Dfest Recap
Imagine business meetings, panels and schmoozing by day and live music, more schmoozing and lots of Bud Light by night!
It was my 5th year to attend and participate in Dfest. It has become Oklahoma's largest music festival and conference, based in Tulsa. Not only do they spotlight some great national acts (The All-American Rejects, Paramore, The Roots and more) but they do an awesome job showcasing emerging artists as well. I was able to easily make my way among the crowd to the Blue Dome District where the venues are located at as well as two huge outdoor stages. Although it was hot, the music was way cool and I especially liked being a VIP so I could cool off in the Bud Light Lounge, drink some beer and enjoy the a/c.
I really enjoyed a rockin' set from local boy band The Effects on Saturday night. I remember them being the big buzz my first year in '04. They were popular then and still a Tulsa favorite. They graduated from smaller venues to the big outdoor stage this year. I was happy for them. They are a killer rock band made up of super nice young men.
I also enjoyed Zappa Plays Zappa and The Roots that night. The crowd is amazing. People are out in droves to be a part of this large festival. The Dfest staff are spot on in this area.
I will admit I missed the big Friday night line-up with Paramore and The All-American Rejects. Some of my friends wanted to go to a casino and it sounded like too much fun so I tagged along. I put in $20 in a slot machine and lost it faster than you can say HOLY CRAP! On the other hand, Tracie my trusty assistant put in $20 and walked away with $240. Huh? I should have made her buy me breakfast the next morning.
The daytime music conference was really enjoyable. GoGirls had a nice presence there with our booth. I talked to a ton of people about our great GoGirls community as well as the work we are doing at Social Networks for Musicians and at IndieMusicCoach. I moderated the Performing Rights Organization (PRO) panel on Friday which rocked. We had reps from ASCAP, BMI and SESAC. It was extremely informative. Then on Saturday I participated in the Blog Buzz panel talking about social networks. I gave out a ton of useful information and even took a picture from my iPhone from the stage and sent it right off to Twitter to show off the power of new technologies.
To recap, the 7th annual Dfest was rockin'. Every year I think, how can they top this? They always do. I'm looking forward to next year!
Copyright © 2008 Madalyn Sklar, IndieMusicCoach
Madalyn Sklar is a music business coach & consultant, blogger, social networks expert and author. She founded IndieMusicCoach and has spent over 12 years working with a wide range of independent musicians all over the world. Her goal is to help indie artists achieve greater success in the music business by working smarter not harder. She is also the founder of GoGirlsMusic.com, the oldest and largest online community of indie women musicians, with a vision of bringing together and empowering musicians from around the world.
Madalyn is available for one-on-one consulting and coaching at affordable prices. Check out http://www.indiemusiccoach.com/ for more info.
Labels: dfest, music conference
Oddly impersonal post... how were Tom and Angie, Ben and Tomy? :-)
Wish I could've been there, I missed you all this year. Did you see any of the Winter Circle lads? Sounds like Dawson is planning to come up to CharlieFest again this year.
Posted by Charlie Cheney | 9:36 AM