Interviews March 3/13

Hema Chandra Chittuluri

Lizzy, Courthouse Place
I was surprised to find a musician within my apartment building who was advertising in the common area that she is willing to play at parties. I met her later in the morning and she, unsurprisingly, had a full time job and loves music and thought this would be a good way to do something she loves and make extra money at the same time. I asked whether she would be interested in playing at a venue, she replied she would love it but that she hasnt got time to go after all the venues especially when she js not even sure if they want to listen to her. When I explained what we were doing, she got really excited and said that would be a great way to reach a bigger audience and grow. She said she will be willing to pay for such service even if its expensive. She also wants it to have a means to communicate with other bands etc, to look for opportunities with them.


Phone interview with member of carbon dioxide
I interviewed a guitarist from the band carbon dioxide. He responded to my craigslist ad and was very helpful. Like in all the other interviews with musicians, the biggest problem with them was finding venues to play at, knowing the schedules and also knowing different means to play at a venue like can they offer happy hours, or should we be referred by an artist, contact a promoter or just contact the management directly. If they cross somebody they would get burned. So having first hand information helps. He would definitely use the service if it has lot of venues, has genuine information about venues and can help build their reputation.

Phone interview with Cheeko
 I found Cheeko on one of the musician community portal. A very friendly guy, he runs a band called piece by piece. He is very committed to music and does it full time but the problems that are applicable to the smaller bands that play part time applies to him too. If you are not on contracts you dont get gigs often, if you get into contracts you will miss out on great opportunities , if you go with a promoter you stick to his kind of music and earn a lot lesser. He said something like what we are planning to build will definitely be useful and he will pay to use it.

Phone interview George clinton
George is a senior musician, he has been in the industry for really long. He owns a band called funkvibe. Unfortunately he did not have lot of time to speak but he said he might try the platform if it has enough venues signed up with us.