Update, May 18th: This post has been edited after we received a legal threat from Surface Unsigned. More here.
Round one of the regional Surface Unsigned Festival ‘08 is nearly over, but have no fear sheer volume of acts they are dealing with in the midlands alone should mean there are plenty of gigs to come, if I’ve done the maths right the competition should be finished sometime in 2112.
Now each act are not going to be the-ghost-of-Jimi-Hendrix-playing-a-seven-hour-set-amazing admittedly, but this could be a great way of seeing local unsigned acts.
Tomorrow Digbeth favorite, The Rainbow (whose lack of decent website surprises me for some reason) will, play host too, Product Of This, Trial of Origin, The Singles Club, Planetman, Astro Reality, and Just Sweet Theft.
In the interest of transparency I found out about this because I will be there tomorrow (long hair, scruffy beard/stubble and waistcoat, say hello I’m nice) supporting Planetman, old friends and IMO one of the best unsigned bands in Birmingham.
As this has provoked quite the discussion, I give my report into Surface and the machinations thereof.
As I knew one of the bands at the gig last night any review that I do will have a bias. Anyway the structure of the event and competition as a whole is far more interesting, and by interesting I mean sketchy.
First of all I want to qualify my criticisms with the insistence that I did have a good time last night. Six pounds isn’t a massive price to pay if the money was going to the bands or covering costs. And I still think there is a case to be made for showcase style show with six or so bands playing twenty minutes each.
Walking in the gig wasn’t packed, Surface don’t really do any promotion, that they leave to the bands to do themselves, expecting each band to sell 25 tickets each;
Note: We had previously reprinted verbatim an excerpt of the terms and conditions. Surface have requested we remove this as they consider it a breach of copyright so what follows is a paraphrased version written in a tone that we hope cannot be mistaken for that of Surface.
Oh hai! For to plai at event ur ordiance can haz 25 pipple. U muzt sell 25 tikkits 4 eech gig ur in. If u can not haz cell 25 tikkits u can still haz plai but ur band will NOT go froo 2 necks rawnd no matta haw mannie Sourfice Raiteens U getz. Kthnxbai!
From how empty the venue was, it meant a lot of bands must of eat shit on ticket sales and bought them themselves, you also only get the money back from tickets sales if you sell all 25 which is even then only a pound a ticket. So for 25 £6 tickets, the bands get £25 and Surface gets £125 now there are a minimum of six band at each gig so that means each gig they get a minimum of £750 (not to much maths I hope, my head kinda pickled as it is but I will push on regardless), now the first round of the Birmingham heats there are 38 gigs, which adds up too £28,500! just for the first round, all this, according to the booklet, going towards
“Sound engineer, Venue, Booth Operative, Security, Bar staff, PA, Lighting etc”(bold theirs)
From what I saw last night, lighting and PA was the venues own, bar staff provided by the venue also, there was no security. All the other stuff amps etc were provided by the sponsors, and to be honest the lead guitars speaker actually catching fire during the set isn’t the hugest endorsement for their products.
Another criticism is the choosing of the bands the whole night was Rock/Ska/Pop, which means the Screamo band put in the second from last slot was never going to get as many votes seeing as they drove most of the crowd to the connecting bar. In fact the esoteric voting system is so much BS I won’t go into it in detail, needless to say the MC’s main job was to push the text voting, seeing as the other voting was the highly scientific system of raised hands and I wouldn’t trust this broad to count her children in the car on the way back from Alton Towers.
I would love to see the same structure applied to a regular night were six or so unsigned band played half an hour each and split the door, giving relatively new bands a chance to cut their teeth and punters a regular night to sample a section of the local scene.
53 Comments
Do we happen to know how much these gigs are on the door?
Interesting question Russ
Can’t see myself that it’s a good way of seeing local unsigned acts as Pete suggest. Pete’s been now so: Pete what did it cost and was it a good way of seeing local unsigned bands? (a term I’ll only ever use for the purpose of this question).
Sorry everyone, question to you Danny.
It’s tonight, so I dont know about the quality of the other bands other than their Myspace profiles. the tickets cost me six pounds which I suppose isn’t bad, depending on the gig. And I purchased mne off the band themselves.
