Project Independent Tour
The Project Independent 2008 Showcase Tour will hit New Orleans at The Hangar on October 19th. The tour began in York, Pennsylvania on Friday, August 29th, 2008 and will conclude in Baltimore, MD on Sunday, November 2nd. The tour was founded on the idea that metal and punk genres, over the years, have been the red headed step-children of indie music. And their main focus is to lift bands in these genres up above that stigma while providing them with the tools and exposure needed to succeed. This nationwide indie parade will consist of more than 55 shows in 66 days, will cover 33 different states, and will feature the best underground metal artists from each of the 50+ markets. This year's featured independent band, Ninetail, will headline each date accompanied by indies from each area. Neworleansmusicians.net caught up with Jeff Totten, CEO of Project Independent, and learned about the tour's foundation, focus, and future.
JT: First of all they need exposure, obviously. Everybody knows that, and that's not just a want, it's a necessity. You need to be able to get out and expose yourself, and with gas prices they way they are, touring becomes more and more difficult, especially for bands that are just trying to survive from one town to the next. So obviously promotional touring is important. Printing costs for fliers and posters to promote yourself across the country is expensive. So we incur those costs and do distribution. And bands need gear and what not. We have a slew of excellent sponsors; Sonar Drums, Schecter Guitars, the list goes on and on. These companies consistently donate their time, efforts, and product to make this program what it is. And again, what we do is take these relationships, bill it as Project Independent, and give them right back to the artists.
NOM: This tour has grown over the years, and even plans to expand to Europe. Being such a large entity, I'm sure many of our readers will question where your priorities lie; with the business or the artist.
JT: Yes, this is the biggest tour. This is the third year we've done this. We do have more featured artists that are already on our roster. Ninetail is our current featured artist for this tour. We used to be a twice a year program, in the Fall and the Spring. But it just got too expensive to operate that way. And obviously, the more costs we incurred in the operation of this program, the less we were able to turn around and give to the artists. So it's very important to me that we look at everything and find ways to save money while creating more revenue for the artist. I understand that it takes a tri-pod of people to make this work; venues & promoters, artists, and your fans. And if you kick any one of those legs out on this tri-pod it's going to fall flat on its face. Sometimes pleasing all of those people can be an impossible task. So if I have to prioritize, I will always do what is in the best interest of the artist, period.
NOM: Definitely. I've had to do the same thing from the business standpoint on web sites because there's so many out there. And rather than just promote my own, I've had to remember to adhere to the idea that I'm here to promote the artists. So why not promote all of these different websites as resources for the artist. They'll come in droves for assistance, and they're really the life's blood of N.O.M. to begin with.
JT: Right, well what is Project Independent to be honest man? When I started this, I just wanted to do something positive for the metal community. I've always been involved in this from a very young age, as an artist. I was thrown into a hostile environment at a very young age. And, as rough as it was, I learned a lot from it. I just wanted to create a positive environment with opportunity for the metal industry. I wanted to lay a foundation. And hey, even if all we threw up was a tee-pee, so be it. But I wanted that foundation to be strong enough to be able to sustain a sky scraper. And where it goes from here, I don't know man. I mean, this program has gone through numerous changes, all of which I believe are for the positive. And these changes have come about in conversation with the bands, promoters, venues, and people in the media such as your self. As long as it can be one, band powered, and two, financed, lets do it. Let's try it and see what happens. This is a creative industry.
NOM: Yeah, I think formatting is the enemy, because I've dealt with it on radio. And if it wasn't for format, more independent artists would be in rotation right now. There wouldn't be such a thing as a rotation; it would be more free form. It's hard to deal with a pre made format. Let me ask, how have you been coming in contact with different promoters? Obviously, you've been doing some advertising. You'll be down here at the Hangar on October 19th. So, for instance, how did you come in contact with Shane from Noise Factor Records, and book the Hangar?
JT: Actually, we just posted bulletins and people like Shane contacted me. Like I said, I'm pretty open-minded. Now, I'm still kind of teetering with things. Right now, with the exception of maybe a dozen of these shows that have been taken on by promoters such as Shane, I'm basically going out and finding venues. And I line up the bands that perform there. I like that to a degree because it takes the x-factor, the promoter, out of it. And I hate saying that because I don't want to belittle promoters. But I'm going to be really honest with you man. Of all the promoters I've run across, a very small percentage of them have lived up to my expectations. Now those that do, I praise highly. I still offer promoters the opportunity to do this because this can be a very lucrative program from a promoter's standpoint.
