Fair Play Pittsburgh

Fair Play Pittsburgh was a musician-led initiative from 2015-2020 to bring all aspects of the community together -- musicians, venue owners, promoters, arts media, and audiences -- to discuss ways to make and keep our scene sustainable and meaningful for everyone.

[fairplaypittsburgh]

We Bid You FairWell

Dear Musicians, Venue Owners, Live Music Enthusiasts, and Industry Professionals:

 We want you to be the first to know that after much consideration of Fair Play’s role in the music ecosystem, we have decided to let it go dormant during this time of nationwide challenges and transitions. Fair Play was primarily a safe public forum for you to evaluate the live music scene in the Pittsburgh region. We wanted to know how things were going, and we hoped to empower actions towards equity, excellence, and sustainability.

With your involvement we successfully completed our initial goal. You shined a bright light on the realities facing musicians in the 21st century, our physical places, and the many players who make our broader music community what it is. You told us what you needed to thrive and we put that in our high-level summary as a community roadmap. 

Now, with the pandemic, with the reduced ability to perform in person, and the closure of many beloved venues, the local scene needs to adapt. We don’t know how it will develop, survive and thrive but we know the work we've done still has many relevant insights.

Here's What's Changing in the Next Few Weeks

All scheduled Fair Play Shop Talk events have been cancelled.

The Fair Play Facebook Group will be archived Monday, September 14. Pop over and let everyone know what you’ve been working on and where folks can find you. Once the group is archived, you are still able to access all of the information. 

We encourage you to stay connected to other music advocacy Facebook groups; we recommend the Pittsburgh Music Ecosystem Project.

The Fair Play website remains live for the foreseeable future as an archived free resource of our meetings and research, which is open to all. We hope you will re-visit, get inspired by the photos, ideas, and playlists, and launch any of the creative solutions or programs available. It's yours to use. 

Thank You and Farewell

Many people made this project happen and their passion and professionalism was a joy to work with. Here are the liner notes:

First and foremost, we thank you for the years of engagement at meetings, in personal conversation, and online. You made FairPlay what it is.

We thank the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council (GPAC) — especially Christiane Leach, Artist Relations Manager - for giving enthusiastic and wise administrative oversight to this project since its inception. It would not have happened without her. GPAC will continue to host Fair Play information on their website. Thank you!

We thank Lauren DeMichiei for her incredible initiative and skill at design, creating Spotify playlists featuring Pittsburgh music, leading Shop Talk, and keeping the FB group activated. If you are interested in continuing efforts with musician advocacy in Pittsburgh, Lauren has some irons in the fire. Definitely get in touch with her.

Both GPAC and Lauren were instrumental in providing financial support to keep the project going and we thank them for their generosity.

Additional thanks to all the venues that hosted our meetings, to Randall Coleman, Kristy Strickler, and Heather Mull for the excellent photography, RJ Kozain and JuliAnne Wright for moderating the Facebook group in recent months, and Traci Jackson for her deft ability to help Fair Play organizers sift through all the data to create our summary document which now serves as a guide for future activities. Haven't read it? Go HERE.

Thank you to the amazing line-up of folks who took part or agreed to take part in Shop Talk! A quick shout out to: Jeff Betten, Justin Strong, Allison Kacmar Richards, Sondra Woodruff, Tim Wolfson, Gordon Nance, Bob McCutcheon, Jimmy Hoyson, Tom Brieding, Brian Buckley, Jordan Snowden, and Katie Oltmanns. 

Finally, we want to thank Heather Kropf for being nuts enough to start this whole thing by inviting us to take stock of our work and our selves as a community, and enticing us to publicly imagine best case scenarios. 

We have loved this project and hope it has brought you some value over the past five years.

Take care of yourself.

Heather Kropf | Christiane Leach | Lauren DeMichiei

F a i r P l a y   P i t t s b u r g h

[fairplaypittsburgh]

FairPittsburgh organizers Christiane Leach, Lauren DeMichiei and Heather Kropf worked with Traci Jackson in 2018 to create a high-summary document of the many community meetings. Read on!

