The Music vs. The Booking Agency

  When I started the Music Menu, supporting great local live music was my goal and still is to this day. I believe and have great hope that the day of the traditional booking agency is coming to an end. I do not see Music Menu as a traditional booking agency however. Traditional booking agencies cause everyone in the live music industry to lose. In addition, they lower the quality of music, they set limits on the availability and access of music and lead venues into believing that in order to get quality music, they have to pay a excise tax for it. It's truly a false paradigm that agents, musicians and venues are all complicit in promulgating.
The bands want agents in order to get work. The venues want agents to tell them who's good enough to occupy their stages. The Agents want bands that will leave the booking of gigs entirely up to themselves and the agents also want venues to believe that "exclusively represented" bands are the only good source of live entertainment. The agents have to convince the venues of this in order to justify their representation fees of 15-20% of the show price.
Day in and day out, I am amazed to see venues hiring bands that come along with a 15% gratuity for being "exclusively represented". A band does not become more valuable to you just because a third party is promoting interest of them to others. This fact proves that venues that use traditional booking agents do not get a higher quality of music by using bands represented by them. They are guaranteed however, to pay an unnecessary "lobby tax" on music.
Unlike the Music Menu, traditional booking agents are not Music Critics. They simply pursue booking for those that pay them to do so. When an agency is promoting a band to a venue, it doesn't have the venue's best interest in mind, it has it's own interest in mind; selling the bands that pay them to do so. So, the bands are sort of slapping the venues in the face as well. For some reason, the venues do not know that there are a zillion bands out there that are really talented. But lets not leave it up to the agents to go out and critique local talent, their too busy 'Lobbying' for their bands. Sounds like D.C. to me.

  The equation.

Venue A has 8 bands a month                            
Venue B has 8 bands a month
Venue A pays an average of $1,000.00 per band  
Venue B pays an average of $1,000.00 per band.
Venue A's bands have an "exclusive agent"          
Venue B uses his own time to pursue gigs
Venue A pays a 15% gratuity to the ghost agent  
Venue B pays no gratuity tax
Venue A hires bands that are worth $850 but pays $1,000
Venue B hires bands that are worth every penny of the $1,000


Venue A pays a tax of $14,400.00 to  an "exclusive agent" every year               
Venue B realizes that in order to out-compete venue A, he can start hiring the same quality
bands as venue A for $150.00 less each night.
The agent got paid $14,400.00 for making 96 phone
calls or $150.00/call.    CHECK OUT THE FAT CAT!                                     
Venue B just saved $14,400.00 a year because their competitor, Venue A used an "exclusive agent"


If you wanna find out what makes the Music Menu a popular option to "exclusive representation" send us an email @ musicmenu.com

Doug Larson
Music Menu

110 Great Minnesota Live Bands (w/links)

Attention Venues: To find out each listed bands live performance critics rating send email to
musicmenu@mail.com

<----------Please Join this Site

American Roadhouse                              americanroadhouseband.com
Annex                                                     myspace.com/annexcentral

Arch Allies                                              archallies.com

Arrows at Dawn                                     myspace.com/arrowsatdawn

Bad Romance                                        myspace.com/badromanceband

Big in Japan                                           biginjapanband.com
Big City Band                                        bigcitylive.com
Bear Creek Band                                   bearcreekband.com

BKS (best kept secret)                          bksband.com
Black Rainbow                                      facebook.com/blackrainbowband

The Blue Drifters                                   bluedrifters.com
Brian Kinney Band                                briankinneyband.com

Brian Mac                                             brianmacband.net

Canyon Cowboys                                 canyoncowboysband.com
Chain Lightning                                     chainlightingband.com
Cherry Gun                                           cherrygunband.com

Crankshaft                                            crankshaftmusic.com
Crimson Edge                                       crimsonedgeband.com

Dan Ristrom and the Big Throwdown    danristrom.com

Davina and the Vagabonds                   davinaandthevagabonds.com

Get your band listed in our

catalogs and you are

Guaranteed 2 bookings a year!

