10 Years in the Making!!!
Today is the day!!! 10 years ago on this day I created the Ottawa Music Lover page.
I was planning on using it to promote all of the cool bands that I had seen and met and some had even befriended me! This was back in the days of Big Money Shot and other great band competitions and showcases where tons of bands were at my disposal to see play live. The talent pool was so deep back then! Not that it isn't now, it's just that there are few outlets for them to play at. Venues have closed or are no longer providing a stage for live music. Also, people do no support live original music like they used to. Times are hard for anyone trying to make a living with their musical talents.
Eventually, I realized that venues are a more realistic focus point for promoting live music. Bands come and go and there are so many that it would be impossible to keep track of all of them. A venue has a wider base of patrons who are already looking for live music. If I'm looking for live music, I go to the venue's website or social media to see what's playing where. So that's why I switched from promoting bands to promoting venues.
For the first few years I tried to quit a bunch of times. I stopped posting for awhile and eventually came back to it mostly so that I could see what bands were playing. I really don't like going to see shows by myself so I joined a MeetUp group for people to find people to go to shows with. It became a "thing" and renewed my motivation for posting shows and I got to meet some great people whom I'm still friends with to this day. It was great! Then the some of the key people who ran the group left and the MeetUp website decided to start charging for groups over a certain size. I didn't want to start charging a membership fee so I left, as well. I tried to make a Facebook Group to do the same but running it on my own was too hard. It would be good to get back into that sort of thing because finding people to go to shows with can be hard. Most of my friends are musicians so they're already playing shows elsewhere.
Each time I wanted to quit I felt like no one was actually using my lists. For whatever reason people don't really interact with my posts but every time I had decided to quit someone would send a message or make a comment and I realized that people were actually paying attention. I started getting messages from artists and venues asking me to include their shows in my lists and it's grown from there.
As of today I have 1504 followers on my page and the accompanying Group currently has 1974 members. I am grateful for everyone who has followed my page and/or group and for those who visit my web page regularly to check out the events that I am currently posting into a calendar.
The Future of Ottawa Music Lover
I have a lot of plans for Ottawa Music Lover which includes expanding into different areas including a podcast, promoting original shows, becoming a champion for original artists and eventually owning a music venue. There are some lofty goals here and working towards them can be daunting sometimes.
The first thing that I need to do is to complete my website so that it can be a trusted site for finding out where the live music is happening on any given day. I also want it to be a hub for artists looking to book gigs at different locations. I want to have articles that help artists move forward in their careers and create partnerships with other Ottawa organizations with like-minded goals. Ottawa Music Industry Coalition is at the top of my list as well as apt613. I'm hoping that I can tap into their resources and help them grow, as well.
The next step is to plan and start my own monthly podcast which will feature local artists and other music industry people from around the area including venue owners, bookers, sound technicians and whoever else we can get on board. I'm hoping to provide a great cross-section of content that is interesting and gives people an insight into the local scene here in Ottawa and what makes it so special when compared to other cities.
After that I would like to move into promotion/booking. I think that bringing in musicians from other areas and matching them up with local acts would be a great way to boost the local music scene. Part of what I always loved was discovering great bands from outside of Ottawa. I've discovered some from Toronto, Kingston and as far away as Windsor just in Ontario. There are so many talented people all across the country.
The last piece to this puzzle would be to purchase my very own music venue. I think that this is the ultimate way to support local artists. By providing a wicked environment for music lovers and musicians I think that I could enhance the ability for people to be seen.
I'll be looking for partnerships, sponsorships and many different ways to begin making some money. So if you're interested in joining the team I'd love to chat and plan.
I'll be at the Aulde Dubliner/Pour House from 6pm until 9pm (and probably beyond) tonight for the celebration of 10 years of Ottawa Music Lover. It would be amazing to see some of our members stop by to say hi and help me celebrate this milestone!
Have a great weekend!
Karen Quesnel
Ottawa Music Lover