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exposed music festival

My band did this a few months back in California. Its the fest hosted by either Mistress Juliya (Uranium) or Jennifer Arroyo (Ex bassist-Kittie) right? Anyhoo, its just another pay to play fest with a few "big" names to generate some kind of interest in the metal community. The pros: The fests typically draw a large audience because most big local bands are involved and due to the fact that ticket sales determine when your band performs, they are in a friendly race with eachother to draw a larger crowd. Bigger crowd = more networking, so bring demos, business cards, merch, the whole enchilada. The cons: the hosts and staff have literally ZERO interest in any band performing regardless of hype or not. They are there to do their job, they hop on a plane to the next venue and repeat. This also means that the sets generally run about 25 minutes with no setup/breakdown times considered. Make sure to pack light and double check that nothing is left on stage or snagged by another band by mistake. All in all, its a fun gig with a big crowd. Good luck.
 
My band, against my judgement, played our spot during Exposed (see linked thread). It was, as I suspected, a pay-to-play show with Mistress J never showing up, money being squandered, and no audience at all.

I seriously advise that you just walk away from this "festival," but that's just my opinion.
 
NEVER play without PAY!!! Look into benefits to make sure their doing what they say their doing. Theres national programs that are fraud, the old United Way was legit for years and then had a run of 15 years were they were a bunch of crooks. I do benefits still and most are on a local level mostly fallen musician. I understand that the bands offering original material are being squeezed but that doesn't mean you play for free while others benefit from it. Learn to organize a show that features othe original bands find a sponsor and align yourselves with a legit nonprofit group. Take your overhead costs (bands pay, sound co. advertizing etc) and the organization split and learn how to work for yourselves. Its not easy its work but the only "playing" done is when the gig starts the rest is ALL "work", that is if you want to get paid!! Doc