NOM: You see that a lot down here. Everybody is an entrepreneur, everybody is in it for self, and everybody is a "promoter". Our scene definitely lacks some unity. Now, this is not a battle of the bands per se, it's more a showcase. But it is a competition in so much as where Level Nine Entertainment chooses one particular group that you promote. Take Ninetail for instance, how did they get to be the tour's featured artist?
JT: I guess it is, of sorts, in comparison to other battles of the bands. But what we really try to get out there is camaraderie. Listen man, yeah, you're sort of in a competition with this band that you're playing with tonight. But, you know what, life is competition, especially in this capitalistic society. Do we really need to harp on what it is? Is it a battle? Yeah, it's a battle. More so, this is an opportunity, a showcase. It's a chance for the best bands in an area to get together under one roof, show their shit, and pump up their local music community. Show that, hey man, New Orleans metal is alive and kickin'. There's a great audience for it. And use this opportunity to network with some other bands and possibly put together a bad ass show.
NOM: Tell us about Level Nine's selective process, and the prizes at stake.
JT: Well, again, at the 57 showcases you mentioned, the bands are there to perform in front of our A&Rs. So, we don't necessarily select one band from each showcase. We select the bands that we feel is ready to go to the next level. If you have a ten band showcase and only one band is worth a shit, then one band advances. If you have a four band showcase and three bands are just bad ass, then three bands advance. Those bands go into a voting pool held on our website and it becomes a popularity contest. At that point we have 70-100 bands that we have endorsed. We hold three rounds of voting during the month of December. Each round is ten days long. Everybody that has been selected by our A&R department participates in the first round. And we advance the top twenty five to the second. We reset the voter counters there, and one more time after the second round is over, and the top ten are chosen. Then we announce the winner on January first. That band has six months to get us the master and art work for an eight panel staked CD tray layout. They get $5,000 cash, $50,000 in gear from our sponsors, and are featured on next year's tour.
NOM: Ninetail, the '08 tour's featured artist, has a CD out now that is sold along with a compilation CD. The 18 track disc is contributed to by previous Project Independent artists, as well as artists that will be voted on this year. You can find all Project Independent CDs at the link below. SUPPORT INDEPENDENT ARTISTS!!!
~~~LINKS~~~~LINKS~~~~LINKS~~~~LINKS~~~~LINKS~~~~LINKS~~~
www.myspace.com/level_nine_entertainment
www.projectindependent.net
myspace.com/thehangarnola
myspace.com/noisefactorrecords
JT: First of all they need exposure, obviously. Everybody knows that, and that's not just a want, it's a necessity. You need to be able to get out and expose yourself, and with gas prices they way they are, touring becomes more and more difficult, especially for bands that are just trying to survive from one town to the next. So obviously promotional touring is important. Printing costs for fliers and posters to promote yourself across the country is expensive. So we incur those costs and do distribution. And bands need gear and what not. We have a slew of excellent sponsors; Sonar Drums, Schecter Guitars, the list goes on and on. These companies consistently donate their time, efforts, and product to make this program what it is. And again, what we do is take these relationships, bill it as Project Independent, and give them right back to the artists.
NOM: This tour has grown over the years, and even plans to expand to Europe. Being such a large entity, I'm sure many of our readers will question where your priorities lie; with the business or the artist.
JT: Yes, this is the biggest tour. This is the third year we've done this. We do have more featured artists that are already on our roster. Ninetail is our current featured artist for this tour. We used to be a twice a year program, in the Fall and the Spring. But it just got too expensive to operate that way. And obviously, the more costs we incurred in the operation of this program, the less we were able to turn around and give to the artists. So it's very important to me that we look at everything and find ways to save money while creating more revenue for the artist. I understand that it takes a tri-pod of people to make this work; venues & promoters, artists, and your fans. And if you kick any one of those legs out on this tri-pod it's going to fall flat on its face. Sometimes pleasing all of those people can be an impossible task. So if I have to prioritize, I will always do what is in the best interest of the artist, period.
NOM: Definitely. I've had to do the same thing from the business standpoint on web sites because there's so many out there. And rather than just promote my own, I've had to remember to adhere to the idea that I'm here to promote the artists. So why not promote all of these different websites as resources for the artist. They'll come in droves for assistance, and they're really the life's blood of N.O.M. to begin with.
