An honest question (or two):
1) Are the "headlining" bands the ones that actually make the $$ for you guys?
2) Was the reason NGMF didn't turn a profit last year due in part/whole to a problem with the headlinging act?

I have rarely attended those "headlining" acts' shows during NXNG/NGMF and opted instead to see, the (sometimes)lesser-known artists at the small venues. Some of the best times I've had at the festival include seeing bands I'd NEVER heard of before. I've always bought an all-event pass and would happily continue to do so EVEN IF Blue October, Feeding 5000, or some other clone doesn't even have a spot on the bill. My experience with the event has been that people typically buy the ticket to go see thier friends play, or just as an excuse to go party on NG for half the week. I wonder if it's truly a question of getting just the "right" headliner, or actually promoting the whole event itself that makes-or-breaks the profit margin.

My Morning Jacket and Lesermor. Great freaking bands that should draw well.

[This message has been edited by RedAgs01 (edited 12/4/2003 2:28p).]

wait...this thread is about the northgate business festival?

I agree on My Morning Jacket, they would be great.

Ben Harper (too big?)
Switchfoot

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As a headliner? Probably not draw, no. But give them a spot somewhere. I realize the thing needs to make money to keep going. Just don't perpetuate the machine of bad music toooo much.

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The bands outside our headliners will have a totally different system for getting booked. Virtually none of them are paid and almost all of them will have to apply just like the rest of the bands. There may be a few exceptions but outside our "main 3" we'll be spending next to nothing and initiating contact with only one or two.

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1) Are the "headlining" bands the ones that actually make the $$ for you guys?

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Yes. It's the same with any big festival. The headliners are the acts that draw in the crowds.

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2) Was the reason NGMF didn't turn a profit last year due in part/whole to a problem with the headlinging act?

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There were several problems. Some of which we could have controlled. But this was definitely part of it. Spent too much on them vs. them not drawing enough people.

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I wonder if it's truly a question of getting just the "right" headliner, or actually promoting the whole event itself that makes-or-breaks the profit margin.

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It's both. We definitely need to market and promote better (the plan's in place) but the headliners are a huge part of that.



Lesermor isn't big enough for what we're looking for. I think they've already applied. I've never heard of My Morning Jacket or Switchfoot. (Ben Harper would be way too much or I'd nab him)

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wait...this thread is about the northgate business festival?

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It would be wonderful to not have to book any commercial acts and bring new and great music to the masses. Will you give us thousands of dollars so we can do that? The money has to come from somewhere. We are a charity event and this year we'd actually like to be able to GIVE our charities a check after the festival is over.

I'm appreciating the dialogue. If it were up to me I'd tell you the act we almost have signed, but it's not. Hopefully you'll know soon.

did i just read that blue october and feeding 5000 are clones...are you suggesting the two are similar?

[This message has been edited by AggieOO (edited 12/4/2003 5:44p).]

any kind of rock would draw better than crappy country acts
people into new bands in rock tend to follow them more closely than your other trendy cookie cutter country crap

"the money has to come from somewhere."

yeah...the money is going to come from bowling for soup and trapt.

AggieOO, not necessarily in style or delivery, but substantively. (I think) There's just ordinary.

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yeah...the money is going to come from bowling for soup and trapt.

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What would your alternative be?

everyone has different tastes, but to call blue october ordinary is a foreign concept to me that i can't even grasp.

F5K on the other hand is rather bland.

whatever floats your boat.

i feel you should spend money on bringing in bands that make good music and not worry about finding headliners that are moderately popular. eisley is a good band - enough so that coldplay asked them to open for them on the rest of their tour after intially being booked only for the texas dates. promote them just a little bit and they should bring a good sized crowd. my point is that if you are going to call this a music festival, your goal should be to provide the best music given your resources. furthermore, a band named "trapt" should not be allowed to headline anything. are they really more popular than my morning jacket? although, my morning jacket is probably too big (good) to play college station.

oface - where are we supposed to get the money to do that??