[fairplaypittsburgh]

Introducing Shop Talk

Inclusive of all musical genres, Shop Talk is a new educational workshop and networking series, occurring second Wednesdays.

Join us on March 11 for Planning Your Album release with Jeff Betten of Misra Records.

Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/fair-play-shop-talk-planning-your-album-release-tickets-96472898035

Future events announced soon.

[fairplaypittsburgh]

The fourth volume of a 5 part playlist series featuring Pittsburgh musicians.

[fairplaypittsburgh]

The third volume in a 5 part playlist series of Pittsburgh musicians.

[fairplaypittsburgh]

Fair Play Pittsburgh is hosting a pivotal community meeting next Tuesday, Dec. 4, 6-8 pm @PGHArtsCouncil. After 2 years of meetings, we finally have a comprehensive and exciting action plan, but we need your input to know if we heard you right. Join us! It's free.

Register NOW

[fairplaypittsburgh]

Fair Play Meeting at BOOM Concepts: Unique Orchestrations

2 April 2018

Moderators: Christiane Leach, Heather Kropf, and Lauren DeMichiei | Photos: Randall Coleman

PLUS +

What Works About the Current Scene?

Increased diversity

Email, social media -- communications

Everyone knows everyone

Door people know the scene

Well-made fliers in places we can see

BYOB after party

Funding new methods

Neighborhood cultural destinations development

Diverse genre bills

Social media networking

MINUS -

What’s Not Working About the Current Scene?

Shoved to the side because of niche

Mainstage is “safe”

Change is resisted - resistance to adaptation

Less regard for instrumental music

Risk-averse

Selling an experience is tricky - w new classical music

Non-visionary conventional people running things

Lower quality of production -- mixes cause ear fatigue

Inconsistent turnout for world class shows

Weather

Media is competition to live music

Audience preconception that biases them against checking it out

Pay to play

Scheduling - too many on a given night

Misunderstanding audience’s interests -- re: young people/live music

Giving away headliner to out of town acts

Festival diversity problem

Arts Fests….local openers (not so much now)

Safe programming

NEEDS & IDEAS

What would you change, add or create?

Getting good music on public radio

Switch radio to free-form / college style formal -- genre/ethnicity

Approved institutions to suggest change

Introduce the spectrum of local music to media play/coverage

Pop up venues

Netflix/Wyrd - filter local scene through national channel - acknowledge music as a visual medium

Help promo / curate so I can just play music

Incubator to not an incubator (places to play and create beyond incubation)

Promoting -> get

Strategic -> think regionally -> move effort

More amenable venues

Better Transportation and parking

Create diverse multi-genre, multi-discipline festival

Take on responsibility to cater to your customer, make it accessible

Initiate your own opportunity

Offer something special

Larger venues and arts organizations can do more

Find a reference point / city to look at for a model, and what aspects specifically

BMI / ASCAP venue / licence - make it easier

[fairplaypittsburgh]

Registration and information for this free event is here: http://bit.ly/2FLNDVX

[fairplaypittsburgh]

Fair Play Meeting at the Black Unicorn Library: Smoking in the Bros Room

5 March 2018

Moderators: Christiane Leach, Heather Kropf, Lauren DeMichiei | Photography: Randall Coleman

PLUS +

What Works About the Current Scene? Who are Your Champions?

Madeline Campbell - Women in Sound/Engineering

VIA Festival

Karl Mullen - Fuzzy Comets - helped with Lilith Tour

Manny Theiner

Paul Tabachneck - songwriter circles

In other markets - women musicians was built into the DNA of the NY scene

Mary Jo - lone female booking agent

Mike Shanley

Jesse Prentiss

Come and see us because we are good, not because we are women!

