This is to all the bands who contacted us to with interest to play the Noctis IV Metal Fest. We had at least a hundred of bands contact us, so as per usual this was a difficult decision with so few opening spots. Your band may not have been chosen and I think it may be helpful to explain some of the reasons that would have helped or would have hindered your band from getting on this bill.
Ultimately what needs to be remembered is that bands on the bill will be playing to a primarily Alberta and Calgary audience. Every band on the bill needs to spark interest in this audience. As a band you will most often tend to look at a Festival as an awesome opportunity for exposure for your band, but as festival promoters, we consider bands mostly from the audience's perspective and we have to ask ourselves who this audience would like to see with the headlining and sublining acts that we already have on the bill. This is a hard thing to decide, so we look at a number of factors in considering whether to put your band on the bill.
Here's a list of things that help bands get on the bill; you don't need all of these factors, but the more you have, the better your chances are.
1) If you are an out of town band, you have toured to Alberta and have played in Calgary or Edmonton at least a few times and had a reasonable or excellent draw, and there was buzz that followed the show. i.e. people are talking about how good your band was.
2) If you are an Alberta band, you get consistently good to excellent attendances at your shows.
3) If you have a CD or 4-5 song demo completed.
4) If the CD or demo has been reviewed by an established webzine or magazine and it has gotten positive reviews.
5) If you are getting positive online buzz on the local, inter-provincial, national or even better, the international metal boards and forums.
6) If your band plays a genre or sub-genre that we happen to be looking for, to fill a particular spot. Sometimes we absolutely need a death metal or a doom metal band in a particular slot
7) We get emails from metal heads we know asking for your band to be on the bill.
8) And last, but sometimes a factor, we think your band is awesome and you have been overlooked or underexposed for whatever reason.
Here are the things that would hinder you from getting a spot on the bill:
1) Your shows are not well attended.
2) You aren't getting any local buzz on your local metal board
3) You have never played in Alberta.
4) You have no releases or only a demo from a few years ago... we want to see continual growth and initiative as a band.
5) You are overexposed in the Alberta market, i.e. you are playing too many shows.
6) you don't have a complete lineup
7) you have no music on your myspace or webpage.
8) This is your first show, with these two exceptions:
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a) You and/or select members of your band are experienced artists with a successful past project under your belt. If this applies to you we'd like to hear a demo in order to consider providing a debut for your band.
b) If you are a young band in the All Ages market. We recognize it's not easy to come by All Ages shows or Bar shows when you and your band members are under 18, so we are willing to consider you. Again, we'd like to hear a demo. |
Hopefully this helps. Cheers and thanks for taking the time to write us.
The Scarab Team