Diamondback                                      diamondbackband.net
Dirty Horse                                          www.myspace.com/dirtyhorse4

Erins Alibi                                            www.myspace.com/erinsalibi

Fat Cats                                              www.myspace.com/thefatcats1990

Fleetwood Mac Attack                        www.facebook.com/TheFleetwoodMacAttack

4 on the Floor                                      www.myspace.com/the4onthefloor

Free & Easy Band                               freeandeasyband.com
The Frets                                             thefrets.com

Good for Gary                                    www.goodforgary.com

The Good the Bad and the Funky        www.goodbadfunky.com

Groove Stew                                      www.mikefugazzi.com

Hair Metal Mania                                www.hairmetalmania.com

High and Mighty                                  www.high-mighty.com

High Octane                                        high-octane-mn.com
Inukshuk Pass                                     www.inukshukpass.com

Jaded                                                 jadedrockers.net

Jam Factory Band                               www.thejamfactoryband.com

Just send us an email request

to musicmenu@mail.com

Jason Dixon Band                               myspace.com/jasondixonline

Jeff Loven                                           jeffloven.com

Jelly Project                                        facebook.com/thejellyproject1

Jonah and the Whales                         jonahandthewhales.com

Junk FM                                            myspace.com/wearejunkfm

Kentucky Thunder                             kentuckythunder.net
Kick The Dog Band                          kickthedogband.com

King Tuesday                                    kingtuesday.com

Knight Crawler                                  myspace.com/knightcrawlerusa

Knockin’ Boots Band                       knockinbootscountry.com

Leon Laudenbach Band                    leonlive.com

Lightning Creek Band                       lightningcreekband.com
Lil Ed and the Blues Imperials           myspace.com/liledblues

Lisa Wenger                                     lisawenger.com

Moaning Lisa’s                                myspace.com/thelisasrock

Menace                                            menacerocks.com

Metro Mix Band                              metromixband.com

Midnight Radio                                myspace.com/midnightradiorocks

Moose Knuckle Brothers                 myspace.com/MooseKnuckleBros

Mr. Bones                                       mrbonesrocks.com

Nasty Habit                                    nastyhabit.net
Northern Comfort                           northerncomfortband.com

North Country Bandits                    myspace.com/northcountrybandits

100 Watt Jones                              100wattjones.com

Outside Recess                              outsiderecess.com
Pandemic                                       pandemicfever.com
Plan B                                            myspace.com/planbblues

The Prodigal Sons                         myspace.com/prodigalsonsoftheironrange

Redneck Hippies                          redneckhippies.net

Ring of Kerry                               ringofkerry.us
The Rythm Roosters                     rhythmroosters.com

Rocket Science                            rocketsciencerock.com

Ronn Eastons All Star Soul Revue  ronneaston.com

The Roy Rogers Band                  theroyrogersband.com
Ryan Daniels Band                       myspace.com/rdsos

Scarlet Haze                                myspace.com/scarlethaze

Sell Out Stereo                            selloutstereo.com

The Senders                                thesenders.net

The Shaw Brothers                     shawbrothersrock.com

Shirts and Skins                          shirtsandskinsband.com
69 Cents Band                           69cents.com
Soultight Commitee                     soultight.com
Square One                                thesquareoneband.com

Soul Tree                                   soultreeband.com

The Soupbones                          thesoupbones.com

Steel Orchid                               steelorchidrocks.com

Please let us know if you must be

removed from this list

musicmenu@mail.com

Stockcar Named Desire             stockcarnameddesire.com
Strange Daze                             strangedaze.com

Sum of All                                 sumofallrocks.com
Sweet Papa Dave                      thesweetpapadaveband.com

Theory of Relativity                    theoryofrelativityband.com
Thirtytwo Headshots                  32headshotsrocks.com

Toxicity                                      myspace.com/toxicitytribute

Tool Tribute                               myspace.com/tributetotool

Trailer Trash                               trailertrashmusic.com

Tribute to Rage                           myspace.com/tribute2rage

TroubleShooter Band                 troubleshooterband.com
Unhinged                                    myspace.com/thebandunhinged

Unleaded                                   theunleadedband.com

Voodoo Butter                          voodoobutterband.com
Vintage Raggs                            vintageraggs.com

Whiskey Tango                          whiskeytangomn.com

White Iron Band                        whiteironband.com

WobbleBox                               wobbleboxband.com
Zed Leppelin                             zed-leppelin.com

At Music Menu, we make it easy
for you to find great local
entertainment.

