DEAD Music Scene, What to do?

[GoroMusic]

So I live In Miami Florida. Nuf Said.

Many have this incredible Misconception " Miami Florida is such a commercial city, The Music scene must be poppin! " This place is so fucking dead in terms of music it's ridiculous. Almost *EVERY* Venue in Miami is shut down because of wana be Hard ass Kids flippin tables and starting confrontations with police, Cafe crystal, Drakes, Studio 12, The Dugout, Every major music Venue I grew up with is shut down. The only well knows (Metal/Hardcore) bands that Have signed out of Miami Florida has been Thick as Blood (Horrible Band) Poison the well (Pretty alright) And Isetmyfriendsonfire (...) This Scene is suuper dead. No shows no nothing, I have to travel 45 minutes to west palm beach where the scene is a bit more lively just to get to a show when a good band comes to town.


Thus Poses my Issue. I remember the days when Myspace was a tremendous tool for music. Now everyone's on facebook and no one gives a shit about music on facebook, At least you don't find bands getting recognized on FB as easily as myspace. I just go to bands I already know about on facebook to hear em from time to time.

So I leave the Navy Soon to come back home to Miami Florida. I've been writing and recording here in my little apartment but I really don't know which approach to take in terms of music online cause it's me all by myself for now, Of course i'm gana look for member's eventually but that place is so dead its a black hole. How the hell do I go about getting recognition? youtube is all about [[HD]] cameras, Live performances, or music videos in terms of band. Is there A good site I don't know about. How do you get your music noticed in a dead scene as a solo project.

Last but not least. I'm considering moving if a couple of friends of mine back home are up for it. I've been thinking L.A for the past 6 months for the music scene. What do you guys think? I know L.A and New York Are great places for music.


I know I'ts a lot to answer thank you guys, I don't have a lot of spare time till I get out, so sorry for the bombardment.

 

[SocialNumb]

Can't help with your problem but I'm living in WPB right now and was not aware there was anything going on here except dance clubs and the occasional concert at the fairgrounds.

 

[heshian46]

Theres no reason why you couldn't start an online colab with other musicians with the same predicament. You'll just have to branch out a bit. Not saying it will be easy, but worth a try.

 

[plague_rider]

Move... maybe not as far as LA or NY... hell if your friends want to then go for it... but if its really that bad where you are and you want to be more involved in music then its either move or try and pull the scene back together...

 

[Sloan]

I visited South Beach last year and was really surprised at the lack of shit going on. Went to some club that had a $25 cover charge, was hilarious. Everything was blocked off for VIP access only. There was some dj or whatever. I just stole drinks, spilled one on some chick and she was pissed. It was $10 for a bottle of Heineken. I told my friends it wasn't gonna be worth it, and I was fucking right. There was a Burger King Whopper Bar though, so that was cool.

 

[JonWormwood]

Yup FL really sucks. I've been working hard to get the metal community here in Jax together but it's just so dead.

 

[egan.]

I am a little older than some of you, but when I was a kid scenes were built on and sustained by college radio, promoters and questionable venues. All ages was a necessity. My band opened for Mastodon in a squat house in Athens, GA for example. I saw Isis and Cave in an illegal club in st louis.
The problem is that when you remove that DIY, "this is our thing" attitude what you are left with is bands that don't know each other all fighting over who gets to sell tickets to be the fifth opener when Testament comes to town. But that's not a scene.
The internet exacerbates this b/c a lot of young guys are in bands that don't exist outside of their bedroom or a computer. It used to be that you had to be friends with other bands and you had to be at least a little established regionally before you were signing record deals. That's not the case any more. International is the new local but there's a price.

 

[Sloan]

There's a decent diy punk/metal/hardcore/grind/shit scene here. it's all about getting with other bands and just playing shows wherever you can. typically all the all-ages venues i've seen here get shutdown pretty quickly by the city, but that's just how it is. they do lot's of sting operations at bars and seem to do everything they can to make running a venue/bar a total pain in the asshole. house shows are good, but you can't charge admission, just donations. and if you host the house show, expect it to get trashed.

 

[PhilTheBeard]

Abiotic just got signed from your area . But yeah Florida is a state full of ton's of spoiled wanna be hard ass kids that get venues shut down. Every venue in the cape coral/ft. Myers area have all been shut down. The music scene in Tampa is far from dead to be honest. Orlando and Tampa how the most going on for metal venues. Jacksonville is ok and the rest of Florida pretty much blows.

