Craig Cummings Music

The Baltimore Music Conference (BMC) ended last night. I performed at two different venues over the four day event and I attended the conference sessions at the Hippodrome Theatre during the day on Friday. The conference was a mixed bag. On the positive side, the Thursday night show at Ledbetters, hosted by the Baltimore Songwriters Association (BSA) was an unqualified success. The BSA turned out a very talented group of performers and the venue was crowded almost the entire night. As one of the performers, I appreciated the supportive response provided by the bar patrons. It is always nice to play to a full house of people interested in really listening to the music. The Friday conference sessions were also informative and helpful to musicians trying to achieve some degree of success in the business. I sat in on 3 different sessions and learned something in each one of them.

The conference was not without its problems. Surely, the 5 consecutive days of rain that hit Baltimore did not help the planning and execution of the conference go smoothly. The conference sessions were poorly attended. There were no more than 10 or 12 people in any of the three sessions I joined. It seems hard to believe that there were not more musicians in Baltimore interested in what the conference presenters had to offer. I’m not sure if the advertising was poor or if local musicians think they already know it all. Whatever the case, those who didn’t take the time to attend missed a great opportunity. I also noticed that a number of the presenters failed to show. This is just bad business on their parts and unfortunate for the conference promoters.

Most disappointing was the “gig” I “played” at the Sheraton Hotel on Saturday night. The Sheraton was the conference headquarters, but you would never know it by the absolute absence of anyone who seemed to be there for the conference, save the musicians that were booked to perform. We were relegated to a back ballroom far from any foot traffic. My slot was scheduled from 9-9:45. The PA wasn’t set up until 10:00 and I performed shortly thereafter to the handful of people who came to see me and the musicians from the bands that were booked into the later time slots. This is no way to plan and run a show. One of the bands came from Tallahassee to play – more than likely for no one. If there were so few attendees at 10:00 when I performed, I am fairly certain there weren’t many more to see their 12:00 show.

I think having a conference to celebrate the music scene in Baltimore is a terrific idea, and for the most part I was glad to be part of it. But it seemed like the promoters took on more than they were capable of handling. Smaller would have been better – easier to plan and manage. In the future, they should stick to using venues that have built in foot traffic and reputations for hosting quality music. In that way, musicians won’t have to waste their time playing for each other for free when they could be out playing gigs for real audiences and getting paid. And one last thought…October is probably not a good time to book outdoor venues in Baltimore. The weather is unpredictable, and as this conference proved, it is impossible to recover your momentum when you have many, many acts that must be rescheduled to indoor venues because the weather does not cooperate.