Unless it’s run by women it’s a boys network

$100 for a whole band for a national act, these are the opportunities

Places for hip hop artists after the Shadow Lounge closed

Men and women have given me opportunities - always the 1 space for 1 woman in a group

Jeff Holt - Hambones - door deals

GPAC

Job and family

MINUS -

What’s Not Working About the Current Scene? What Barriers do You Face?

Mentorship

Support for live music attendance

Pittsburgh is not a metro area

Cooperation between musician and club owners

Burn out on social media

Overplaying the local scene

Opportunities to feature and not be background music

Oversaturation of local scene

Live music has changed -- more people have access in so many ways -- another vote for saturation

Different experience for different artists & genres

Venues are not safe spaces for all people

Cultivation of career support

Racial / Racism dynamics impact the music scene

Demand the price -- set the price collectively (?) - reminder from Mary Jo that venues need to be part of this conversation

Charge for what we are worth

Supporting each other deeply

Pay to play

Some treat it as a hobby

Union rates as base rate

Fees - price too high

NEEDS + IDEAS

What Would You Change, Add or Create? How Can We Be Better Advocates for One Another?

Cross pollinate - share each other’s audience

Gig swap

Intersections of people

Financial resources

Reach back and bring generations forward

Communicate that it’s a career

No matter what day of the week - the show would be good

Curate a community - form intentional relationships

Create diverse spaces

Mentorship dependent on age or experience - on business side, sharing resources

LISTEN

Unplugged and wasting time vetting people

No agents

Femme friendly record label

Talk to people

Music I’m making - conversations to make changes

Educational opportunities -- access and presentation of info

Sponsor/scholarships/artist fees

Get to know each other share events

Connect with the press -- reach out to Mike Shanley!

Keep doing it

Better partnerships

Connect with young musicians

Communal rehearsal space

Idea: (from Medina) soundcheck saturdays -- where a venue opens their space before open hours and allows bands to use space for rehearsal 

Engage the crowd with vendors (i.e. the 90s with chair massage, etc.)

Be creative about reaching your artists

Don’t leave hip hop out - communicate the value of art

Have a winner’s mentality

Would You Go Full Time as an Artist if You Could?

Majority (or all?) hands raised

[fairplaypittsburgh]

Fair Play Meeting at Studio Avery

5 February 2018

Panelists: Emmai Alaquiva, Rob Deaner, Mike Meiers | Moderators: Lauren DeMichiei, Christiane Leach, Heather Kropf | Photography: Randall Coleman

PLUS +

What Works About the Current Scene?

Panel

Sync licensing - lots of diverse genres in Pittsburgh

Hotbed of different talent

Rich history in music Jazz, Rock n Roll, and fusions that are specific to Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh sound?)

Musicians are excited to work together

Blue collar community of honesty and integrity to Pittsburgh

A depth of talent

Working in music in non-performance is sustainable? (majority of network is outside Pittsburgh)

Would rather be a pariah in Pittsburgh than a small fish in another market

Able to work globally without having to live in LA

Core clients in Pittsburgh and their clients are out in the world

Being open to other avenues of making money

Community

Talent

Abundant tools and resources

Hotbed of technology and film

Working on music every day

Have a clear goal and vision

Finding purpose behind projects

Making your events special and unique

Asking experts and mentors -- there is a lot to be inspired by

Open mic scene is supportive

Community support

MINUS -

What’s Not Working About the Current Scene?

Panel

In a lot of spaces I’m the only POC in the room

Out of 100 on committee - 3 minorities present at the table

How can we change the narrative to be more inclusive and become a better city

The diversity gap is dramatically different in Pittsburgh than in other cities

Hire MBEs!

The call back is lacking -- need more follow through

Attitude of I don’t need any help, I can will this to happen alone -- this is the not the ethos of creativity/we’re better together

People are working in bubbles (punk, rock, folk, etc.)