Sorry I can’t help more but I’m at work using the schools ancient PC. I will find out about how to get tickets when i get in and give a full report of the night late tonight, when i get back.
I can’t see how £6 could possibly be seen as reasonable for six local acts doing what look likely to be twenty minute sets.
This is quite apart from (but alse additional to) the concept of ‘Battle Of The Bands’ being about as wanky as anything ever could be in the entire history of everything ever.
Six pounds does seem a lot considering how many sponsors logos are on the website. I’d rather they used some of the sponsorship money to subsidise the door, and ideally make the gigs free in.
You’re charged £1 to vote for your favourite band by text too!
Um, also, what do you get for winning too - I can’t find that on the website. Can anyone else see it, I may just be looking in the wrong place.
I was looking in the wrong place -
“As well as an industry showcase our sponsors are on hand to award the best bands endorsements, prizes and recording time. In 2008 every band in the National Showcase will receive the following: 5 x sets of D’Addario XL strings, 2 x sets of D’Addario Bass strings, Planet Waves S.O.S. Guitar Tuner, Planet Waves S.O.S. Bass Tuner, 2 x Planet Waves Instrument Cables, Planet Waves Capo, Evans Tom Pack (3 tom heads), Evans Snare Head, Evans Drum Key. There are prizes from Marshall, PMT, Dawsons, Univibe Audio, Zildjian and Kerrang on offer also. The total prize fund totals tens of thousands of pounds. There will also be cash sponsorship for the best 4 bands from the Surface Unsigned Festival.”
Admitedly i have my reservations, the oblique way to get a ticket, the dodgy phone voting system and high door entry price being a few.
I do like the idea of seeing six bands in one night though, kinda like the old “punk-a-rama” cds where the record agency would cram a song from all their artists on one cd and sell them for about a fiver to encouraging people to try new bands.
Subsidised door entry would obviously be preferable and even though the bands get a portion of the tickets they sell, I’m tempted to believe that that system might turn the (very wanky) battle of the bands idea into even more a who can bring the most supporters competition.
Anyway will report back later with a verdict and maybe a few words from the bands.
Sponsorship? Phone Voting?
If there are two short Geordie fellas in charge then the one on the left will be called Ant.
bands that i have to listen to with my own ears? and six pounds? i’d only pay that if it was beamed directly into my mind, yeah.
god damn. Cheer the fuck up.
plus i actually went, and at least three of the bands were worth paying two pounds for. not sure about the screamcore though.
“bands that i have to listen to with my own ears? and six pounds? i’d only pay that if it was beamed directly into my mind, yeah.”
Well that would be lovely, yes, but can’t I just go to a proper gig instead where A) I can see bands play for a sensible length of time; and B) not feel that I’m being manipulated solely for the purpose of filling Surface & Sons pockets?
Oops. Apologies for that slight touch of italicising incompetence.
No ones stopping anyone from going to “proper gigs”, and i’m presuming by “proper” you mean the sort of gig where a promoter will book a band then do no promoting what so ever and sit on the door taking money from a bands following, which is the sort of thing the bands I talked to last night complained about more.
The structure of Surface is a bit sketchy, and i’m not really endorsing it, quite the oppostite when i get home (it’s lunch hour and i’m back on the steam powered PC in the school).
I found twenty minutes a good time to get a flavour of the bands and pick out some decent tracks, as a result of last night I found a couple of bands I will make the effort to see.
I would define ‘proper gig’ as ‘A DIY gig where the promoter struggles like mad to publicise it, and then shares the money that appears in a sensible way, making sure to give the bands as fair a recompense as possible’. This is the case with most small gigs I go to. Admittedly this usually means that the promotor loses money, and (obviously) that’s terrible, but there are no shortage of ethical promoters around. The fact the type of thing you describe is being put forward as some sort of default in a comments thread that the widely respected Dunc Autumn Store has posted in is amazing.
I’m glad that you enjoyed twenty minute sets but it’s definitely something I find hard to imagine myself ever seeing as a positive.