And I would say trapt is HUGELY more popular than My Morning Jacket. Trapt's got two singles in rotation on top 40 radio and likely a 3rd next year.

[This message has been edited by NoACDamnit (edited 12/4/2003 7:42p).]

Trapt is more a popular name that people will associate with and draw the crowd, hell even if they come to hear the song they like. Im pretty into music and dont know who the hell my morning jacket is. Frankly i dont see how someone named 'my morning jacket' should play music.

The name will draw a crowd, not necessarily how good the band is.

Trapt would kick a*s!!!! Blue October is always good.

top 40 radio - they must be good!

supercharged - the name trapt will draw a crowd consisting of angry sixteen year old boys. (bands with misspelled names are cool!) you are pretty into music? any source of music information outside of the radio and mtv (though i think even mtv highlights "new" music) probably has mentioned my morning jacket.

in my opinion, people do not attend northgate music festival based solely on the headliners (as stated by salome earlier). maybe you could bill the fetsival as a chance to hear good new music - "come drink, watch your friend's band, and hear new music that you might like." its just a thought.

man, i hate the whole business/money aspect of planning this festival out.

Oface is right on. Trapt is miserable and indeed, I consider myself to be a pretty big music fan, and my morning jacket has been all over the place lately.

You might not come for the headliners oface, but the vast majority of our ticket buyers do.

I'd still like to know how you expect us to finance the event without big money draws.

Just trying to understand the financial issue here....
Ok, the festival website says you expect a crowd of approx. 10,000 "participants".
10,000 x $15.00 (ticket) = $150,000
Majority of staffing for the event is on a volunteer basis. Minimal cost.
Do the venues charge a fee? (to make a boatload on alcohol ea. night)
I would imagine that a chunk of the ticket revenue goes towards advertising, though with proper sponsorship, much if not all, of that cost could be defrayed. The only other substantial cost that you've mentioned so far is a cost of approx. $5,000 per "headliner" (though I'd guess this varies substantially from act to act).

Though I hate to admit it, I could understand paying a substantial amount for a good 'Country' headliner. Play country music in B/CS & people will come to see it. It is also fairly likely that those who would buy a ticket just to see the country headliner might not buy a ticket otherwise (unless a friend's band is playing the festival). However, I would venture to say that many of those who might come to see the 'rock' headliner would have bought the ticket anyway. (whether the band is top 40-blah, or something fresh & exciting). A lot of those people tend to just be 'into music' (or into partying). Those who'd be interested in seeing top-40 type "stuff" would have probably bought a ticket anyway, because they think being "into music" is cool. Those who would be interested in seeing something new/innovative would have bought a ticket anyway because they really are just "into music". Point is, I just don't think it really matters all that much which band you choose as your 'country alternative' (that's really the only other genre that exists in B/CS) headliner since any 'country alternative' headliner that the NGMF is feasibly likely to choose/attract will draw the same numbers. You might as well put a great band up there. If a lesser known band might play for a smaller fee, you might be able to retain some of those fees to turn over as gifts to the chosen charities.
I really do love that B/CS HAS a festival, and hope that it continues to grow. The lineups over the past few years just keep touting the same "big acts". Perhaps someday we'll get the spirit to take a 'chance' on great music.



[This message has been edited by Salome (edited 12/5/2003 7:50a).]

[This message has been edited by Salome (edited 12/5/2003 7:54a).]

**** it...Get Jack Johnson.

Number on the site is way off. Even in the good years it's never drawn more than a few thousand.

I think it's great that people expect this group to put on a music festival and not have any business aspect to it. If they don't get some headliners, they won't draw as many people. If they don't draw as many people, NXNG goes away which means the platform for the other musicians goes away too.

Come on.

