JPF Home Page Forums General Messages Industry Message Forum VDQ and management frustrations

I'm the Flute guy from the Vic Daniels Quartet and we're experiencing a bit of a setback and it's very frustrating. We hired some folks to represent us and they bombed horribly and made us look like crap to our clients. We fired them of course, but the problem is that we seem to be spinning our wheels and getting nowhere.

We've been around for ages, my best friend
and I have been playing and writing music together for twenty years or so, and this incarnation of a group is the best we've ever had. It's truly a keeper. We've come a long way in writing and performing original music and some say it's world class stuff, but we're in the Cincinnati area and unless one is playing 80's cover music or a lone man and his guitar talking about his failed love, one has little chance to grow because the crowds are unreceptive to new stuff and the scene is very clique-ish. The same musicians with different group names are everywhere playing the same, tired old stuff all the time. It's and original musician's hell.

Okay, I've ranted, now I need to find out if there are any managers who won't try to screw us, who will get us gigs, represent us as we are supposed to be, and do their job without whining (like I am, I suppose).

We've been looking for someone who will step up the plate and do a good job for us, without us being a lower case name tucked away somewhere in a huge book full of cover bands that always get picked over the original groups because folks just want something banging too loud while they get drunk. We tried that and it just isn't us. We go over big in Oxford, Ohio where people come to hear the music. We are down to earth people, but we still want our music heard and appreciated, like everyone I guess, but the money isn't the main cause of our endeavors. We want to play music, get heard, and make a few bucks while we enjoy what we're doing, and we need someone who can pave the way for that to happen. We'll gladly pay a good commision, but it's looking more and more like this manager doesn't exist and it's truly frustrating.

I am so sorry your management did that to you. You're not the only band that's happened to -- as a member of the indie press, I've had to ban some promoters/managers from submitting artists to Indie-Music.com for review because of their abrasive, obnoxious tactics. I actually got a threatening phone call from one manager who was pissed because it had been 2 weeks since he had submitted a CD from one of this artists, and we hadn't published a review yet. It states clearly on our site that we ask for at least 2 months because of the number of CDs we have to listen to.

Hang in there. There is good, honest management out there. You'll find the right connection.

I'd like to write a column about management/promotion that has actually hurt the artist instead of helped. Sort of a "red flag" column. If you have a few moments and feel like sharing, email me at jennifer@indie-music.com and let me know what happened. You don't have to name names.

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Jennifer Layton
Independent Music Journalist and Resource
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Review Editor and Coordinator, Indie-Music.com
www.indie-music.com
www.jenniferlayton.com
www.myspace.com/jenniferlayton

I am from Cincy also and I don't do 80's covers. I AM a solo act although I've never written a song about lost love{thank god} I went to your web-site,and you have great stuff, but I can see where your style might have a hard time finding a niche in the Cincinnati scene {not impossible though,if you find the right venue,and they ARE out there!} Have you ever thought of doing it yourself? I've played 300 dates a year for 16 years, and have never had a manager,and have only used a booking agent a couple of times. If you want something done right... I suggest getting a copy of the Indie Bible,they list plenty of reputable managers, and plenty of contacts should you decide to go it alone.

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bc

Yeah, I'm kinda doing that now, and have been for a while, and I have resigned my self to working without a manager just to see what happens. The rest of the group, though, they're set on getting management.

I'm flattered that you like our stuff, we work very hard on it. But yes, you're also right in that it's hard to find the right place. I think Oxford Ohio is our place. They folks there are very into creativity.

We do have a gig coming up at Mocha Joe's in Oxford on the 28th of this month, please come out and give a listen, it would be good to see fellow JPF'ers out there.