Sorry if I sounded hostile in the previous post; it’s often a reflex to respond to sniffy rhetoric (String) with sniffy rhetoric. That doesn’t excuse it, I realise.
And I apologise if my obviously lacking writing ability suggested that this sort of event should be the default way of discovering new bands and should replace supporting grass roots local music. I assure you that this wasn’t the case.
What i did say in the original post is “this could be a great way of seeing local unsigned acts”, and (lazy hackneyed saying aside) you know what, it was. There are two new local bands I’m defiantly going to go see again. but also after looking into the competition and how its organised I’m retracting my endorsement.
I still like the idea of a showcase style event with short sets and six or so bands.
“after looking into the competition and how its organised I’m retracting my endorsement.”
I can’t wait for this post!
yeah i got hold of a bands copy of the rules, and will be posting later.
Note: Surface have emailed claiming the above comment by Danny is threatening copyright infringement. While the issue of whether copyright was infringed or is moot the threat was actioned on March 20th when an excerpt of the rules was added to the blog post above (where it has now been rephrased). I thank you.
sniffy?
Drunken maybe, but sniffy?
The two things are not mutually exclusive. This once again applies to my response as well.
inspired use of lolspeak guys :)
This legal threat is highly spurious for several reasons.
1. I can’t find the “festival’s” terms and conditions, but I expect they are much longer than this one paragraph. Copyright law only applies when you quote a “substantial part” of a work.
2. Even if this was the entire terms and conditions, there is a very strong defence case for this being fair comment on a matter of public interest.
3. So copyright doesn’t come into it.
4. Even if Surface has a non-disclosure agreement with the bands taking part, there is no such contractual relationship between Surface and CiB.
What an own goal by Surface. Instead of engaging with the issue, explaining what the money is used for, how much it costs to administer the competition, pointing to the success stories large and small of bands who have taken part, they are now going to be branded as exploitative cowards who don’t understand the blogosphere or the law.
‘in the midlands alone should mean there are plenty of gigs to come, if I’ve done the maths right the competition should be finished sometime in 2112′ Is Rush playing then?
Why do people still get surprised by this sort of event? If bands want to waste their time, energy and money - great! There are a number of regional ‘faces’ that regularly do this sort of thing without importing extortion.
Anyone see the dreadful one in Hard Rock Cafe a few years ago? Same format industry ‘experts’ flown half way round the world to watch rubbish local bands pay to play 15 min (2 minute change over - 12 hours a day)? They must have been totally indispensable to the record companies if they can waste their time like that? They spent the whole night at the bar or looking in the opposite direction from the stage.
But still bands will pay to be ’spotted’ Why?
‘So for 25 £6 tickets, the bands get £25 and Surface gets £125 now there are a minimum of six band at each gig so that means each gig they get a minimum of £750 (not to much maths I hope, my head kinda pickled as it is but I will push on regardless), now the first round of the Birmingham heats there are 38 gigs, which adds up too £28,500! just for the first round, all this, according to the booklet’
If you are desperate to achieve fame there are a couple of ways I can think of at the time of writing.
1) Get a job as an investment banker / patronage of one or marry one & spend 100k recording, promoting and distributing then hire the services of Max Clifford to get you on the front page as you punch Amy Winehouse, snort charlie with Pete and marry Paris while falling out of an exclusive London club at 2am.
2) The X factor is in Brum today - why not go down there and waste your time? save yourselves some money! Save the audience and poor bar staff from hearing your twaddle!
“Surface Unsigned’s PR team have been busy. I do love stuff like this. I won’t add to the wise words of those better qualified than I to unpick this one, but the bare bones are that a company sent a fairly nonsensical legal threat to a blogger, and obviously it’s always funny to see a larger organization attempt to use heavy-handed tactics and subsequently get egg on their face.”
Full post here.
The whole thing is a scam – I barely know 25 people never minding trying to get £7 out of 25 people to come along and watch. Our approach is that if we sell 25 tickets and get through then fine, if not then we won’t be upset.
