For the last three years,
The Greater Des Moines Partnership and
The DMMC (Des Moines Music Coalition) got together and produce a free cd of Des Moines music to present in Austin, Texas, at The South by Southwest (SXSW) Music Festival. Part of the purpose of these cd's was to entice people to move to Des Moines by showing them our awesome music scene. (It involved more than that, but this was one piece of the puzzle!)
""We see this as a new opportunity to spotlight our local bands and the diversity of music we have here, and a unique way to "sell" Des Moines,' said Mary Bontrager, the Greater Des Moines Partnership’s Executive Vice President of Workforce Development/Education."
- from
the Greater Des Moines Partnership website
Also from Mary Bontrager on
their website: “When recruiting talent we have found the music culture of a community is important to many people, whether it is how they make a living or how they live their passion.”
Actually
Dave Murphy on
the Des Moines Is Not Boring website explained the whole thing very well:
"I’m the music guy on this blog. So, I won’t go into the full scale of what the Greater Des Moines Partnership has unleashed with CarpeDM. I’d imagine someone with more gravitas or clout will tackle the full scale of what they are trying to do. The Seize Des Moines campaign helps to both draw people to Des Moines and help them while they are here. It highlights the city’s services, its attractions and much more. It’s exactly what we need: a targeted full-scale marketing strategy poised to show that this town is incredible and that, um, Des Moines is not boring, I guess…
"But again, I’m just the music guy, so all I really care about is the compilation they put together to help highlight the music scene in Des Moines. I think despite some initial hand-wcringing from, well, me, they put together a solid fifteen tracks."
A description of how the tunes were selected from the second mix from
the Greater Des Moines Partnership website:
"The selection process for the Mix was based on three criteria: 1) songwriting – the quality of original musical and lyrical compositions, 2) musicianship – execution appropriate to the material, and 3) appropriateness for compilation – lyric content, production quality, and artist activity with the community. The top 25 songs with the highest score were then in the running to appear on the Mix. The public was invited to vote for their three favorite songs that best represent the Central Iowa music scene. The songs with the most votes are featured on the Mix."
The Greater Des Moines Partnership also brought some Iowa artists to play at The South by Southwest (SXSW) Music Festival in 2015 and 2016.
From
an article by
Joe Lawler in
The Des Moines Register:
"The state of Texas' tourism slogan boasts that 'it's like a whole other country,' so it seems fitting that there be an embassy there. The Greater Des Moines Partnership is hosting a Des Moines Embassy tent in the heart of Austin's South by Southwest conference.
"The Des Moines Embassy is a 450-person circus tent located at 6th and Red River, a main thoroughfare for the conference's 72,000 registered attendees...
"The Des Moines Embassy will host a Des Moines: Hell Yes Showcase on Friday with music by 10 Iowa acts, including Bonne Finken, Holy White Hounds, The Maytags, Canby, Max Jury and others. The tent will also host showcases throughout the week focusing on bands from other locations and genres...
""It's going to be a good thing for the Des Moines music scene to have an outlet like this," (Gloom Balloon's Patrick) Fleming said. 'It will also be nice to have a base place to go. It's pretty crazy down there, like 80/35 times 10 within a radius not much bigger than 80/35 is.'
From
an article by
Matthew Leimkeuhler in
The Des Moines Register:
"SXSW, the annual music conference and festival in Austin, Texas known for showcasing a mixture of up-and-coming talent and household names, kicked off the music portion of its event on Tuesday.
"And in the heart of the chaos is The Des Moines Embassy, a pop-up venue put on by the Greater Des Moines Partnership.
"One of the eight scheduled showcases at the Des Moines Embassy is the second annual edition of “Des Moines: Hell Yes,” an all-Iowa music spectacle taking place Thursday night. The showcase helps elevate the Iowa music scene on a national stage, amid growing efforts among other Midwestern hubs to showcase their music nationally as well. An estimated 40,000 people visited the Des Moines Embassy last year, with each showcase reaching capacity — 450 people — at least once."
From
the article, "Des Moines city leaders expand music, tech scene nationwide" on
the KCCI website:
"The Greater Des Moines Partnership plans to sell the Des Moines music scene at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, an epicenter for music and technology.
"The festival attracted over 80,000 people from across the country last year.
"Greater Des Moines Partnership CEO Jay Byers said it’s the perfect state to sell Des Moines’ music and technology scene.
“'This helps us to reach a lot of new audiences, a lot of new people in terms of telling that story people might not know about great Des Moines,' Byers said.
"The Partnership set up a Des Moines Embassy tent for the second consecutive year featuring Iowa bands, including the Maytags, and tech companies.
“'Letting bands know that Des Moines has an amazing live music scene, but all from the tech side,' said Mary Bontrager, executive vice president of Greater Des Moines Partnership.
"The goal is to convince bands and companies to come to central Iowa...
“'People are pleasantly surprised at what they learned... when they hear we’ve got this thriving music scene,' he said.
From
Dave Murphy on
the Des Moines Is Not Boring website:
"Des Moines: Hell Yes Showcase – 3/20 – E. 6th and Red River (Austin, TX) Starting at 12:30
"Okay, so I know darn near everyone reading this probably isn’t going to make this show, but I just want to throw a quick highlight out there for people who may not know. Sonic Factory and the Des Moines Partnership have thrown together a showcase of Des Moines artists in a prime spot for SXSW. It is super cool that this is happening and I hope everyone who is playing becomes big stars, but at minimum it is a great lineup featuring Bonne Finken, The Maytags, Holy White Hounds, Gloom Balloon, MAIDS, Canby, Will Locker and more. Kudos to the Sonic Factory and the Partnership for putting together a stellar lineup and I hope this draws some eyes and ears towards what we in Des Moines have known about for years."
The CarpeDM BandCamp page:
https://seizedesmoines.bandcamp.com/
Des Moines Is Not Boring article, "CarpeDM Project Helps Shed Light on the Des Moines Scene":
http://www.desmoinesisnotboring.com/wordpress/2014/03/carpedm-project-helps-shed-light-des-moines-scene/
Des Moines Register article on The Des Moines Embassy at SXSW 2015:
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/entertainment/music/2015/03/18/sxsw-des-moines-embassy/24989239/
Des Moines Register article on The Des Moines Embassy at SXSW 2016:
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/entertainment/music/2016/03/16/music-industry-turns-its-eye-iowa-sxsw/81803012/
KCCI article on The Des Moines Embassy at SXSW 2016:
http://www.kcci.com/article/des-moines-city-leaders-expand-music-tech-scene-nationwide-1/6918539
KCCI video on The Des Moines Embassy at SXSW 2016:
http://www.kcci.com/article/des-moines-city-leaders-expand-music-tech-scene-nationwide/6487697
Other IMSC posts and podcasts on compilation albums:
http://iowamusicshowcase.blogspot.com/search/label/compilation%20albums
Other IMSC posts and podcasts on The DMMC (Des Moines Music Coalition):
http://iowamusicshowcase.blogspot.com/search/label/Des%20Moines%20Music%20Coalition
Other IMSC posts and podcasts using BandCamp:
http://iowamusicshowcase.blogspot.com/search/label/Bandcamp
Other IMSC websites and links:
Feed:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/IowaMusicShowcase
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Iowa-Music-Showcase/364796883703114
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/iamusicshowcase
Instagram:
https://instagram.com/iowamusicshowcase
Labels: alternative music, Bandcamp, CarpeDM, compilation albums, Des Moines Hell Yes Showcase, Des Moines Music Coalition, DMMC, Greater Des Moines Partnership, pop music, rock music, South by Southwest, SXSW
