Skepticism
is often confused for cynicism, but the resistance that Quad City
SoundBoard is running into seems to genuinely fall into the latter
category.
SoundBoard, which was born roughly two years ago but has only solidified its organization over the past six or seven months, is a grassroots attempt to promote the local music scene. The group aims, said Vice President Tim Hobert, "to create a resource for the Quad Cities music community."
The idea is a one-stop shop for bands, fans, and venues. The group promises venues that it will increase audiences for live music, and claims it can get bands better gigs. Beyond the centralized Web resource that SoundBoard promises, it also has a volunteer street team promoting shows through handbills, for example.
"You don't have to go to Chicago or to Iowa City" for live music, said Tim Roberts, who coordinates roughly 10 street-team members for SoundBoard from Champaign, Illinois, to Des Moines.
And unlike in Austin, Texas - the initial model for SoundBoard - the Quad Cities organization offers free membership to bands. In other words, bands have nothing to lose.
"They get the stuff out there and it's great," said Joel Pennington of the Pickle Brothers, referring to the street team's distribution of fliers.
Yet so far, only six bands have signed up on the organization's Web site (http://www.qcsoundboard.org). Roughly 10 venues have purchased memberships - the rate is based on a club's capacity - and the organization regularly puts handbills in another 10 or so live-music sites, Hobert said.
"Bands want us to help them out," Hobert said, "but it seems to be a burden to sign up." He sounds incredulous. "We're working for these bands for free."
Those types of startup issues aren't unusual. When it got started three years ago, the Greater Des Moines Music Coalition (http://www.desmoinesmc.com) dealt with similar problems. "Naysayers will always be there," said Fritz Jünker, the organization's executive director and one of its founders.
The Greater Des Moines Music Coalition grew from a volunteer group into a not-for-profit organization with the equivalent of one and a half paid staff members, and an annual budget in the neighborhood of $100,000. Jünker said roughly half of that amount has come from grants, including several from the Iowa Arts Council.
One obvious difference between SoundBoard and the Greater Des Moines Music Coalition is the positioning. While SoundBoard hopes to "enhance the diversity of the greater Quad Cities live-music community," according to its Web site, the Greater Des Moines Music Coalition positions itself as economic development.
Jünker repeatedly used the phrase "music economy," suggesting an organization whose pitch is aimed at corporations, granting agencies, and foundations rather than bands, clubs, and fans.
But that difference might have its roots in the group's age. The Greater Des Moines Music Coalition got its 501(c)(3) not-for-profit tax status in February 2005, and before that it needed time to find its feet. "There was not that institutional structure," he said. "It allowed us to grow into our britches a bit." The coalition has roughly 15 bands that are members, and lists about 130 bands on its music directory.
Jünker called the Greater Des Moines Music Coalition a "publicist for the city's music scene overall," adding that a "rising tide lifts all boats." And while he used to play guitar a lot, now he works full-time for the coalition. "I'm more a pencil-pusher now, I guess," he said.
In April, the Greater Des Moines Music Coalition produced a compilation of 18 local bands that's been distributed to A&R reps and public radio. And in March, the group put on a festival, called Gross Domestic Product, that featured 14 local bands and drew 1,200 people.
That represents some of the short-term potential of an organization such as SoundBoard. But Jünker said that it takes time to build momentum. The goal is to convince everybody of "the value of having a strong music scene," he said. "It's slow to make that case."
Leo Kelly, guitarist for Wicked Liz & the Bellyswirls and Spatterdash, said in an e-mail that he thinks SoundBoard could play a mentoring role for young bands: "From what I see, some of the folks involved have actual ‘real world' experience, and that is a big plus," he said. "One theme I know QC Soundboard advocated was bands helping each other and sharing gigs. I think for beginning bands this is a terrific idea. When Wicked Liz & the Bellyswirls have been new in Chicago or Indianapolis or Cincinnati, it was absolutely key to be with an established band just to ensure someone would be in the room when we played."
M.J. Dunlap of Muscatine's Burnt Ends said he wasn't aware of SoundBoard but sees a benefit if the organization promotes local shows and educates the community about bands that play original music.
Yet he also sounded skeptical, noting a lack of altruism among local bands. "Nobody really communicates well with each other," he said. "Everybody's doing their own thing."
Hobert and the other leaders of SoundBoard have heard common objections: that the group is limited to certain styles of music or that it's too closely allied with the River Music Experience or local band Jim the Mule. While those claims aren't true, they have their roots in the truth.
SoundBoard is not limited to roots music, and it's not affiliated with the River Music Experience (RME). But Lon Bozarth, the president and CEO of the RME, helped organize the group. He is no longer involved. "People consider this Lon's group, an extension of the RME," Hobert said. "Lon [only] helped initiate the gorup."
And while two members of Jim the Mule serve on the five-member board, the blunt reality is that they're volunteers. And volunteers are almost always in short supply.
It's been difficult, Hobart said, to get bands involved. "You've got your little cliques, and they don't want to stray from what they're doing," Hobert said. "The scene as a whole isn't helping itself."
Hobert's personal goals are ambitious. "It would be nice to have 35, 50 venues signed up," he said, and 100 local bands. "There's strength is numbers, and right now we just don't have the numbers."
