainment Writers who have very little knowledge about how the music industry works can be dangerous. I have always fully supported independent entities which is why I started the Bay Area Indie Music Festival in the first place. But the SF Weekly’s attempt at journalism has bordered the journalistic integrity of a Rupert Murdoch news agency.

I hope that you the reader take the complete information about this Festival so that you can make informed choices regarding the Festival. Because the truth is, a lot of us at 3 Udders still have day jobs. We’re not doing this for the money. We’re doing this because we love music and the independent spirit that is dominating it right now. We do this because we know we can continue to make a difference and we know what we’re doing is relevant. To let the Festival die because of the irresponsible reporting of one journalist would be doing a disservice to the local scene and the folks that employs them. Have we had financial problems? Yes. But we’re doing all we can to ensure it never happens again and that the bands who have yet to be paid, get paid.

I thank you so much for taking the time to read this. I hope you realize we’re not the horrible monsters that the SF Weekly would have you believe we were. I’ve never been one to run from a challenge or to shirk my responsibilities, and I don’t intend to start now.

Joshua Carter
Owner/Founder
3 Udders Productions

I’ll keep my response the point.

Here are the facts I uncovered in researching and writing this column: Joshua Carter/3 Udders Productions put on the Bay Area Indie Music Festival last year. He didn't pay a number of the bands that played there, including the headliners. The bigger bands on his bill have asked repeatedly for their money over the past 10 months. They have not been paid. Some of these bands have even involved a lawyer, to no avail. Despite the fact that he is still in debt to these bands, Joshua is putting on an even bigger festival at one of the city's most expensive venues. The facts pretty much speak for themselves here.

As for saying that I "ran the story without all the information," I’ll clarify that point. There was only one area where Joshua said he'd have to get back to me. When I asked if any of the bands at his concert had been paid, he named the Frail only, and said there were others. I asked for the names of the other bands. He said he didn't have them on him, and that he'd have to call me back. That was on the Wednesday before publication. I told him I'd need those names in the next couple of days to hit my deadline. He never called back. Enough said.

Mz Maerz, I'm not doubting that what you say is fact, but that is between the industry, not the public. Festivals like Indie Fest are a much needed boost to local entertainment and tourism industries as well as funding for schools, and you've put it in jeopardy. Bands not getting paid happens all the time, but at least they have been given a stage, which helps sell their CD's. Are you going to write stories on all the promoters who have failed to pay bands, just to be fair and keep it factual? The week before your publication extolled the virtues of a rock opera that hasn't paid it's band or crew in 18 months and they've played a number of shows plus weekly rehearsals for that 18 months. Why make them the hero and a festival trying to actively expand to pay it's outstanding debts the villain?

Kudos to Jennifer for writing this article. I play keyboards in Scissors For Lefty, and as Jennifer's article states, we were one of the bands that played last year's event. We strongly believe in supporting and growing the local music scene and to that end have played free shows at our fans high schools, record stores, backyard bbqs, great local events such as The Ant Show, and pretty much every club in town. Often times, we have played for free just because someone asked us to and it sounded like a great idea. Our only goal in these shows is for our fans to have a great time, to play good music and to have an enjoyable experience working with the promoters of the show.

Having said that, here are the facts about our experience at Bay Area Indie Music fest last year:

We spent about $500 of our own money getting to the show. We brought a lot of our own fans, and they spent a lot of their own money to buy tickets to the show. When we got there, the sound system was in complete disarray and everything was at least 2 hours behind schedule. Our soundtech (who volunteers for us) graciously stepped in and helped get the sound system and the show on track. When we finally got to play, it was four hours past our scheduled show time. We ended up playing close to midnight instead of our original early evening set. At this point, many of our fans actually had to leave because they had pre-arranged rides from their parents. So many of our fans paid their hard earned money to see us and went home disappointed. Furthermore, Joshua forced us to cut our set time in half because the festival was so far behind schedule. So after we pulled together the sound system for Joshua, and played 4 hours later than we were supposed to, and had all our fans go home bummed out, and had to play a half-set, Joshua thanked us by giving us a check that bounced. Even when we tried to follow up with him about it, he was non-responsive and just plain ignored us. It was quite a slap in the face to have this happen after all the effort we put in to make the festival operational.

We've been in the music industry for quite a while, and we're not ones to complain about every petty issue we run across. We appreciate the many legitimately hard working, honest and ethical promoters striving to make our local music scene special. We also think that musicians deserve to be treated with dignity and that fans deserve to see the bands they pay to see. When it comes to the Bay Area Indie Fest, we think the Bay Area music scene can do much better.