Saturday, April 26, 2014

Music Festivals For Local Bands

By Michael Fitzgerald


In the past 5 years alone, new music festivals have sprouted up all across the country, from major cities like Chicago and Austin, to places almost literally in the middle of nowhere, like a desert in Nevada or an unassuming campground in the Ohio Valley. But no matter where they take place, these music festivals always seem to attract huge audiences - and offer an amazing opportunity for local bands to get noticed. Local bands lucky enough to earn their way to a stage on a music festival not only get the chance to perform for massive crowds, but many record labels and A&R representatives take special note of these events and the bands that perform well on them.

When a band gets to perform with a ton of other groups and musicians in front of lots of new fans - on a music festivals, for example - they also get the chance to network with more fans, bands, and music industry people than they would on your average local show. Festivals may also be a great chance for groups to sell all kinds of band merchandise - the more merch they can sell at a fest, the more the attendees will take interest in the group - for a local band, a T-shirt can be a walking, talking billboard of sorts, and can really create a buzz for the band somewhere like a local music fest.

As local music fests grow in popularity and more companies continue to hold these events, we will see more groups getting discovered from Music Festivals all across the country. There are a ton of success stories that start at music festivals. In 2011 at The Cleveland Music Festival - presented by Gorilla Music - Jeff Blue, the A&R representative who discovered Linkin Park, found guitarist Lance Dowdle performing in a local group, DNA. Jeff helped Lance get signed to Atlantic records, and he now plays guitar for the band, Emphatic.

Performing on a music fest where a label rep or talent scout is present is potentially the best way for a band or musician to be discovered quickly. Once again in search of unknown local talent, Jeff Blue is actually currently working with Gorilla Music together to put on The Jeff Blue Contest Tour. These events will be held in major cities around the United States; every band booked to every show will be competing for a chance to write and record a song with Jeff Blue at his studio in L.A., California.

Gorilla Music Festivals, like The Cleveland Music Festival, have always been amazing opportunities for local or unknown bands to get noticed in their city. Unlike most other music festivals across the country, Gorilla Music's festivals feature National headliners but are ultimately designed to showcase the local talent as much as possible. This is opposed to many other house-hold name music festivals which book 90% national or regional bands and leave very little chance for local bands to get much notice. Gorilla Music holds multiple Music Festivals every single year, the next being The Dallas Music Festival, which will take place May 30th to June 1st and will be held at venues in and around the Deep Ellum area.




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