Whether songwriter or producer - working together

People glaze over - not as interested in hearing about what you are doing or sharing what they are doing (in comparison to LA)

Easy -- it’s a soft city where you can “get by”

Pittsburgh doesn’t quite have that desperation or fire

Complacency - you got to get if if you want it

Very cliquish -- we are city of bridges

People can be ostracized because of success

Commitment

Community

Not treating music endeavors like a full time job

Projects without clear purpose

Fear of failure

Fear of networking

Lack of desire to work hard

Negativity

Lack of diversity

Not utilizing opportunities

Unwelcoming attitude

Fear of not reaching personal expectations

Lack of multiple levels of opportunity

NEEDS & IDEAS

What would you change, add or create?

Breaking down walls -- communication, acceptance, transparency

Connecting more/networking/meeting new people

Be more of an instigator

Get to know people in your industry and community

Never have a change unless you take one

Go out of town for resources that aren’t here -- i.e. wealth of record labels and mastering studios, etc. don’t exist here

Intern places to learn -- Pittsburgher learn on their own

Support the great people here

Top of the game people don’t exist here because lack of support

Create new opportunities instead of waiting for them

Education

What would it take to be a venue owner, artist/musician full time?

Money, funding

More fitting venues to play at

Label support

Management and business support

Licensing resources

Moving past fear of failure

Look in un-obvious places to make money with music

Create opportunity instead of waiting for it

Focus

Clearer path of artistic endeavor

[fairplaypittsburgh]

Register for this free event here: http://bit.ly/2CzZkc1

[fairplaypittsburgh]

Fair Play Meeting at Belvedere’s Ultra-Dive

Summary Notes | 6 November 2017

Panelists: Cody Walters, Mary Jo Coll, Joseph Lewis III  |  Moderators: Christiane Leach, Heather Kropf, Shay | Photography Kristy Strickler

PLUS +

What Works About the Current Scene?

Panel:

Cody: People across industries are working together, believe in what they are doing, donating time and services, on a mission and coming together,

Mary Jo: Strong DIY especially with venues and festivals,

Joe: Moved away 30 years ago and scene was whack, moved back 6 years ago and impressed with the scene -- venues, the vibe, the DIY, DJ scene

Audience:

Venues with drink minimums

Talent (don’t need to know genre to recognize talent)

Word of mouth marketing / Supporting one another

Diversity

Conversations like Fair Play to organize

Talented and dedicated artists

Grants and other sources of financial support

Open and direct communication for small step changes (i.e. privately done critique to help people see what is being overlooked, and allowing for changes in small personal ways)

Irish Fest pays musicians first, per band member, as opposed to paying the talent only if something is left over

MINUS -

What’s Not Working About the Current Scene?

Panel:

Cody: Negativity as an attitude in and of itself. Social media comment sections are where thoughtful discussions go to die. Vitriol. Bands aren’t talking to each other in the green room and networking

Mary Jo: Clear divide among various genre groups, lack of diversity and cliques, I put lots of work into giving everyone a shot but I don’t see this happening a lot elsewhere. Gatekeepers are mainly exclusionary. Not able to pay musicians due to the fact that it is dependent on drinks and food.

Joe: Always going to be diversity issues in Pittsburgh. There is room for improvement and greater talent if you can pay the musicians. There are very few cities where musicians can eek out a living F/T. This is a larger part of money issues and gentrification. Lack of nightclubs in neighborhoods. Asking local bands to promote national acts, pay to play, apathy, socio/political problems with venues

Audience:

Business/ venue feel they can’t or actually can’t support musicians and stay in business

Networking is lacking

Suburbs vs City

Need more money going to pay artists at venues if we want the skill/talent level to raise

Pay to Play

Mid level ceiling for bands re: price point/tix

Funding for festivals, sponsorships will only cover things like stage, lights, etc…

Contributions from Food trucks and vendors to help pay for the musicians

Lack of subsidies -- esp needed for small markets

What kinds of business opportunities exist

Is there any support from any city programs

Press and radio offers slim support, are focused on particular genres

Shortchanging voices

Irish Fest is not considered a regional asset

Apathy

Ticket prices are not matching cost of living inflation

Lack of critical feedback, from press, fellow musicians, elders

Racism - venues won’t hire bands with black members (i.e. Rivers Casino)

Hard to find musicians and bands who are totally committed

Male musicians rarely support female musicians

NEEDS & IDEAS

How Can We Make it Better or Easier?

