So it’s been awhile… eh?
U P D A T E
Over the last 6 months I have spoken to the Director of Programming for (for the sake of respectful anonymity) “BCB” Radio, an Executive Producer for “BCB” Television, a number of media buyers, my soul and the rest of our team about how we can continue the fromfarandwide community and it’s vision.
Radio told me that they loved our concept. That what we have is an amazing, amazing thing here and that although they wanted nothing to do with it because it featured “independent, original and unrelatable” music, they supported what we were doing…. which I must say.. was appreciated but a little disappointing. Though I did learn alot! Apparently the “BCB” has done a travelling Independent Music Radio show in Canada several times and what they found out, much to my sadness, was that listeners loved the characters involved in the content of the show but as soon as the music started playing and it wasn’t an “Idolistic” Cover, they turned the dial. Which really just drives home the reason why Idol shows are successful. Hell, maybe Sugar Ray will even last more than a few seasons on that horrid “music-cover-fill-in-the-blank” show he hosts. I don’t know what’s worse. That show, EXTRA or Sugar Ray itself… but good for him… he’s keeping his hair in tip top shape.
on to TV.
Television was equally supportive of our creation with our trailer at fromfarandwide. They loved our ideas, energy and momentum so much that they told me when we were ready to pitch this to a mainstream audience formally that we could bring that to him at the “BCB” and he would pass it along to the right people. Funny, I thought we were ready? Over the last 3 years we’ve seen over 300 artists (while still working our day jobs, thanks Kelsey Strickland) , gained 1000 subscribers in 30 days from the trailer launch and over 3000 total unique views on our video in 30 days from minimal marketing ( 1 hour a day from the office) and a general optimism to work with a network on bringing Independent Music to Canada in a fun, energetic, sensitive and broadbased way. I guess we weren’t ready though. There was a suggestion to bring a big name star to the show, I can’t name names but if he keeps it up he may have a show called “The Minute” or “The Week” depending on his ratings and his evolution as a Television Host. I have to say, I wasn’t too excited about that either. Despite the fact that we would be nowhere without Renee Rodenkirchen, my partner and videographer and Sean Gugula, Sound Engineer and Co-Producer this was my baby and I didn’t really want the face of this show to change over to someone who was already identifiable to Canadians for different reasons (although his music knowledge may be second to few) like reading Cue Cards and having opinions about “Real Life Trivial Pursuit.” Anyway, this was left that if I came up with a way to make this more mainstream than I should let him know.
on to Media.
Very supportive! “We love what you’re doing!” “It’s a great idea” “The feel and visual momentum of this show was just amazing, Bravo.. Bravo!” “Will we sell it for you?”
“I’m sorry, will we sell it for you?”
pause
“No, sorry… we couldn’t possibly”
Apparently nowadays the way to sell shows is to copy a format of an existing show, write a pilot that fabricates, parallels, mimics an already existing content structure of a successful network show and mirror your content so that it appeals SAFELY to the masses. Yay! Sounds amazing… Although I did remind these companies that I wasn’t a Television Show developer. That I hadn’t gone to school for this or invested the mortgage on my scooter or toaster to put it all on the line for Canadian Artists even if it meant selling all of our souls for a “Survivor-Type” show on Independent Music or a “Celebrity Apprentice – like” show on unoriginality masked as something unique and with a voice. In fact I have been running businesses for seven years and doing pretty well at it and was more looking at the best possible way to make this breathe.. on it’s own… and to see another day, keeping the artists and the masses in mind with something uniquely Canadian and inspiringly original.
So it dawned on me.
This has to be independent.
And so it was, a month or so ago, that we have decided to run this thing as an Independent Television Show in all it’s glory. I will say that we have a Major Record Label working out a deal with us for promotion and a distribution deal for the winning artist (s). Not to mention a whirlwind of support from some very independent minded sponsors and corporations that will bring fromfarandwide out of hiding and back out to the masses.
So stay tuned…. and thanks for listening…
Listening and listening….
Panda
