4/29/2014

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 these music festivals gain popularity, and more and more cities host these events, more and more bands and musicians will be discovered as time goes on. There are already a number of success stories that start at music fests on both a national and local level. For example, at Gorilla Music's Cleveland Music Festival in 2011, the A&R representative who discovered Linkin Park - Jeff Blue - discovered guitarist Lance Dowdle. Jeff would later help Lance get signed to Atlantic records.

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 music fests, like The Cleveland Music Festival for example, have always been great opportunities for local or unknown bands to get attention in their city. Unlike most other music festivals across the U.S., Gorilla Music's fests have National headliners but are really designed to showcase local bands and musicians as much as humanly possible. This differs from most house-hold name festivals which book almost entirely regional and national bands, leaving very little chance for local bands to get much notice. The next chance bands working with Gorilla Music will have to play on one of their music festivals will be The Dallas Music Festival, taking place at Deep Ellum venues this summer.




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