Create a marketing Co-op

Audience building

Awareness and honesty

Providing greater ease for publicity

Cross-genre coalitions that are dedicated to introducing audiences to each other and working collaboratively

Use your email lists!

Explore other venues (get to know your scene)

URA Funding (for festivals, for example)

Business development grants for women and minority ownership, to encourage culture and quality as benchmarks for venues and events

Get out of town and stop caring what happens here, in PGH

Sound system improvements for venues

Audiences that will listen to the music, that care about music

Musicians -- please have an EPK and respond professionally and quickly to communicate

Artist showcases

More family events for audiences who now have kids

Creating a kind of collective that could receive funds via a fiscal sponsorship to provide support for venues to will pay the musicians a fair wage

[fairplaypittsburgh]

Registration is now open for the next public Fair Play meeting. Whether you are an amateur or pro musician, live music lover, venue owner, promoter, producer, DJ, music blogger, and more, we want to hear from you. We know it’s been pretty hot lately. Let’s channel our great energy into lifting up the scene. See you there!

REGISTER HERE

[fairplaypittsburgh]

The Internet Will Suck All Creative Content Out of The World

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/oct/11/david-byrne-internet-content-world?CMP=share_btn_fb

[fairplaypittsburgh]

Fair Play Meeting at Tuff Sound Recording | September 17, 2017

Summary Notes | Moderators: Heather Kropf (pictured), Christiane Leach & Shay (not pictured). This event had no panelists.

PLUS +

What Works About the Current Scene?

Culture of support - you don’t hear about it much until you leave

Everyone knows someone who knows someone - feels connected

Not competitive or less competitive, depending on genre

Not competitive so that you can experiment and find your own voice

Cost of living is reasonable to build a life in the music business

Many collaborators available — wide variety of musicians

Everyone is in everyone else’s band — musicians are shared

Easier networking than some places

Venues and the scene are built on the skill of the person running it

People can come together to build something

Many opportunities to play regionally

Musical variety

Heritage puts a flavor on all the sounds coming from the city, especially from not having certain opportunities

Artsburgh as a hub

WRCT - accesible

Music in the parks — love the programming

Solar powered shows

Producer meet-up at Tuff Sound

Studio scene cross pollinates a lot

Chill studio scene, not too cut throat

A variety of studios have good pianos

Variety of studio sizes and engineers

Foodie scene has begun to collaborate with live music

MINUS -

What’s Not Working About the Current Scene?

Music is so connected to the bar industry and drinking alcohol culture is stronger than culture to listen to the music

Audience enthusiasm is lacking

Culture not changing quickly enough

Market is oversaturated and people aren’t excited to see/hear music

Responsibility of the artist to put on better shows

Pittsburgh artists are too complacent — exception doesn’t match performance

Not checking for good sound

Live performance vs. a SHOW

Missing industry piece: performance coaching

People need to see other acts

Not enough jamming

Flip side of non-competitive is complacency

Are venues supportive?

Shadowlounge is gone and no replacement

Venues are perceived to take advantage of artists, promotions are reliant upon artists only, live music makes the bar money

No venues that are ladder up and out of city

Soundperson competence

Lack of commitment except by unique venues to commit to build a live music scene

Awesome bass for an electronica show

How to hire a sound person ?

Shows feel random

Low pay for sound people

Where does the money come from to support the musicians?