The problem is that bands don’t have much choice. For us the attraction is playing more venues, effectively building up our CV as a band. We’re not in the competition to win, and neither will we because we don’t sound like the Strokes / Babyshambles type bands and that seems to be what record companies are interested in nowadays, at least on the evidence of the ‘A&R’ vote in our first round. I think the next round on the 29th will be a lot better, mainly because of the venue.
We aren’t keen on 20 min sets either, or having to sell tickets, or being made to turn up at half 4 for soundchecks, even though only the first and last band get a soundcheck (which is why we always play first)…also regarding the legal comments, we have not signed any non-disclosure agreements with the festival organizers or anything else tying us in legally. So I don’t see why no-one else is able to see the rules etc. You might also want to refer people to the FAQs on the SUF website at http://www.surfaceunsigned.co.uk/faqs.html
And now, courtesy Stuart Fowkes over at Oxfordbands:
http://www.oxfordbands.com/2008/05/19/pay-to-play/
Is that the first outside-Brum post?
Another thing that concerns me about this is how they handle the text voting (details on the banner at the bottom of the http://www.surfaceunsigned.co.uk/presspage.html). If a band does not qualify by not bringing 25 fans, what happens to any text votes for that band? Voters have to pay £1 plus network fee for each vote. Is this announced at the end of the gig before voting starts “You can vote for BandA, BandC and BandD, but not BandB”. This seems unlikely.
Oooh, phone scandal. I must say I don’t really have a problem with the “you must sell tickets” thing per se (although transparency would be nice), but that’s a very good point.
Anyone who’s actually been to one of these things care to comment?
I went to the semi and the final last year cos my mate was in one of the bands. We had a wicked time and so did my mate who gained a lot from the experience. We paid £8 for 6 bands which is less than a nightclub entry. As for the MCs if it’s the same as last year they were well fit!!
Love the way you paraphrased the supposed copywrite infringement in lolspeak. As I write lawyers the world over are trying to work out what lolspeak is and how they can utilise it either as a legal loophole or as another way to nail you on their clients behalf.
I like also the comments from the anonymous four piece rock band who
a) don’t wish to promote their name here on CiB -c’mon guys any publicity is publicity surely!
b) don’t know more than 25 people. (you’re gigs must be a blast!)
c) still seem to believe that A&R even exists and that any serious industry types actually give two shits for a bunch of blokes playing their hearts out in a pub. If they didn’t make it and can’t control every ounce of it they ain’t gonna be interested. With record companies imploding and dropping established acts do you really think they can be bothered to develop new artists.
Sorry chaps.
According to Surface Unsigned Magazine a group called The Brascoes were the “Best Band Of The Festival” in 2007. Currently they are scheduled to play:
1st June 2008 Hide and Seek Festival, Leeds
5th June 2008 Forge Bar Cannock,
13th June 2008 The Rainbow Digbeth
Erm..that’s it.
Nothing wrong with that but following being brought “to the attention of all aspects of the music industry”?
I believe they did a Radio WM session as well a couple of months ago shortly before the station stopped broadcasting after 10.00pm.
I have been researching a history of bands who have survived talent competitions and gone on to any success and since U2 survived one in Dublin in 1978 a year before their first self released EP in Ireland I can’t find any other. Anyone know of any?
My band Jazz Thrash Assassin came 4th in 2007. We were well aware of the sometimes dubious ways of the Surface Festival from the start.
As Stef observes Surface probably make around £28,500 from Round 1 alone… The winners of the 2007 festival won an amazing erm… i dont know i cant find it online, and neither can i find what the winners get this year either. Maybe thats deliberate on their part… but going on a bad memory they won £1000 and a few hours in a studio (that they run the festival from) in Walsall. I know. Your, impressed right?
As for the the voting system was… well… laughable and the judging was also .. well to put it nicely ‘diplomatic’.
The best thing we got from the event was some good live shots and a few great gigs. Which is good… dont get me wrong, but the prizes & opportunities in relation to what the festival make in $$$ are pretty pathetic to say the least.
Oh - actually… after reading Dunc’s post above about the prizes… we did get a drum key and our guitarist got some strings!!!!!! I’m a bass player though and I got nothing.
