Been watching this thread for a few days but was to busy to write and wanted to get some thoughts together. I'm also a Festival orgnizer and responsible for booking. This will be our third year and like most festivals were not rich, so we have to be careful where we spend the bucks we do have. If you wish to visit our site we are at www.ormstownfair.com You will then see an entrance to our site. Most of our entertainers come for the love of music and not the money.
We are still in the learning stages and continue to correct mistakes. This probably will never end. This year I have noticed an increase in e-mails,demo tapes and bioes arriving at my door. I reply to each and every one of them. I have accepted one so far. Not because the others weren't good or great but because of distance for musicians to travel. We cannot afford to pay for air fair accross the Atlantic and manny requests are comming from Europe. When I reply I don't just say no thank you but give an explaination. I also receive (but not always) very positive responses. Being a musician I can appreciate the frustration that a lot of musicians have in trying to get booked. Remember the song "Nashville Cats"?   Well that is basically it. There are just so manny musicians out there that we can take the time to pick what we feel is best for the public's money. Remaining positive is always best as difficult as it may seem. Last month I received a package from a young female singer who really impressed me but I felt that she would not be what our festival would want to book. I passed it to the Organizing Committee for their thoughts. The same response. I then called a production company explaining what I received and they are going to give her a look. So as you can see things can still happen even though we didn't book her. This thread has also given me a few ideas which I plan to have implemented. Such as "Rhyzla's" comment about announcing on the web page when we are not accepting any further submissions. A great idea. I like what you do "Jack The Lad". What a great thing to do. John Giok MacKenzie touched on inflated prices. I also find this to be true but it can also work well for the lesser know artists. True they may not help matters at the gate but a mix of new artists and a mix of local talent with maybe one head liner can also work. Anyway, enough said. Have a look at our site and I welcome any ideas you may wish to contribute. We are also booked up for this year and within the next month or so the 2005 schedual will be posted.