What will Fests Look Like this Summer? A Chat with RMVMF
Concert venues, theaters, and bars show no sign of opening up soon—and for good reason, considering the curve has yet to flatten in the U.S. Yet, musicians are itching to play, hungry for gigs, and music fans and concert-goers are similarly, anxiously devouring any and all new musical content as quarantine threatens our collective sanity.
Luckily for Coloradans, two industry insiders have put together a virtual music festival that streams live every week—the Rocky Mountain Virtual Music Festival (RMVMF).
“A huge chunk of our lives are dedicated to going to shows, planning tours, booking gigs—it’s our lifeblood, our passion, and it all of a sudden just went away,” said Sarah Shuel, one of the founders of RMVMF. Shuel manages the band Float Like a Buffalo, who were two days into a 23-stop, national tour before concert venues around the country began shutting down due to fears of spreading coronavirus.
“[It] was very, very heartbreaking,” said Shuel, mainly because it happened to be the band’s first-ever, national tour, as well. “For a few days after that, I was just kind of moping around—no direction. I wasn’t sure what to do and was scared of everything that was happening.”
As Denver locked down for the stay-at-home order, Shuel spoke with a musician friend who earned her entire living off of playing gigs about how the main source of income for many, many artists in Colorado and the rest of the states had evaporated overnight. Feeling restless and wanting to help musicians and music fans alike, Shuel and festival co-founder Alyssa Montaño quickly began organizing over Saint Patrick’s Day weekend, and three days later, March 20, the first rendition of the virtual festival went live.
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RMVMF has streamed every single Friday since then, going from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. The festival features live sets from 10 performing acts, as well as live painters and visual artists. Between streams, the RMVMF Facebook page spotlights new and upcoming releases from local artists—and every artist that appears on RMVMF has their Venmo and Paypal accounts listed, along with a virtual tip jar during live streams. “One hundred percent of the proceeds go directly to the artists,” Montaño said.
After the first stream, the production team behind ARISE Music Festival reached out to RMVMF and have since lent their support. ARISE host watch parties on their social media accounts and help boost posts from the RMVMF page, share lineups, and even occasionally pop in during the live streams. ARISE stream their own events as well, and RMVMF reciprocates the support, creating a mutually beneficial, musical experience for concert-goers at home.
While both women have created the RMVMF platform to bring financial support to help musicians share live and new music, they also stress that the drive for productivity during these unprecedented times is a double-edged sword. Montaño, who works as a middle school teacher, shared some helpful words of wisdom from the principal of the school where she works.
“‘Please keep in mind that you are not working from home; you are home during a pandemic, and you are trying to work.’ And the same goes for musicians,” so go easy on yourselves. “If you’re not ready to go live, that’s OK! We want to showcase your music; we want to post about your Spotify, anything that can help [musicians] out right now,” Montaño stated.
Shuel excitedly shared some of the feedback they’ve gotten for these streams, including what one artist told her: He’d woken up that day with the familiar feeling of nerves and excitement that precedes a gig, a feeling he hadn’t felt in a long while. “That’s what we hope we can do. Just bring back a sense of normalcy,” Shuel said.
Shuel and Montaño both emphasized that anyone—no matter how big or small, professional or beginner—should send in an audition tape. They also offered some tips for landing a virtual gig. “Make sure the audio quality is good enough to stream,” Shuel said, and small details like tidying up your living room before a stream can go a long way. “Treat it like a real, live audition,” and who knows? Maybe you’ll be the next star billed on the lineup.