You know, I have a feeling that Surface’s promise to bring the winners to the attention of the music industry might just come true. Just not quite in the way they thought….
@ john mostyn
The legend is that Happy Mondays were famously spotted by Tony Wilson at a Battle of the Bands competition.
They came last :)
ben: ‘we did get a drum key and our guitarist got some strings!!!!!! I’m a bass player though and I got nothing’
That was money well spent then!
RIP OFF!
these guys are rubbing there hands together they cudnt giv a toss about the bands there jst in it for the money they must be raking it in
Since everyone’s bitched endlessly about Surface, can I have a little whine about promoters who do the same at venues elsewhere in the country?
The Pleasure Unit, Bethnal Green, London.
Shit PA, huge pillar front and centre of stage, ridiculous requirement to sell tickets for the gig even for out of town bands (although everyone knows all the best bands are from London anyway, right?), and a guy with a haircut that would make babies cry on the front door doing his best to drive any self respecting punter away.
And then when you catch them off guard and manage to sidestep their thinly veilled pay-to-play scheme they threaten to make gigging for you in London in the future near on impossible if you don’t cough up.
So we didn’t pay a penny.
And we’ve played pretty much every worthwhile venue in London since, from time to time on a good bill with some fairly big names.
Well, they’ve got the power, haven’t they?
The Music won ‘Bright Young Things’ way back when. For me, they are the typical, generic toss that win these competitions. Good bands don’t win them generally speaking.
To be honest in 2007 the two or three people I met who worked for the festival were nice, honest people. I imagine they are getting paid pittance for doing too much as well…
Jazz Thrash Assasins came 4th!!! Oh my god Surface Unsigned are definitely corupt. Mr Bungle ripped off by a bunch of crusties. Don’t they realise how stupid they look doing that shit at their age. I’m still cringing at the thought of it
You may be aware but theres an article on 4Talent here: http://www.channel4.com/4talent/feature.jsp?id=11606
As for Snoop Catty Cat - We dont sound like Mr.Bungle… and if you think we do you are obviously deaf, and if you think we are unaware that we look rediculous, you are obviously very dumb.. one of us was in a PE kit at the Surface final. If you dress like that normally and think you do not look rediculous it is you that is cringeworthy.
I definitely agree with a lot of the comments above that the Surface Unsigned process is a bit questionable. I actually sing in “Little Game” one of the bands in this competition, and while I think it’s crazy that we have to sell our own tickets and do all the promotion all so Surface can take such a profit (for what seems very little effort)- I also realize that’s just the name of the game these days. There are virtually no outlets in Birmingham for quality unsigned bands to be heard by the masses so we are forced to play pubs and smaller venues under the agreement that they provide the stage and PA and we provide a minimum of 20- 30 beer drinking customers. When we found Surface Unsigned we were stoked to find out finally someone was trying to do something for local bands (even if it does mean filling their pockets at the same time.) What other choice do we have?
Anyway, my bands playing round 3 on July 25th at The Barfly. Our website is http://www.little-game.com (Funk, POP, and California Soul) if you’re interested.
Surface Unsigned is definately one to avoid like the plague. There is absolutely nothing that they can do for you that you can’t do yourself.
I just wish bands would wise up to the fact that there is no quick break in the music buisness. A&R doesn’t exist at a major level anymore. If you actually want to get somewhere you have to network (not spam) and do everything yourself, which is hard work but worthwhile in the end.
As for bands who went on to better things after playing showcases and BotB comps, only one comes to mind - Bullet For My Valentine, who did loads when they were called Jeff Killed John, and got ripped off too many times to mention.
The only showcase worth applying for is In The City, all the rest are cowboy rip off merchants.
DIY all the way - support your local scene.
Sorry, me again…
In response to the previous post that said there were no places for quality unsigned bands to play in Birmingham, why not get a few ‘quality unsigned bands’ together, contact and hire the following places, advertise the show and split the door take between you all - thus taking out of the equation getting ripped off by dodgy promoters.