JT: Right, well what is Project Independent to be honest man? When I started this, I just wanted to do something positive for the metal community. I've always been involved in this from a very young age, as an artist. I was thrown into a hostile environment at a very young age. And, as rough as it was, I learned a lot from it. I just wanted to create a positive environment with opportunity for the metal industry. I wanted to lay a foundation. And hey, even if all we threw up was a tee-pee, so be it. But I wanted that foundation to be strong enough to be able to sustain a sky scraper. And where it goes from here, I don't know man. I mean, this program has gone through numerous changes, all of which I believe are for the positive. And these changes have come about in conversation with the bands, promoters, venues, and people in the media such as your self. As long as it can be one, band powered, and two, financed, lets do it. Let's try it and see what happens. This is a creative industry.
NOM: Yeah, I think formatting is the enemy, because I've dealt with it on radio. And if it wasn't for format, more independent artists would be in rotation right now. There wouldn't be such a thing as a rotation; it would be more free form. It's hard to deal with a pre made format. Let me ask, how have you been coming in contact with different promoters? Obviously, you've been doing some advertising. You'll be down here at the Hangar on October 19th. So, for instance, how did you come in contact with Shane from Noise Factor Records, and book the Hangar?
JT: Actually, we just posted bulletins and people like Shane contacted me. Like I said, I'm pretty open-minded. Now, I'm still kind of teetering with things. Right now, with the exception of maybe a dozen of these shows that have been taken on by promoters such as Shane, I'm basically going out and finding venues. And I line up the bands that perform there. I like that to a degree because it takes the x-factor, the promoter, out of it. And I hate saying that because I don't want to belittle promoters. But I'm going to be really honest with you man. Of all the promoters I've run across, a very small percentage of them have lived up to my expectations. Now those that do, I praise highly. I still offer promoters the opportunity to do this because this can be a very lucrative program from a promoter's standpoint.
NOM: You see that a lot down here. Everybody is an entrepreneur, everybody is in it for self, and everybody is a "promoter". Our scene definitely lacks some unity. Now, this is not a battle of the bands per se, it's more a showcase. But it is a competition in so much as where Level Nine Entertainment chooses one particular group that you promote. Take Ninetail for instance, how did they get to be the tour's featured artist?
JT: I guess it is, of sorts, in comparison to other battles of the bands. But what we really try to get out there is camaraderie. Listen man, yeah, you're sort of in a competition with this band that you're playing with tonight. But, you know what, life is competition, especially in this capitalistic society. Do we really need to harp on what it is? Is it a battle? Yeah, it's a battle. More so, this is an opportunity, a showcase. It's a chance for the best bands in an area to get together under one roof, show their shit, and pump up their local music community. Show that, hey man, New Orleans metal is alive and kickin'. There's a great audience for it. And use this opportunity to network with some other bands and possibly put together a bad ass show.
NOM: Tell us about Level Nine's selective process, and the prizes at stake.
JT: Well, again, at the 57 showcases you mentioned, the bands are there to perform in front of our A&Rs. So, we don't necessarily select one band from each showcase. We select the bands that we feel is ready to go to the next level. If you have a ten band showcase and only one band is worth a shit, then one band advances. If you have a four band showcase and three bands are just bad ass, then three bands advance. Those bands go into a voting pool held on our website and it becomes a popularity contest. At that point we have 70-100 bands that we have endorsed. We hold three rounds of voting during the month of December. Each round is ten days long. Everybody that has been selected by our A&R department participates in the first round. And we advance the top twenty five to the second. We reset the voter counters there, and one more time after the second round is over, and the top ten are chosen. Then we announce the winner on January first. That band has six months to get us the master and art work for an eight panel staked CD tray layout. They get $5,000 cash, $50,000 in gear from our sponsors, and are featured on next year's tour.
NOM: Ninetail, the '08 tour's featured artist, has a CD out now that is sold along with a compilation CD. The 18 track disc is contributed to by previous Project Independent artists, as well as artists that will be voted on this year. You can find all Project Independent CDs at the link below. SUPPORT INDEPENDENT ARTISTS!!!
~~~LINKS~~~~LINKS~~~~LINKS~~~~LINKS~~~~LINKS~~~~LINKS~~~
www.myspace.com/level_nine_entertainment
www.projectindependent.net
myspace.com/thehangarnola
myspace.com/noisefactorrecords
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