General Rules + Philosophies of Show Trades Boards

[Ben]

I created Show Trades as free service for musicians and artists everywhere to meet and help each other out. As a struggling musician myself, I know what it's like to spend hours emailing and calling people to try to setup a tour, only to get nowhere. Often, promoters and bookers will outright ignore any band that they've never heard of or don't fit in perfectly with their ideals. These boards are meant to help bands that don't have a "buzz" around them, aren't paying for a booker or promoter, and don't fall neatly in the confines of specific genres that make it easier to book shows. Internet resources like Myspace and others have fed a false notion that it's easy to get your name out there. It's common to hear that anyone can put there music up online and be a click away from millions of listeners. But the problem is that this encourages a massive influx of new bands flooding the internet, making it impossible for anyone to weed through the muck. The internet has been good for DIY art in a number of ways and it's been bad for it in an equal amount. That being said, I'm hoping that people will use these boards as a means towards direct interaction rather than a tool to do the work for them. I encourage people to exchange mailing addresses and phone numbers rather than Myspace and email accounts. DIY means do-it-yourself, but that doesn't mean you have to be alone.

Please read the following rules before posting!
The individual regional boards are limited to the following type of postings.

-Bands that need a show in the region
-Bands that can offer shows in the region
-Houses/Spaces/and other venues that can offer shows in the region
-Links to helpful booking resources in the region, or any other kind of helpful information
-Booking help for non-musicians (artists of any kind)


These boards are not for:

-Off-topic posts. Please use the General Discussion board to talk about anything you want.
-General postings about your band (getting your name out, asking people to listen to your music, etc.)
-Advertising of any kind of pay service, whether it is relevant or not. These boards are cost-free.
-Any type of harassement. I am strongly opposed to censorship, but this should not be a dangerous environment at all. I will not hesitate to ban users.

I don't want the ST boards to be rule-heavy, I just want people to use them for their intended purposes. Please don't hesitate to post whatever you feel in the general. If you have any comments, questions or suggestions, please PM me.

Thank you,
Ben