The Actress & Bishop - Cap 150
Bar Acadamy - Cap 292
The Barfly - Cap 300
Flapper & Firkin - Cap 110
Glee Club - Cap 375 (main room) 150 (Studio theatre)
The Jam House - Cap 600
The Jug Of Ale - Cap 80
Midlands Art Centre - Cap 200 or 88
The Sunflower Lounge - Cap 70
The Roadhouse - Cap 200
All their details are freely available on the net.
We played a recent semi-final, tickets £8, on the door £9.
Admittidely, we sold few tickets, because £8 is a rip off to see us play 20 minutes of stuff, when we’ll play another gig in two weeks for half an hour for just £3.
Another thing, they stressed to me that the event would be an 18+, so we avoided selling the tickets to minors, although we may have sold a few more tickets.
When I walked around the venue half hour after we’d played it was full of 14 year olds. Was I missing something?
From a business point of view, they are brilliant at it. But from the musical point of view, Surface just isn’t fair on anyone.
We’ve decided to avoid big competitions like these in the future (especially after being in Emergenza last year. That was a bunch of manure if I’ve ever seen any)
I think a lot of negative opinions on here that are aimed at the Surface Unsigned Festival organisers are out of touch with the realities of organising and promoting events.
I have putting on music events for the last 10 years, mostly for unsigned bands and producers.
If (as someone has stated in a comment earlier on) the organisers are left with £750 after paying the bands then they really don’t stand to make much money.
There is the venue hire, fee for the sound engineer, fee for the compare, promotion and advertising costs, fee for the event manager, plus any other aditional costs that are incurred on the night. This will leave the festival organisers with only a small amount (if any) of profit.
The worst thing for a promoter is when they book local unsigned bands (to give them a chance to be heard and perform in front of new crowds) and for them to turn up with only a couple of friends, leaving the promoter to cover the losses for the event.
The Surface Unsigned Festival is a professional organisation (not a charity) and for them to operate a nationwide battle of the bands style festival is surely of benefit to bands who get the opportunity to play outside of their local town/city.
If your an up and coming band then surely bringing 25 people to your gig is not difficult. If you can’t get 25 people to come and support you in your local venue then how are you going to build up a nationwide following.
The music industry doesn’t have money to throw away at bands who won’t promote themselves. It’s just the way it is and bands should wise up and face the reality of the current music industry climate if they want to be successful.
Obviously with it being a ‘battle’ there are many bands who will go away dissappointed (not everyone can win). But hopefully the bands who entered learned something from the experience and can use it as a stepping stone to greater things.
If you do the maths you will realise that they DON’T make a fortune out of ripping off bands. In fact, they probably loose out at lots of the events due to poor attendance and then make up their costs in the later rounds.
“There is the venue hire, fee for the sound engineer, fee for the compare, promotion and advertising costs, fee for the event manager, plus any other aditional costs that are incurred on the night”
If this is costing them anywhere near £750 per gig for an ongoing series of events then they’re incompetent as well as whatever else.
after reading all of this, surface = good or.. v v bad?
i need to know what this co. are all about
I’ve just came across this blog and people need to wake up. I’ve judged for Surface Unsigned a few times and I just thought I’d clear a few things up.
I have no interest in:
(1): The number of hands being shown to vote for a particular band
(2): Whether they have brought a coach load or just their Mom and Dad
(3): Voting for a band because of the genre of music they play
All I look for are good songs and arrangements, good performances and stage presence and whether they could have an impact on the music industry.
I’ve worked in the music industry all my adult life and have never had a so-called “normal’ job and have worked with artists as diverse as Mary J Blige and Robert Plant over the last 20 years. And because I come from an engineering and production background, I can be totally objective as I listen AND WORK in numerous genres professionally. I don’t even have a favourite genre or band. I have 25,000 favourite records at home!
Working with artists on a daily basis can sometimes be very frustrating as they cannot sometimes distance themselves from their work. I find this very easy and I think that is why Surface has asked me to judge some of their events - when I can.
Being totally honest, those guys work incredibly hard on these events and we regularly talk about finding some amazing bands - which is what it is all about.
