Music and This Forum

[Pete]

This is going to be a very very long post, I apologize.

Dec 28, 2008 12:51:34 GMT 10 @The Answer said:

The answer is what you guys had 2 years ago, All Ages ACT coupled with a venue like the Greenroom was something ALL UNDERAGERS knew about. It had amazing power and the shutting down of All Ages ACT coupled with the recent closure of the Greenroom just fucked over the already crippled band scene here.

I agree with you on the closure of the Greenroom. Some people would argue it wasn't a major AA venue, but it was. It was a quality venue we could put on larger AA shows, with the best PA and lighting systems available.

Dec 28, 2008 12:51:34 GMT 10 @The Answer said:

The problem is every person wants to start a production company, poster making thing, promotion thing, everyone wants a slice of the cake instead of working together and im sorry to say its amusing to watch considering i launched myself on the band scene but now have my focus elsewhere.

Everyone wants to start one, few people have the dedication to go through with it. Thats completely irrelevant here. I've been in Canberra music for over 2 years, putting on shows, promoting them, etc. Most of the bands I used to work with have either broken up or moved away. Only one band is still around from the first show I put on, Escape Syndrome.

Dec 28, 2008 12:51:34 GMT 10 @The Answer said:

When All Ages ACT was around I noticed promotion for a lot of events. For the past 6 months or so I have seen absolutley jack all anywhere and the fact is a lot of you guys need to realise people are not coming to find your shows, your probably putting on fucking quality bands like Turbulance, Astrochem and more but the promotion is nothing short of pathetic.

The major flaw with All Ages ACT was that people used it so they didn't have to do any promotion themselves. It was a thankless task. Having their show listed on AAA didn't make people go out and poster, hand out flyers, or do online promotion themselves. If anything it made people lazier. Generally shows we pushed on AAA tended to do a lot better then shows we only listed, and we pushed the shows we saw other people putting in effort for.

Dec 28, 2008 12:51:34 GMT 10 @The Answer said:

It seems the majority of you live on the southside, it shows because theres no promotion on my side of town, but postering is out of date anyway. Facebook > Myspace. Face it, I dont care if you hate it, if you want to expand your audience you guys need to embrace Social Networking, maybe you have but nobody knows about it.

The majority of us do live southside, but thats not the reason for the lack of posters northside. Northside kids don't travel to shows to the same extent southside kids tend too. I lost count of the number of quality shows at Jamison Inn that the same half a dozen kids showed up too, all southside kids. Now if Northside kids can't support venues and shows their own side of town, what hope is there getting them to travel? Sound Underground would not have gone broke had it been southside.

Social networking is the way of the future, and I'm the first to admit that I don't know facebook as well as I should. Myspace is still a much more powerful marketing tool for music.

Dec 28, 2008 12:51:34 GMT 10 @The Answer said:

One group of people needs to come together. Groups, Pages, all types of promotion across Facebook and continue on Myspace. Get event pages happening on both well in advance and have a central name instead of all these dicky sub companys.

How can you expect people working towards different things to work together like that?

Dec 28, 2008 12:51:34 GMT 10 @The Answer said:

Post Op Productions and Mission 1 should be joined, Post Op to me just sounds like its for the $$$ though I expect its not and I realise a lot of shows make jack all for money.

PostOp and Mission #1 are the same thing. Mission #1 is just our zine, a place we put interviews and run competitions on. We don't pretend there different things, there not. I am thinking of transferring the zine over to the PostOp Blog, purely because myspace is a more powerful networking tool.

I don't see how PostOp can sound like its in it for the money. Just about everything we do is free, exactly the same as All Ages ACT, except now I can discriminate what shows I work with and what I don't, without being hypocritical.

Dec 28, 2008 12:51:34 GMT 10 @The Answer said:

Instead of splitting up into all this rubbish, All Ages ACT should have remained,

What? What exactly did I split up? I consolidated what I had with All Ages ACT and improved PostOp beyond belief.

Dec 28, 2008 12:51:34 GMT 10 @The Answer said:

if it was too much for you Pete you should have asked for help instead of stopping the biggest power the underage scene has ever seen and started this Mission 1 and Post Op rubbish. Why couldnt you incorperate a webzine into All Ages ACT and add your promotion and photography interests into something that had power instead of starting new and losing a lot of people? The fact your moving to Brisbane is going to further weaken things because you did so much for the scene (and that will be forever valued), dismantled it and now even if you get things happening again, your gone before you see it through.

I got help. However if you want stuff done right, you have to do it yourself. Its the same thing you said before, everyone wants to start something, few have the dedication to see it through. Myself moving to Brisbane isn't the end of this, its just an expansion. I'd like to think moving into a more vibrant scene will help some of this regions more exciting bands.

Dec 28, 2008 12:51:34 GMT 10 @The Answer said:

So what have I covered, Promotion and Diversification. I know theres more but I want to wait for the backlash before I continue and clear questions and the shitstorm im ready for for the people who actually think these "companys" that are around now actually make a difference.

Like you said yourself, notice the difference since AAA finished? We make a difference.

Dec 28, 2008 12:51:34 GMT 10 @The Answer said:

Also want to say if your serious about the scene, get a serious website going, stop getting pathetic URL shortners, a free blog and forum with ads, put your money were your mouth is and make a proper website to represent what you do.

I'm not in Canberran music for a profit, but I'm not here for a loss either. No doubt one day I will go more professional, but at the moment I can't justify it.

[morganq]

To me Pete is the only person selfless enough to work in the Canberra music scene. Other people will come and go to help him, and they won't do as good a job as him, because they won't care as much as him. If anyone thinks they have the same passion for music and quality of selflessness then I suggest they talk to Pete about helping out with PostOp. If you know anyone like this then get them to get in contact with Pete. He's doing the greatest job ever (while taking pictures) and I think he'll do the greatestest job ever with some help.

[declanptjy]

I was thinking about Pete a couple of days ago. I don't know why he's lending such a hand to the scene, but it's awesome. He helps pretty much anyone and asks for nothing in return. He's doing it because he loves it. He puts his own money into it, he spends his own time on it. People like him make the music scene that bit brighter.

[djbricksta]

and i didnt put that in question, Pete will always go down as a legend and i appriciate his efforts.

Ill reply and continue this discussion in the new year

[Pete]

Please do

[tellmebluntly]

Very valid points. And Pete, no matter how much we love/hate each other. I will always appreciate the work you've done for me over the years. Without you, TW would have never had a gig, therefore I'd be stupider than I am now and would have little to no knowledge of canberra music.

I just think EVERYONE in Canberra should unite under one name. Then you could have 10 photogrphers going to different show, getting coverage. A great media team (video footage, interviews, zines, blogs etc.) different Bands get to know each other, the same 'name' can organise several gigs at once, with different people taking care of each. Therefore making it a bigger entity.

[Pete]

It's sounds great, doesnt it? I just can't ever see it working.

[declanptjy]

I definitely reckon everyone working together could have awesome outcomes.

[aaron]

Except some canberra band have ego's bigger than the state.

[Pete]

Its not a state! Only a territory with 2 puny senate members

[tellmebluntly]

Haha.

Well, why don't we start now. Why don't we get a team of say 5 (to start) people, to join with Post Op and start from there. So when Pete moves we can continue the 'legacy'.

[Pete]

Hang on, wearnt you part of PostOp once?

[tellmebluntly]

Wait, didn't you boot me?

[declanptjy]

It's all coming out now!

[Pete]

PostOps legacy won't be in Canberra.

However, I still have the All Ages ACT myspace floating around, I'm willing to get that back together if I can get a few people interested in running it.