Promoter... Interesting word... Seems to me that an actual promoter... better yet, a real promoter is supposed to care about a band’s promotion. Whether it’s an album or a gig, the promoter is supposed to have one goal, one target, one finish line... the band and/or the artist and the best way to expose them, let the public know they are alive and kicking.

There was this band, coming to play a gig in Athens, Greece a week ago. I thought it would be a nice opportunity to interview the guys, so I emailed their management. I had also applied for a press pass, in order to cover the event and do the live review. They kindly responded, they forwarded my email to the promoter and told me I should wait for the promoter’s response.

I haven’t had high hopes for getting an invitation to the show; some peeps had told me this particular promoter wouldn’t give any press passes away. Cuz he feels that way. I thought that wouldn’t harm me. I have paid numerous times to see a concert; one more time wouldn’t cause any pain... I was simply waiting, minding my own business when a friend called me. He was like “Hey, did you see what that guy posted over his myspace page”? “What guy, what post, what page?” was my, justified, reply...

It appears this guy, aka “the promoter”, has posted that some “web-editors”, instead of contacting him directly, had requested passes from the band’s management. He advised “web-editors” to stay away from him, etc, etc... Naturally, this person gave passes to “printed” magazines editors, in order to write their own live reviews...

Personally, I couldn’t and wouldn’t care less about certain people and that kind of behavior. Some people find it natural to express themselves that way... The bitter part is that infamous distinction between “web” magazines and “real” magazines. For crying out loud, we live in the years of Internet, global information age, the years of tomorrow. Who am I to judge that one editor is high-class and one is not, just because the latter is working for a web magazine? On the other hand, 4-5.000 peeps read these magazines, whilst almost 30-40.000 readers drop by the web pages of an on-line mag. Anybody can do the math and realize that the essence of promotion is the actual advertising by a means with actual audience...

I emailed the promoter and the management, told them how I feel about this case. I’m not gonna deal with that person anymore. Naturally, the management guy got back to me, apologized for the inconvenience and reassured me that he had nothing to do with that certain case. Naturally, the “promoter” never got back to me, even to defend himself.

At the end of the day? It’s all about the people... Some of them chose to be open minded and committed to their field of work... Other should simply be committed...

By Costas Koulis

Costas is our European Editor and Contributing Columnists. Costas is heavily involved in the internet with multiple websites dealing with the music industry.