I rolled down to the Majestic Theatre in Detroit for a panel discussion about the Detroit music scene. The discussion was part of the "Model D" monthly Speaker Series and was presented by Model D Media, WDET 101.9 FM and MSHDA.
Panelists included: Josh Epstein, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.; Dave Feeny, Tempermill; Sam Fotias, Paxahau; Piper Carter, The Foundation of 5e Gallery; Paul "P.J." Ryder, PJ's Lager House; Nadir Omowale, Distorted Soul; and Carleton Gholz, H.E.A.R. Detroit. The discussion was moderated by Jon Moshier, host of Modern Music on WDET
Click "read more" below for my notes as I posted them on our Facebook Page.
Location: Magic Stick
Time: 5:30PM Thursday, August 25th
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Michigan Bands Among the topics discussed were "Is there still a Detroit sound?" - not really, most agreed the area has an extremly diverse scene. -
Michigan Bands Though there's a lot of musical diversity and cross-pollination among musicians, there's still the perception of a racial divide in the city.
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Michigan Bands WDET was also, respectfully, taken for task regarding the lack of diversity in its local musical programming.
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Michigan Bands "How has band promotion and gigging changed in recent years?" depressed economy and lack of disposable income, DUI fear, lack of public transportation major roadblocks to scene.
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Michigan Bands lack of a unifying voice in scene confusing for indie music fans (did you know Metro Times has no full-time music editor?)
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Michigan Bands Venues and festivals paying less than other regional gigs. Promoters have to get out of their comfort zones and do outreach/promotion of Detroit scene.
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Michigan Bands Any advantages/disadvantages to living in Detroit? - cheap rent advantage. Tech/recording revolution disadvantage to downtown studios. Unsupportive musicians ragging on each other disadvantage.
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Michigan Bands But the Detroit "We've Been Through Hell and Survived" story, some think, has been played-out. Need new selling point.
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Michigan Bands "What's the role of music in Detroit's economy?" - Festivals like "Movement" and "Detroit Jazz Festival" need better promotion locally.
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Michigan Bands Need to find better ways to keep entertainment dollars in the city during these festivals.
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Michigan Bands City Of Detroit politicians not taking the music community seriously enough regarding capacity to bring in $$$ Permitting and other issues regarding the DPD mentioned as barriers to attracting more patrons to Detroit.
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Michigan Bands Detroit no comparison to Nashville regarding political will and attention to music industry. The new Detroit Entertainment Committee (?) still doesn't even have a website after two years because of red tape and foot-dragging.
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Michigan Bands Questions from the audience: where are the leaders? What happened to the music sector think tank committee? A lot of talk. We're still so fractionalized. Where is the clearing house for all this?
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Michigan Bands Statement from audience member: It's good to talk about diversity, but you have to work together to get things done. Strategize. And people need to get credit where it's due.
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Michigan Bands Question From Audience: GBSDETROIT.com - art & tech community has overcome the financing problem with things like KickStarter. What can we learn from the art & tech sector?
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Michigan Bands Some 13 orgs got organized to take advantage of stimulus money. But that took strategizing to find core principles they could all get around. Need unified force or committee that deals with the common issues we all share
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Michigan Bands Scene still too negative, which is easy. Being proactive and positive more difficult but more rewarding.
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Michigan Bands Statement from audience member: joy - don't think we do a good job of letting city know how important entertainment center. Need to organize, unify, present one package to politicians.
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Michigan Bands Audience member Hamtramck Steve mentioned how unreliable the city's bus system has become. - Panel - all major cities with vibrant night life have reliable public mass transportation to the burbs already. This is a major stumbling block for Detroit.
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Michigan Bands Unify, define principles, engage local politicians, improve public transportation, limit legal barriers for venues and patrons, proselytize the Detroit idea to surrounding areas, use available technical resources to improve scene....
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Michigan Bands and Model D Media: http://www.modeldmedia.com
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www.modeldmedia.comModel D is an independent online magazine telling the story about the people who...See More -
Michigan Bands and MSHDA: http://www.michigan.gov/ms
hda 
www.michigan.govMichigan State Housing Development Authority - MI State Housing Development Authority14 minutes ago · · -
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Michigan Bands http://majesticdetroit.com
/magic-stick/ 
majesticdetroit.comThe Magic Stick resides in the original second floor of the Garden Bowl. The ven...See More -
Michigan Bands And I hope we've done our part in proselytizing the good word. www.michiganbands.com
Michigan Bands features Musicians, Entertainers and bands from Michigan. Band articles, reviews, prewww.michiganbands.comMichigan Bands features Musicians, Entertainers and bands from Michigan. Band ar...See More
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