There’s a widely held stereotype that scientists and musicians are poorly organized. Like any stereotype there are reasons behind this: for scientists there’s another widely held belief that they are pack rats, accumulating any bit of information that could be needed at a later date. This contributes to the disheveled and disordering mental image most [...]

Yesterday’s post provided a reality check for the Houston music community over the course of the past year. The post highlighted the great successes the community had experienced from club openings to artist signings to the positive effects of touring. This perspective was provided from someone knowing the trials and tribulations of each of these [...]

A couple weeks ago, the music editor for the Houston Press, Chris Gray, asked me to answer some questions for an article about the State of the Houston Music Scene. Several other heroes of the local community were included resulting in a panel of incredible talent: Quinn Bishop of Cactus Music; Ramon “LP4″ Medina of [...]

At Bandcamp:BOOKING PARTY we reviewed the process to contact venues and get your band booked. The recommendation was to first do your research on the venue to match up the genre and type of bookings they do. Then you should follow whatever protocol is laid out on the venue’s website. If there are no booking [...]

Most people are uncomfortable with the prospect of contacting a perfect stranger and asking them to give them something. Bands who have never gone through the booking process tend to think this way. Framing this process from a different standpoint, one of a business transaction, might make it easier for bands to stomach. Furthermore, by [...]

Most online tutorials teaching your band how to book shows are missing pertinent information, just like the underwear gnomes. They usually have three steps: 1. select dates and venue, 2. contact venue and then 3. play the show. Hunh? What happened in that second step? How do you contact the venue? What do you even [...]

At a previous Bandcamp we heard from Gretchen Schmaltz of Western Civilization and Sara Winter of Warehouse Live talk about how to book and promote a show outside of your local market. Still, few bands have taken that knowledge and applied it to booking shows. In speaking with bands we’ve received the same answer: they’re [...]

We’d like to take this opportunity to thank the bands who attended and the creative professionals who volunteered at Bandcamp: SXSW PREP. Because of this event bands were prepared to promote themselves and be discovered when they attended SXSW a couple of weeks ago. Special thanks to the bands who made the drive up to [...]

Hurry. up. As soon as this is finished and some clothes and the laptop are thrown into a bag, we head to Austin. For the next nine days, SXSW is where you’ll find me.
Houston’s Focus on Regionalism
I strongly believe that regionalism is a viable path to greater success for groups and communities. This is reflected [...]

There was a time in my life when I quoted Fight Club religiously. Any remark could be deftly answered with a snarky remark from the movie, demonstrating my discontent with our capitalistic and materialistic society rewarding personality rather than character.
At that time I had an extreme amount of entitlement for my skills and what I [...]