RE: looping and the public and categorization

[kkissinger@kevinkissinger.com]

Quoting Gareth Whittock <buddhamachine@live.co.uk>:
>
> ... My immediate response is to re-approach the venues  with a  
> genre, (probably ambient or chill). This flies in the face of  what  
> Rick has discovered, (and I take your points completely Rick).
> One of the problems for me is that if you say live-looping then   
> someone will immediately think of Beardyman or some such artist...
>
...and if you say "pipe organ" people immediately think of "phantom of  
the opera" or general incompetence.  Unfortunately, the last thing  
most people think of is music that they would enjoy.  We labor under  
the curse of stereotypes.

I don't think that it is altogether necessary for music festivals to  
have a narrow focus.  For example, there are hundreds of art festivals  
throughout the country and most of them are simply called "art  
festivals" -- and include, photography, paintings, sculpture, and even  
woodworking.  I once attended a "Native American" art festival and  
there was so much stuff there one couldn't see if all in one day.

Of course, to simply call a music festival a "music festival" gives  
the potential audience no idea of what they are going to hear.  To  
give the festival name a genre immediately narrows it, (i.e. Jazz  
festival or RockFest).  A music festival could focus on a particular  
instrument (i.e. a drum festival, guitar festival).  A name such as  
"Loop festival", "Electronic music festival", or "experimental music  
festival", etc... helps to narrow the focus enough to inform a  
potential audience while allowing a breadth of genres.

-- Kevin