 

[Josh Burgess]

There's always stuff going on in Tampa, St. Pete, and Orlando. I'm sure there are thousands upon thousands of places far worse than South Florida all across the country...

 

[Aeronicess1]

I feel your pain! I live in Escondido"the butt crack of San Diego County", we only had one little venue that was a blast to play at and we got free beer and paid for our shows! It was perfect...but...the venue was shut down in April :/ though I shouldn't complain the furthest we have had to travel was 30 miles
The scene is pretty lame here, the "pop-core" bands reign supreme
It's a hard life for a death metal band haha

 

[kaomao]

isn't Tampa the death metal heaven?
I remember being at school in the 90's here in Milan and dreaming about that death metal scene.
You read metal hammer and waited for all the records coming out of that town.
I guess it's not that bad right now as Josh Burgess is saying

 

[AntonioPetrole]

But yeah Florida is a state full of ton's of spoiled wanna be hard ass kids that get venues shut down. Every venue in the cape coral/ft. Myers area have all been shut down.

Sounds like every show here in Jersey

 

[DolphinSplatter]

Fuck, there's an awesome scene in Miami. Tons of DIY shows with the friendliest people.

 

[Jordon]

Well, Chicago is a dead city...

 

[Star Ark]

I think you just need one amazing song that sounds great from the very first second. Direct people to that song via forums. First impressions count so if all your other songs are not as good just leave them out until you have written more amazing songs. People with high speed internet have access to so much so fast, if you're just a nobody then people won't give you more than a few seconds of their time.

I think this forum and others like it are very useful as long as you have music that deserves to be listened to. If your songs are not amazing people will never bother giving you a second chance because there is so much stuff on the internet. Also last fm is pretty sweet, and reverbnation too. I think a one man band has the same chance as a full band getting noticed these days

 

[::XeS::]

The "scene" is dying everywhere.....no one go at live shows anymore, no one buys albums....we need a very hard reset on the music because it's not working anymore.
I go at some show with local band sometimes and the audience is 20-30 people...with 50 outside speaking and drinking, ignoring the bands that are playing.
No one cares about live shows and music anymore...they care only if the band is popular...and not always. This evening there will be Mnemic/Raunchy here....I bet there will be 40-50 people max.
It's very sad...but the problem is also that the few guys that are trying to organize some shows here and there with local and famous bands, they will stop very soon because it's a lost battle...10 people for a super local band last week. C'mon...

 

[Sweetnothing]

I would ( and I do) play with everyone, everywhere.

And come on, a 45 minute drive is not that much, we always have to do that here, to receive maybe 10 euros per gig? ( for the whole band)
The scene is dead everywhere, people doesn't go to shows, they don't care if your band is cool or not. They only go if they're friends of the other bands you're playing with, that's for the people you don't know.

Not to rant much, but we ( don't know over there) have to rent the venue to play, that means 200/400 bucks in advance hoping people go to the show.

So, that means I do it just because I love it. Being old for "the scene" ( 33 yrs old) and not pretending any money back...yep, it's a dead battle, just enjoy it.
Recognition will come sooner or later as long as you enjoy playing and the people has a good time with your band.

 

[Terminus]

Not much of a metal scene where I'm at. We used to have a pretty big scene here in the 90s but it died out right around 2000-2001. Now all the old clubs are dying off and new places are popping up but I fear the scene will never be as glorious as it was back then.

 

[Revson]

The only place in Florida I would say has a strong metal scene is Tampa. Orlando's has been slowly losing steam over the last couple years, but it's still far from terrible. From my tour last year, it seems like Kansas City has a pretty decent scene, as well as Dallas and San Antonio. The one recurring sentiment that I heard from almost every band is that the scene is dead in their location.

One of the problems I saw with that is none of the bands really promote outside of putting up a couple updates of Facebook or Myspace. Nobody takes the time to make up flyers to plaster in music stores or the venue anymore. Online promotion is nice, but bands really need to keep up with the brick and mortar way of doing things. That's the only way to really get people who aren't already friends with the band to notice you and thus the only way to really help build a scene, in my opinion.