ELE Fest backtracks on band policy
A student-run music festival is pulling an about-face on a policy that required local artists to sell tickets for a chance to perform in what has been compared to a “payto-play” scheme.
The Everybody Love Everybody Festival, which begins Friday and runs through the weekend at the University of Ottawa, announced Thursday afternoon it had changed course since announcing the “contest” last week.
“We are set to announce our very talented local artist lineup very soon. … No one has been selected from a contest and everyone was picked via applications,” said Kathryn LeBlanc, vice-president with the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO), which is sponsoring the festival.
That’s a reversal of the previous policy, which dozens of local applicants first learned of when they were contacted via email last Friday, one week before the festival was set to begin.
“ELE is having a contest for all local artists who would like to perform at this year’s edition of the festival. Contestants will be judged on their ability to sell tickets to the festival. The contestant with the greatest revenue generated from ticket sales wins,” the email reads.
The winner would have received a 60-minute time slot and $500 prize, “as long as the revenue generated from ticket sales is greater than or equal to $500,” with a sliding scale of prizes for runners-up. All proceeds from ticket sales, including those generated by bands that did not qualify for a time slot, would have gone to the festival.
Robin Moir of the Musicians Association of Ottawa-Gatineau, Local 180, called the idea “pure exploitation.”
“This isn’t about a band’s songs or their songwriting, their playing or their ability to entertain an audience; it’s about a band’s ability to sell more tickets than other bands, and that has nothing to do with music,” Moir said.
Numerous Ottawa-based musicians who applied to the festival contacted the Citizen to voice their distaste for the added element of salesmanship demanded of local performers.
“This festival format is essentially a scam taking advantage of our scene, particularly new groups that are eager for opportunities,” said local musician James Rooke, who said bands would have been selling tickets to their friends with no guarantee they would perform.
“That’s pretty disrespectful,” said local hip-hop musician Mazeratiii. “We’re artists. But it was like they were trying to exploit us in our own scene.”
Numerous musicians complained of a “misleading” application process.
On its website, the ELE Festival invites locals to submit an application to the festival, calling itself “a platform that provides local musicians with the opportunity to perform in front of one of the most influential demographics of music listeners, students.”
The festival calls itself a “stepping stone” between bar gigs and larger festivals like Bluesfest and CityFolk, which both feature a large contingent of local acts.
Bluesfest and CityFolk, however, select local performers based solely on merit.
When the ELE Festival began in 2013, it had an entirely different approach, said Zach Raynor, one of the key organizers in those early days. Raynor said the first editions of the festival were organized in partnership with the university, but it has since changed hands and is now affiliated with the SFUO, the student government.
ELE issued a Facebook statement in unveiling its lineup of local artists, saying performers were judged solely on the hundreds of applications it received.
“No other selection process was used. Local artists are not required to sell tickets to perform.”
Raynor said the festival was originally conceived as “a platform for local bands … to be seen and show our music to a larger audience.”
“We wanted it to be as easily accessible as possible for the artists and we wanted it to be simple to sign up, simple to get onstage. It seems to be a little different these days, but I can see why. They have some pretty big names on the bill now.”
Festival headliners at this year’s edition, the festival’s fourth, include 6lack, Pusha T and Nick Murphy (Chet Faker). Tickets are $30 to $40 per day.
“They wanted to grow the festival, and I understand that. So it’s possible they’ve lost sight of what the festival was originally intended to be,” Raynor said. “It was supposed to be by the artists for the artists, by the people for the people. We thought that was a really strong way to start a movement.”