SONICBIDS - THOUGHTS AND SUGGESTIONS

Response to Folk Alliance post:
It was stated that regarding Sonicbids "anyone can apply", that Sonicbids is a "level playing field" and that Sonicbids fees are free when you submit. My response and suggestion for a solution below.

Regarding Sonicbids: a big irg.... from me on this issue..... I finally cancelled my Sonicbids account after it cost me $70 to make one submission. While I was waiting for my submission to be reviewed, my credit card was (automatically) dinged twice with $30 semi-annual fees. Festival ADs are lead to believe that the musician pays only the submission fee. Wrong!

Note: I do provide a possible solution for overworked festival and event committees at the end.

Sonicbids costs $30US *twice* a year as a basic fee. One doesn't just submit to one event and get their annual fees free, as suggested. This gives the wrong impression of the way it works. They have been offering 6 months free with your *first* submission, but after you submit once you are hooked in forever. When I signed up, around 5 years ago, I had to pay the fee up front, and ever since then Sonicbids has been billing my credit card $30US every 6 months. You can't just cancel your account after you make one submission, then get another free one the next time you make a submission, as this is extremely impractical on more than one level:

1) What are you going to do, build a new EPK every time you submit to something? Ongoing submissions requiring ongoing annual fees.

2) Also, it often takes several months before your one submission is even looked at. I have a personal situation like that right now. I submitted to a summer event back in Oct 2007. Now in April 2008 my submission still has not been looked at. Since then my credit card has been dinged *once again* with the semi annual fee of $30US. Now it is about to be dinged a *second time*, and I asked Sonicbids to extend my account one month. I just can't afford all of this. If you make ongoing submissions, you keep paying the fees...over and over again.

3) Plus if you don't have an ongoing account you don't get email notices about the gigs in the first place! Again, you can't just cancel and recreate your account every time you submit to something....it just doesn't make sense.

POINT: For your $60/yr you get 3 tunes and a text page on which you cannot even make a word bold or underlined and it COSTS EXTRA to have just ONE video!! I refuse to give them more money!! I have videos coming out my $*&$^*^ and they are all available for FREE on my other sites. Maintaining a Sonicbids EPK is a royal pain in the butt and it is simply another thing on the growing heap of stuff I have to do for myself, for precious little return.

POINT: For CANADIAN ARTISTS it is even more of a money sucker. Most of the gigs offered on Sonicbids are US gigs, and given the state of our visa situation, who's looking for US gigs anyway? PLUS, you get the notice of the submission deadline only weeks at most from the deadline which makes it impossible to even consider a visa. There just aren't that many Canadian gigs to submit to on Sonicbids, to justify the fees.

POINT: You notice that the deadline for a submission is, for example, May 31, for an festival that's happening on June 24 (for example). Give me a break...there is no way this event/festival is still considering submissions on May 31 for an event on June 24. They are simply sucking out as many submissions as possible, knowing that they will never book any of these artists. It just becomes so obvious that it is meant to grab as many dollars as possible from artists, artists they have no intention of booking. It seems that as soon as you give people the opportunity for exploitiation, they will take it. Doesn't say much for human nature, but it sure is reality.

So, back to the CANADIANS....we maintain a Sonicbids account in order to submit to a few events a year maximum that even apply to us, because it's the only way we can submit to them, being exclusive. And if you're not a young rocker...the number of submission options dwindles even more, as honestly, most of the submission opportunities are directed at them. Sonicbids is not an even playing field. I hate it when I notice the charges on my credit card...for something I only use once or twice a year and which is totally redundant in terms of the already great promo I offer on my myspace and website. My myspace has everything you need is there on one page, and my website is layed out the same way. You don't even have to leave my front page to listen/watch/read etc.

POINT: If Sonicbids is to be a gig submission depot, then make it a free service, NO YEARLY CHARGES to musicians. Instead, charge the festivals and event promoters the fees to use the service, or charge the musician a submission fee and charge the event promoters...but currently it is simply another money sucking pit that musicians are constantly filling so that yet another online service can get rich from their labours while they pay to play and submit to gigs which may not even pay them for their work (that's right, a great % of Sonicbids gigs are non-paying). And event promoters are also profiting from their submissions by taking a cut. All this does is create bad blood and leaves everyone, except the young rockers and those lining their pockets, with a bad taste in their mouth. Everyone making money but us, those upon which the whole system is driven. irg....

POINT: I think festivals and event promoters taking a cut from artist submissions is immoral and unethical and I can't stress that enough.

POSSIBLE SOLUTION for overworked festivals and event committees: Simply make it a submission requirement that a one page *only* submission will be considered by the booking committees. The granting systems are strict about page limits etc...what's the difference? Then it is on the shoulders of the artists to make provide a clear one page submission presskit...as a link, whether it's a myspace or a website. "What you see is what you get". Only one page will be looked at. THAT would level the playing field, and help to solve your problem. There is no need to even even have a Sonicbids EPK. I intend to cancel my Sonicbids account as soon as my current submission is looked at....I've been paying them for 5 years now...enough is enough. Again, it's just another thing on my already heaping plate. When I did my taxes this year I was shocked at the amount I listed under "Professional Fees", which included Sonicbids submissions. And I refuse to pay Sonicbids more money just to show a video!!

Please consider these things, from an artist's point of view, and please consider the one-page submission as a possible solution. We're doing our job 10 times over already, don't make us do more.

The current state of the music business, the desperation of musicians to make a living, the "buzz" driven industry, elitist attitudes, schools flooding the market with new musicians and bands, and the globalization of the market have all *encouraged* the glut of submissions and maybe we should all take a look at the way in which we each, in our respective positions, contribute to "the way things are". That's a whole other discussion, but I want to strongly encourage NON-Sonicbids-exclusivity, and the refusal of festivals and events to profit from artist submissions.

roadstar