MN Music Menu's Top 15 Local Live Bands of 2011

  Over the past twelve months I have watched a lot of live bands performing in a number of different capacities  including but certainly not limited to solo gigs, duo's, trio's and full bands as well as different stages such as festivals, street dances and theatre shows. As a local music critic, my favorite way to observe a live performance is in a dive bar atmosphere with intermediate ambient sound, a good beer in hand and with a generous amount of passion being exhibited from on stage. I am also a musician who plays drums and likes to sing and I know that there are a ton of factors that determine the amount of passion being displayed while on stage. However, passion is engagement, it's physical interaction between people who are often hundreds of feet apart, sharing a musical moment in time. It's body language, and it counts just as much or more as musicianship, band tightness and continuity of style. With all it's importance, passion is by far the least pursued and portrayed aspect of live performance locally today.
  All of this of course is a segue to the topic at hand. The Music Menu's Top 15 list of live bands that, among other great attributes, are 'passion filled' performance groups. These bands 'bring it' as performers, musicians and personalities that are appreciated on and off the stage. Some of the things that I look for when critiquing live performances are continuity of stage dress, band tightness, appreciation for their audience, off stage demeanor, sound quality, PASSION, individual musicianship, songwriting, originality, genre range, crowd interaction and price versus performance. Without going into any further detail of what each criteria means to me, suffice it to say that the following bands have all these characteristics and it is my pleasure to introduce them to you. The bands are listed in order based on continuity over a given number of witnessed performances.
The list is as follows;

#15 East Fillmore

for your listening pleasures.

Blues

St. Paul, MN.

http://www.eastfillmore.com/Site/The_Band.html

#14 Flashback

70's Rock

Burnsville, MN.

Tony Hernandez














http://www.flashbackbandmn.com/fr_home.cfm


#13 Downtown Sound

Classic Rock/Country
New Prague, MN.
Jim Reeder












http://downtownsoundmusic.com/


#12 Outside Recess

Classic Rock
Maple Lake, MN.













http://outsiderecess.com/

#11 Menace

80's Rock
















http://menacerocks.com/

#10 Better Off Red

Classic Rock
Plymouth, MN.
John Ryan












http://betteroffred.bandvista.com/



#9 Big Bob Scoggin


Variety
Minneapolis, MN.
Bob Scoggin













http://www.bigbobscoggin.com/

#8 The Shaw Brothers

Classic Rock/Country
Prior Lake, MN.
Trent Shaw
http://shawbrothersrock.com/

                                                                                                           

















#7 Sweet Papa Dave Band

Blues
St. Cloud, MN.
David Hart
http://www.thesweetpapadaveband.com/


#6 Sell Out Stereo

Classic Rock
Minneapolis, MN.



















http://www.selloutstereo.com/


#5 Chris Brooks & The Silver City Boys

Modern/Classic Country
Minneapolis, MN.
Chris Brooks
http://www.chrisbrooksband.com/fr_home.cfm


#4  Modern Condition


Progressive Rock/HipHop
St. Cloud, MN.
http://www.myspace.com/modernconditionmusic


#3  Leon Laudenbach Band

Blues/Rockabilly
St. Cloud, MN.
Leon Laudenbach












http://www.leonlive.com/






Leon Laudenbach & Mark 'Sparky' Anderson performing the Headwaters Blues Opry 2011.






#2  Redneck Hippies

Classic Rock, Blues, Funk
Eagan, MN.
Kevin Gagnon
http://www.redneckhippies.net/

#1  Gilman's Crossing

 Gilman's Crossing is;

Ray Gilman-      Guitar/Vocals
Ben Craig-         Bass
Pat Swedzinski- Vocals/Guitar
Brian Sherry-     Drums

http://www.raygilman.com/

Well, that completes our list for 2011. Please check out all these band links and keep supporting local live music. Happy New Year!
D. Carl Larson
Check out the Music Menu blog site here- Music Menu Website
Check out the Music Menu band site here- Music Menu