The Inner-Workings of a Mini Music Business

Limiting creativity

lifeisknocking — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 14:14:35 +0000

Just recently a few of our staff had a meeting with the people who pull together the New Bohemia Festival, an annual shindig that promotes local arts and culture. The basis of the meeting was this: the leaders of New Bohemia want to change the age allowance to over 18.

And I want to ask this. How can someone expect to get a large turnout and a popular event if they want to be restricting?

Raising the age limit does nothing to promote culture. If you put a restriction on who can enjoy music, art, dance, and other forms, how can you say that you support the arts and really having a strong local scene?

I’m sure there are some exhibits that will not be appropriate for people of a certain age. Art is about free expression, and that sometimes means graphic art, music with certain subject matters and lyrics, and other things.

The solution to that would be to simply have these exhibits set up in a different way. Have them separated from the rest in their own division, have tents set up around them.
I’ve been to the New Bohemia festival. I personally have not experienced anything inappropriate about it, but I could be wrong. I’ll leave that judgement to the actual organizers of it.
I just have to beg them to not put a restriction on something at wonderful as New Bohemia. It’s just in it’s second year, and slamming the rule books closed on it wouldn’t promote anything, just that this scene is as discriminating as any other form of entertainment.

Magazines and New Events

lifeisknocking — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 14:43:42 +0000

There’s something new in the works here at Nexus. I’ve been talking to Jason for a while, mulling over this idea. I’m sure we have a lot of support for it within the group, and we definitely have the means. This fabulous new idea? A newsletter. Maybe even a magazine, if we get support and resources bumped up.

The thought of a newsletter was first brought up in one of our bimonthly meetings. It was In February, as we sat squished around two Starbucks tables. Jason (that’s the President of this whole powwow) announced that he had been toying around with the idea of a magazine for a while, but never really had backing for it. I, being somewhat into journalism and even more into being creative instantly volunteered for the job.

Since that pivotal meeting, we have thrown out more proposals for parts of it, including a calendar, interviews with bands, articles from the community, venue information, and so much more. Now all that is left to do is meet with Corey and Jason this coming Friday to really delve into planning.
The only things that we really have planned out is this:

1. We want to publish in black and white for the first few issues
2. We won’t go too big for the first few issues. Just a calendar, upcoming events, and maybe a few short articles. As we gain more readers we will get bigger articles.

So the meeting is in two days to get everything set up and get this magazine up and running. Finding a publisher, things to write stories about, and someone to design are on the list of things to discuss.

UPCOMING EVENTS:
April 19- Tiger! Tige! w/ How Vivid The Memory @ Paul Engle Center
May 2- Underground Night @ Paul Engle Center
May 3- The Moment @ Paul Engle Center

Promotin’

lifeisknocking — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 14:02:51 +0000

There’s no easy way to get the word out about something. Unless you are tight buddies with Josh Hinkle or have the money to scrape together an ad to run in the local newspaper, you are stuck with word of mouth, and maybe a few fliers at a few businesses.
We have tried, oh boy, have we tried. Justin (our staffing/promoting coordinator) has slaved for hours marking up maps, typing out lists, dealing with Copyworks (who apparently have to take one hour to print out one map) and making copies of fliers for us.

We have this whole plan of the Nexus Map of Evil Conquest. The last section of the city that I got assigned to distribute fliers to was the Lindale Mall area, and consisted of 19 stores that might let us put fliers up.

The only problem with this master plan is this: the list of places that will let us leave flyers is tiny. Miniscule, compared to the size of Cedar Rapids and all of the businesses that we have. Not to mention many of the places that one might think would be happy to promote local events (such as Journeys, the uber-hip shoe store in the mall or Panera Bread) had to turn us away, telling us that they wouldn’t be able to let people pick up fliers even for one day. That’s the one thing that really gets to us.

I’ve noticed many people complain that there is nothing to do in Cedar Rapids, and if they want to do anything then they have to make the half-hour drive to Iowa City. It’s not just highschoolers that complain, either. I (along with other members of the staff) have noticed adults crabbing, too. But we are trying our hardest to get this information out there.

One week, countless hours and a few tanks of gas later and our whole staff has plastered (or as much as we can plaster) the city. Next time you are out and about, ask the store if they have a bulletin board and go browse. You will be sure to find a few colorful fliers from yours truly, Nexus.

Small town, big dreams.

lifeisknocking — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 14:29:32 +0000

Welcome to Cedar Rapids, population 128,000. St. Louis has 360,000, Minneapolis stands at 377,000 and Peoria rests at 369,000. All cities in the Midwest that are popular places for bands to travel to, and the interest is heavy. When the topic of music comes to Iowa, there is a major interest, but not enough support. That is what Nexus Entertainment Arts is working to change.
Nexus is made up of staff that are interested in raising a local music and arts scene, much like what is rolling in cities like Iowa City and other various places. The entire business is run in the same way that much larger operations are, booking bands and artists, scoping out new venues to perform in, hiring staff and even offering internships. They take a very hands-on approach to the work, with frequent staff meetings in informal settings.
The staff is rounded out by volunteers from the area that share the same passion as the staff, and are there as extra hands to help at events and planning. Volunteers can raise through the ranks, becoming staff members as they help out more with the business.

My position among the staff is a simple volunteer, working her way through long promotion routes, nights spent at the Paul Engle, welcoming various people through the doors, designing flyers for events under harsh deadlines and travelling to other locations the night of shows to shamelessly promote our group. It’s gruelling, but it’s worth it. And I think it needs told.
There is a secret story waiting to be told of the people who are devotiong their life to bring music and art to those stuck in conservative towns. It is my goal here to show how this business works. Part of that hands-on thing we like to do.