We got a submission the other day that asked if they could get in “the bus.” To which I replied, “Bus?” To which they then replied “wow, my bad sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry how can i make it up to you?” I then proceeded to give them a short lecture as to why they were out of line. You see, the name of our vehicle is in our title, so calling it anything but what it is comes off as quite disengenuos and a bit disrespectful. As I told this submitter, we’re getting large amounts of submissions every day, so why would one want to go out of their way to offend us while asking us for help? It seems pretty silly, especially when you consider how many bands there are in ratio to how many outlets there are that serve the purpose of helping to support those bands. If we can find Americana folk music as good as The Battlefield living in Los Angeles, then we can find any kind of music anywhere we look. There is absolutely no shortage of talent.
I remember the days when we as a company would go back and forth debating if we should allow a band to play in The Van whom we really didn’t believe in or enjoy, but at the time, we were at a lack of options. People didn’t know about us yet, so the debate was, should we film them just to film them, or should we only film music that we appreciate? In the end we stuck to our guns and focused solely on bands that we found worthy of our time. We’ve kept that policy ever since and it’s worked out quite well for us. So when I got a submission from a band proclaiming to be a folk act from Los Angeles I didn’t bat an eye, I just hit play, and I liked what I heard. So I sent it over to my partner, Dave, and said “this is pretty solid,” and that’s how it all begins. So keep that in mind when submitting, a good first impression never hurts, but the music is what will get you in the door.