"i'd still like to know how you expect us to finance the event without big money draws."

don't spend "big money" on moderatley popular bands that make bad music. you talk about how drawing crowds is the primary concern but you don't want any country bands? would a country band not draw the largest crowd in college station? in addition, you mentioned in your intial post that flickerstick is not high on your list. however, if you were just concerned with drawing a crowd, flickerstick might be a good choice - last year they drew 900+ people to concept last year on a wedenesday night.

oface - Read the post. I said not to suggest country bands because we already had one night of that taken care of. And $5,000 is hardly "big money." Our largest expense is sound. We need the big name draws to sell tickets. Show me a music festival that stays afloat with no names headlining.

just because a lot of people in this town dont appreciate good music or are from the country,doesnt mean that a majority of people here are from big towns or suburbs of big towns, and most likely are into the types of bands people have been telling you to get

thats the problem with all the country bumpkins running the bars and clubs in this town

I also find it hilarious, that a fan of a band named "my morning jacket" is mocking the fans of a band named "trapt"

you can't possibly be serious emo boy

i think the majority of the people on this thread aren't understanding that there's a difference between the music and the business side of things.

believe me, I know NoAC and know his music taste, he (and probably most of the rest of the NGMF staff) would like nothing more than to book GOOD music/lesser known GOOD bands and stay away from bands like Trapt, however, that won't bring in the revenue needed.

I go to the festivals to see new bands, but the majority of people in CS won't go out to a show unless the band is KNOWN. I've done the booking/promotion thing in CS and its VERY much true. It doesn't matter how much advertising you do, (the vast majority of) people will only come out to a show if they know who the band it.

That was my point AggieOO. From the business standpoint the name will draw the crowd. I guarantee that the mojority of this town would look at a band like 'my morning jacket' and say "what the **** is my morning jacket."

As for those of you that jumped on my back for not knowing MMJ, i dont especially care. When i said i was into music, does that mean that i have got to be listening to every band out there right now.

patag - when did i say i was a fan of my morning jacket? never, but i have heard some of their stuff. emo boy? - again, when did i profess myself to be a fan of emo music?

trapt is a horrible name for a band - i assume it refers to the word "trapped". say what you will about the name my morning jacket, but at least the words are spelled correctly. i see the name trapt and think to myself "hey - we can be like korn and linkin park and make really bad music that appeals to angry teenagers!"

a good way to look at this situation might be this...if trapt were booked to play a college station show, how many people would show up? 200? i think that is a generous estimate. how many of those 200 would go to northgate music festival anyways? a good deal, i believe. north by northgate, i mean northgate music festival, will never be taken seriously as a music festival until bands like trapt are no longer considered as possible headliners.

Having a music festival with country music seems a bit repetitive, considering Chilifest is within one month of Northgate Music Festival.

Keep the country out IMO, you can go see country here any night of the week... It's not very hard to "break into the scene".

200 people for a Trapt show? They have two top 40 singles and their album is flying off the shelves. They could PACK any venue in town. It's likely a moot issue as they're probably well outside what we can afford.

As for us not being taken seriously we have bands from all over the country applying and agents jumping at the chance to headline. Who is it you don't think is taking us seriously?

[This message has been edited by NoACDamnit (edited 12/5/2003 5:59p).]

The main idea is to get people to buy tickets for the festival. In this town, you have to appeal to the country crowd, which is a large contingent. Even if Chilifest is shortly after NGMF, it's not like the same acts play both events. There's a reason The Hall, Harry's, and countless other venues in town have country concerts every weekend- it's what people want to see in this town. They will pay the $5-20 every week to catch a show. It would be ludicrous for NGMF not to try and appeal to this crowd.

They're going to do whatever it takes to make the most possible money for their charities. When this whole thing started, there wasn't a Latin night- it used to be one night of country and 2 nights of rock/alternative. They took one of those nights away to give to the Latin scene. People are saying that this festival should appeal to all types of music. We're in Texas. Country is what a large part of people like.

BTW- There's a reason Chilifest sponsors country acts, as well.

I'm wondering how many of these people trashing Trapt have actually listened to the CD.

Is it super and ground-breaking? No.

Is it a decent CD? Yes.

I love the holier-than-thou music "experts" on this board. If everyone likes it, it must be crap because it's mainstream. Wah...

pro ag - i'm better than you. however, i have no problem with trapt. they aren't great, but they don't suck.