Electronic Music 411 - sponsorship in the usa

04/17/08 + astroboy

hey folks,

i have an american band on my label.
they recently got offers by two big promotion agencies (forcefield, fanatic), which is an awesome opportunity to make this band big in the usa.

the downside is: these promo agencies are e-x-p-e-n-s-i-v-e!

the people in the band can't afford to pay for the service, and the label (me) is rather skint too.

here in austria (and also in other european countries) there are several ways to get sponsored by the government.
like, you can ask the provincial government of your hometown if they financially support an album production or promotional activities (printing posters etc.).

is there anything like this in the USA?
any way that these poor musicians get some bucks for their carreer?
we're talking about a total of $1500-$5000 btw.

thanks.

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04/17/08 + zach

And I remember seeing hearings about Robert Mapplethorpe on C-SPAN when I was a kid. This country very much needs to grow up and reprioritize its outrage. :/

04/17/08 + zach

(Sorry to take the thread OT!)

04/17/08 + license

that's really interesting, I had never heard of any of that. I just assumed that our country as a whole has always been a bunch of damn philistines.

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04/17/08 + ignatius

astroboy, so, in a nutshell.. if you do some digging and don't limit your focus to the federal agencies, you might find something. there has to be some kind of arts funding in the bill and melinda gates foundation or carnegie foundation etc. it's a long shot though.

happy hunting and good luck.

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04/17/08 + mlbot

Bill&Melinda gates give money to people who help the unfortunate, on a large scale. Music doesn't help people the way vaccinating children does. or free AIDS medication. Etc...

Which isn't to say that such grants don't exist. BUT is this a grant to "make it rich" and pay for a promo agency? Oh forget it now!! No one will give you money so you can make lotsa money. That's what loans and credit cards are for.

A grant to make a piece of "art"? A piece of art can be a CD, if you phrase your grant properly. But a rock'n'roll album? Probably not "art" in need of funding to most agencies. So.... are these art bands?

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04/17/08 + astroboy

thanks a lot for all your advice.
i will send the band a link to this thread. maybe they can get some useful information out of it.

and yghartsyrt:
i'll drop you a message. i'm indeed interested in german promo agencies...

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04/17/08 + ignatius

mlbot said: "Bill&Melinda gates give money to people who help the unfortunate, on a large scale. Music doesn't help people the way vaccinating children does. or free AIDS medication. Etc...
"

yeah. totally. i was just using it as an example because i couldn't think of another 'charitable foundation' just then.

i agree though.. will be hard (impossible) to get a grant to pay for promo company. credit cards and 2nd jobs etc are the way that ball rolls.

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04/17/08 + mlbot

Thier buddy Paul Allen gives more cash to music-related cash-vaccuums. good luck even finding out where to ask about applications. Most big foundations don't accept unsolicated grant applications (gosh, sound a little like any sorta business we know????)... you have to know someone on the board of directors to even get an address to ask whether you can apply.

Let me say this: grant writing sucks.
Might as well get a second job, you'll get more money that way... at least in the states.

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04/17/08 + mlbot

having said that, i've known several folks who've written sucessful NEA grants for albums.
They knew how to write good grants, though.

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04/17/08 + dylan

federal funding for the arts is almost non-existent in the U.S. your best bet is to find some sort of private investor, or some NPO that is related to the arts. there is always the national endowment for the arts, but from what i have heard it is difficult to get a grant from them. you would have to write something very convincing; maybe approach it from the standpoint of improving austrian/U.S. foreign relations through music? just an idea. of course being well-connected helps a lot, but if you are anything like me, then you probably aren't (ha ha).

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04/17/08 + tylth

astroboy said: "any way that these poor musicians get some bucks for their carreer?"

link

link

sorry i suck

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04/17/08 + PYVND

In America we only care about bombs and computers now. Sorry, this may change with the next president.

edited: May 12 2008 + Fant00m

license said: "what exactly does a promotion agency do? besides print posters? sounds like a ripoff, I'm sure there's cheaper, cooler ways to do it.
don't most bands in the US these days just use MySpace? and put posters for their gigs up in coffee shops."

I think this raises another important question. Where do labels come in, in this picture? What do you do besides sending thier music to the pressing plant? Do you get them gigs?

I mean i would not start a label if i did not have the network to support them. I mean why do EM labels still work like this? If a label does not represent a style or does not function as a quality stamp (yet) whats the use of putting it out via a label. just get your cd ressed and find a promoter or get a network i'd say..

i really like the band btw..

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05/12/08 + deltasleep

PYVND's vision of what america will be like under a new president.
link

Fact is, stuff like this is cultural in America. Not political. Self-sufficiency is one of the core principles of American identity. The thought of paying somebody so they can do what they love is just not. going. to. float.
I'd love to get a grant. But this isn't Norway, and I'm not Prugelknaben. God I am jealous. Why leave Austria?

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05/12/08 + Fant00m

I think thats really healhy, US not paying people so they can do what they like. But do you know what local governments pay for sporting events? exactly...as long as the "people" can enjoy it...

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