Tampa Calling

by Denis Baldwin

This year’s Homemade Music Symposium played out over the weekend at the Ybor HCC campus, bringing together musicians, singer-songwriters, music industry professionals, entertainers, writers, photographers and most every other aspect of the music industry to discuss the state of music, the nature of creating and marketing musicians and give a taste of things to come.

Overall, the symposium was a great success. Saturday opened with “Poets of Popular Song, The Lyrics and Lyric Writers of the Great American Songbook,” featuring the piano work of Paul Wilborn and the 107-year-old Rosa Rio. After their performance, many of the attendees broke for the lunch while the rest of us sat at our tables and handed out free swag and met with people.

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Touring is hard. With the current economy, its even tougher for independent bands to hit the road and actually make some money. Despite the financial constraints, touring is the most effective way to spread your music across the land. Sure MySpace will get you some ears, but nothing beats seeing the band live, seeing them sweat all over their instruments and meeting them after a gig. Touring is what the music business was built on and is a tradition that will never go away.

Many new bands ask me how they can go about booking a tour. Everyone is so eager to hit the road. I always tell them that it takes patience, perseverance and planning. Also, it takes money and self-sacrifice and its not for everyone. If your bass player needs to mommy and daddy (or his girlfriend) to tuck him in every night, or if your singer needs to eat sushi everyday and wash it down with Evian, chances are touring might not be the best for your band. If you get sick of a car after 2 hours of driving, don’t even THINK about touring.

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