Company Profile: Festival Network Online

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Interviews: Company Profile: Festival Network Online
Posted on Sunday, December 02, 2007 @ 02:37:22 PST
Topic: Interviews

Festival Network Online, also know as Festival Network or simply FNO, is a unique company that provides a huge database of festivals throughout the US and North America. While they also cover arts and crafts shows, home and garden shows, expos, and other types of festivals, the main value for musicians is that FNO lists over 9,000 events that specifically seek music and entertainment. Indie-Music recently spoke with co-founders, husband and wife team Kurt Irmiter and Connie Morris, about how you can benefit from FNO's extensive database.

By Suzanne Glass

Indie-Music: Who founded Festival Network Online, and when?

Festival Network Online: FNO was founded by myself, Kurt Irmiter, and my wife, Connie Morris, in 1994. Before it was an internet-based database, we published the festivals quarterly in a printed guide we mailed to our subscribers. We first went online in 1997 with an online search and a PDF download. We became fully online automated in 2000, such that festivals could update their events online and our members would see those updates immediately. This method is a far cry from the restraints of a printed guide. With a printed directory, you are always dealing with dated information from the moment each "new" issue ships. We now offer a database of over 20,000 shows with updates happening daily. We cover not only music festivals, but art shows, craft events and a variety of other events that are of interest to performers, musicians, bands, and booking agents.

Indie-Music: What was the founders' background in the music industry prior to starting the company?

Festival Network Online: We both have extensive experience in the entertainment and festival industries, having owned an entertainment booking agency, done artist management, managed events, and owned and operated a festival food concession. Additionally Connie coordinated an environmental program focused on the cleanup of the Chesapeake Bay, and Kurt co-owned a college corner bar, an ice cream/sandwich shop, and currently owns a web development & hosting company, BFDNet.net.

Indie-Music: Why was the company formed? Was there a gap or perceived need you were hoping to fill?

Festival Network Online: We never found a quality festival guide available when we first started doing shows and we saw a great need for a complete database of North American festivals. This was particularly true for independent musicians as most of the guides out there were for artists and crafters. Festival industry people also needed a source to turn to, so we launched FNO. With our experience in both the vendor side and the booking agency side of the festival business, we built our database to satisfy the needs of both. We now cover not only more events than any other source out there, but we also provide more details.

Indie-Music: What services does FNO provide to musicians?

Festival Network Online: FNO provides musicians with an extensive source of festivals. Not only does FNO publish the most fairs and festivals online, but our details on each show are extremely helpful. We provide the type of information touring musicians need, like does the event pay and how much, what type of music and entertainment do they book, what are the deadlines and who is the contact for bookings. We also indicate the number of stages, genres of music, and event attendance. The search- by-deadline-month is particularly helpful, in conjunction with music genre, to make sure important deadlines are not missed. When building a tour, the zip code radius search is most helpful.

Indie-Music: How does a musician sign up?

Festival Network Online: Folks can try the basic membership and have access to all our shows and most of their details for free. Just visit http://festivalnet.com and click on the JOIN link. To obtain the festival contact information like email, phone, and address, a level one membership is $49 for 12 months. You can also give us a call at (800) 200-3737 and we will sign you up.

Indie-Music: What costs does the musician incur? Are any discounts available?

Festival Network Online: Annual memberships are $49, $59, $89. All 3 levels come with the same show details on all the shows in our database. Levels 2 and 3 give you added organizational tools. Here's a break down of the levels and their benefits: http://www.festivalnet.com/FNO_compare_levels.html

We are more than happy to offer Indie-Music.com readers a $5 discount. Please contact us if you're interested in this coupon!

Indie-Music: How do you find all the festivals? How do you collect all that info and keep it up to date?

Festival Network Online: We have 3 researchers on staff who are constantly adding and editing shows year 'round. We subscribe to virtually every regional guide out there and seek out official festival websites. Festival promoters also add and edit their shows daily for free. With 150,000 visitors a month seeking festival information, they want their information to be current and accurate.

Indie-Music: What info is available about each festival? Is it easy to search?

Festival Network Online: Our database offers several details on each music festival. Here's a quick rundown of some of the details: organization name, event name and dates, postal address, website, email, phone, fax, promoter(s) names, attendance, # of years the fest has been happening, # of stages, performers pay deadlines, what types of bands they seek (not only genre but whether they are local, regional, or national in scope), and also all info pertaining to art/craft exhibitors and food vendors

The database has help links on the pages and we are available Mon-Fri 9-5 EST at (800) 200-3737 to offer tech support and advice. Once you get a feel for the product and the advanced search available to FNO members, it is very easy to quickly find festivals and fairs that suit your needs.

Indie-Music: Besides our focus, music festivals, what other kinds of festivals do you list?

Festival Network Online: We list all North American events that are seeking musicians, bands, exhibitors, performers, artists, vendors of all sorts, and service providers that work in the festival industry. Art Fairs, Craft Shows, Home and Garden Shows, Expos, and all types of Festivals, including over 9,000 that seek music/entertainment specifically.

Indie-Music: What services does FNO offer to festival presenters? What are the costs?

Festival Network Online: It's free to add events to the database which gives the event great exposure. We also offer advertising at reasonable rates to promoters who want their event to stand out. We offer Featured Events, banner ads, and button ads. We also offer a free "Fest Biz Directory" listing which puts promoters in touch with musicians and exhibitors.

Indie-Music: Anything else you'd like my readers to know?

Festival Network Online: Yes. If you want to work in the festival market, you can. You must be very organized and contact many events to get booked. Booking entertainment is very subjective, if you contact enough events and show them what you have to offer, a few of them will want to book you. It is a numbers game and FNO provides the resource for you to go out and play the game. Good luck and safe travels.