I actually feel that Surface is providing a service which realistically a lot of the bands could be performing themselves, but they may not know how or have the resources to put their own gigs on. I’ve seen some great bands, most of which I would never have heard about if it wasn’t for these events. Unfortunately, I haven’t got the time to go to gigs and clubs every night anymore – so therefore, personally, it’s a Godsend to see 6 bands in one night.
I have seen numerous exciting bands that have great potential and I have always checked out many the bands’ MySpace site the day after the gig and have told numerous other industry personnel about artists I seen. But I, and others, don’t have a magic wand. I feel many of the bands still need to develop and progress – which can only happen with time. Plus, I have approached bands with suggestions – although, many bands see this as a negative not a positive. Fair enough.
I have nothing but good things to say about these guys. I’ve been asked to get involved in many ‘Battle of the Bands’ events over the years and I’ve always been cautious of these types of gigs. But with Surface, they have the best ideology, commitment and dedication to deliver something that is essentially a great platform for unsigned bands and I certainly would not get involved if I felt it was not ‘above board’ and ‘kosher’. And I need to add that I have NEVER been paid by Surface for something that I feel is a pleasure.
To the bands that have said that they feel it is a ‘sketchy’ or dubious event; write some good songs, learn your instruments, develop good arrangements for your songs, work on your stage presence, get good quality recording, work on your image AND make sure your music is relevant. Easy!! I know I’m being very crude and simplistic here, but this is the foundation of a good band or artist – whether it’s a Metal band, Indie band or Drum & Bass act. But there is also an element of luck with anything artistic and creative. But remember, a band is only as good as its weakest link.
@Ulysses
This is interesting stuff, I totally agree with it being something that bands can do ourselves, and it doesn’t take as much money or know how as you think. You certainly shouldn’t need to take £750 to cover costs.
You’ve not really addressed where the money goes though, if you could help shed a bit of light on that.
My concern (and the feeling expressed by some who have played) is that it seems like they’re exploiting the bands, getting loads of money, and offering very little of any real value at the end.
Again, if you can give examples of where bands have benefited substantially then please do.
It is good to see that this subject is still provoking debate, although I suspect that Surface Unsigned is not too happy about it.
I have participated and have come to the conclusion that the effort involved in performing under the Surface ‘UNSIGNED’ umbrella is just not worth it.
[The rest of the comment has been deleted and an email has been sent to the commenter to explain why - Chris Unitt]
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[…] many others (see below) I’m seriously impressed that Surafce Unsigend have tried to stifle reasonable criiticism made on Created in Birmingham, by threataneing legal action on what appear to be spurious […]
[…] many others (see below) I’m seriously impressed that Surafce Unsigend have tried to stifle reasonable criiticism made on Created in Birmingham, by threataneing legal action on what appear to be spurious […]
[…] please click for an adventure in exploiting and bullying from Surface Unsigned Festival! In my opinion forcing bands to sell a set number of tickets in order to perform is manipulative, […]
[…] that they’d get nowhere without a portfolio). Their target? Created in Birmingham. See here for the full lowdown. A good lesson in how not to make friends and influence people, […]
[…] Created in Birmingham » Surface Unsigned Question: What happens when an organisation tries to control over how it is talked about in the blogosphere by force? Answer: PR carnage. (tags: PR, blogging) […]
[…] Surface Unsigned Surface Unsigned send a nastygram to Created in Birmingham. Unsigned bands need to read this. (tags: SurfaceUnsigned CreatedInBirmingham bands music competition legal unsigned nastygram BirminghamUK) […]
[…] so NOT a good week for Surface Unsigned. On Created in Birmingham, Danny Smith highlighted the fact that bands performing in their competition had to sell at least […]
[…] Are you sitting comfortably? Well, it all started back in March with Danny’s post about Surface Unsigned. […]
[…] Surface Unsigned - Surface sent a take-down email to Created in Birmingham. We responded by rephrasing the offending bit in LOLspeak. […]
[…] 25 tickets for their own gig at £6 each is trying to get the rather magnificent and award winning Created in Birmingham take down their review, where they quote said terms and conditions. Here they are, courtesy oh just […]
[…] in this competition and have just finished reading a multitude of blogs on it, started by this one: CrIB, so now for a musicians point of […]