Bad parking

Bad public transportation — Uber/Lyft works but not for larger instruments

Studios that force you to book a block of time vs hourly rate

The feeling that the less you invest the less the studio/engineer will put in the effort

Blurry producer/engineer lines

People don’t speak the same language of creating in the studio

Writing as a live performance vs writing as a recording — how you record it makes it good

Dude culture in some studios that don’t believe women know things, especially technical things

No depth of bench to find session players for the nuances of performance and production styles

No awareness of all the session players available who CAN do it quickly and professionally

Trouble with budgeting for recordings

Players maybe don’t get enough work/practice/experience in a particular genre to be good enough for session work

Engineers could do better to respect women - don’t mansplain, don’t be a dick, don’t be a creep, and listen better

Leaking of players with ambition/talent to other cities

NEEDS & IDEAS 

How Can We Make it Better or Easier?

Tax credits for musicians and artists, subsidies

Hosting all ages venues not relying on alcohol

Get state/county to invest in music (ex. Georgia/Atlanta)

10% of legislation of marijuana to the arts

Grant for monthly event, or weekly events

PDP - partnering with organization and being at the table

Reversing “Enticement” law from city code

School to Pro musician pipeline - music education, broadly

Busking - a pro-busking government

Hire a consultant for performance coaching — open up to musicians to participate, help elevate the craft and expectation

Social media, performance, paid to write songs. See CMOAA Event for example

Cohesive organization for Music. See Pittsburgh Film Office as example

Food truck style! A mobile sound truck. Subsidized rental truck for musicians.

Pop up concerts on city lots, purchase lots

Rate your club/venue - survey monkey survey

Database of musicians and artists interested

Start a new musicians union 

[fairplaypittsburgh]

[fairplaypittsburgh]

Fair Play Meeting at the African American Music Institute

Summary Notes from AAMI  |  1 August 16

Moderators: (not pictured) Heather Kropf, Christiane Leach

PLUS + 

What Works About the Current Scene?

Keep opportunities we have and solidify what we have • Praise who’s doing it well (and identify them)

People try things

Mentality - partnerships and co-entrepreneurs

Education

Busking

Government and musician partnerships • Jazz radio - WZUM 1550 AM

Regional location as a hub

Pittsburgh Jazz Network

Musicianship

Historic references/story/legacy

Foundation support

MINUS -

What’s Not Working About the Current Scene?

People stick to limited genres

Not paid enough or pay to play

Venues not sticking with it or sticking around (good ones like Rosebud, Graffiti)

Shadow Lounge

Production & Musicianship are subpar

Lack of openness for busking

Not enough merch table and fan base development

Lack of regional venue awareness

Musicians don’t help MC

The business model from the club side/perspective

Not using resources

Musicians have no vision for career development

Promotional platform - figuring it out

Lack of support from audience, publicity/pr/press

Lack of awareness that gospel is not just a religious thing

Artists are not self-promoting

Lack of entrepreneurial awareness or skill

Lack of engagement with audiences

Audiences don’t feel valued (for example, back announce a song)

Arts left out of city identity, broadly speaking. We don’t take ownership of what we already have

Too many high profile free events

Lack of audience attention

Lack of review and press — not well built relationships • Wearing many hats but paid for only one

Not a good model for working together from both sides • Cliques in rock and jazz, too many big heads

“Gold” stars for everyone! (and for what?

Masters are not knocking you down

Over saturation — too many shows

Lack of unity and teamwork

Lack of crossing genres

Lack of value for music (promoters take advantage)

NEEDS & IDEAS

How Can We Make it Better or Easier?

Let’s become aware of the world and context

Bring back the mob ;-D

‘Fair Play’ events — variety shows or think more broadly

“Pittsburgh City Limits” — video/taping

Make clubs accessible

Re-strategize finances/model

“Anonymous” — a Fair Play Occupy

Millenium 5

List of events and venues that ask for free talent and approach them with a Fair Play team to talk about budget. EDUCATE people on what an event actually costs

Be a hub of resources

A telethon to raise funds a la “Musicianship is an incurable disease” Gala!

Write a grant proposal (not about a new system) for seed money that cover most of the ideas

Own your own stuff, produce your own stuff

This is our city — concerned with the future of music/art and culture

Start thinking interdependently and examine how things are connected