Tom Garrett didn’t know if he had been admitted to UCLA as
a transfer student when he decided to move to Los Angeles from
Colorado to develop his music label/concert photo/promotion company
Bandvibe.com. He went for it anyway.
As an alternative media Web site, Bandvibe.com features photo
galleries of local and national performances (including coverage of
the Vans Warped Tour), as well as concert and CD reviews. Garrett,
now a third-year political science student, started the business
from scratch in May 2005 with a strong entrepreneurial drive, and
it has since grown rapidly. Starting out in San Diego as a team of
photographers, the group found it could use its industry
connections to produce concerts, as it met bands and managers while
shooting concert footage.
Bandvibe.com now has 80 photographers throughout Denver, San
Diego, Los Angeles, Ventura, Phoenix, New York City and New
Jersey.
“The idea (of Bandvibe.com) is to independently enter
corporate America and try and make money without compromising any
of our ideals,” Garrett said. “With Internet and
technology, it seems like we have a really good shot.”
But Garrett doesn’t stop at that. In addition to being an
indie information highway, Bandvibe.com has escalated to a
self-sustaining tripartite business model, adding Bandvibe
Presents, which produces local concerts, and Bandvibe Records.
“That’s what Bandvibe is ““ it’s for
photographers and writers and bands,” he said.
“It’s there for everybody to use the exposure.
It’s helping the promoters and the bands. It creates a kind
of synergy, I suppose.”
Bandvibe Presents produces a concert series called D*TOUR every
Thursday at Lounge 217 in Santa Monica. Primarily an indie-rock and
’80s New Wave series, it features local bands in the main
room and selected local artwork in a “chillback” room.
A DJ spins New Wave and dance-punk after the show. Tonight’s
concert features Looner, a husband-and-wife indie-electronic band,
and DJ Eric Jerome spinning electro/rock. Plans are currently in
the works to use profits to book monthly shows with national talent
at the Key Club, for which Bandvibe Presents will provide opening
acts, starting in January.
While booking bands is a pending operation and no big-name acts
are known yet, Garrett already has an ideal lineup in mind.
“I would have Godspeed You Black Emperor open up for Muse,
and then have them open up for The Mars Volta,” he said.
“They’re all very emotional, passionate and aware that
it’s their art. It’s music, it’s entertainment,
but it’s also a physical manifestation of their
passion.”
In addition to showcasing passion-driven music, Garrett is also
committed to the idea of keeping it free from exploitation.
Bandvibe Records bills itself as the “Home of the 6.99
Album.” Since Bandvibe.com is a self-promoting and
self-distributing entity, it can afford to cut out the middlemen
that other independent labels rely on.
“The indie label is just a talent scout for major labels
because it can’t independently develop the artist and bring
them to a level of living off their music,” Garrett said.
“But we’re going for independent the whole way through
(the process). People now are more into buying five $7 albums than
two $15 ones. If an album is $6.99, and if I know a lot of the
money is going to the band, then I’m all for supporting
them.”
Bandvibe Records currently has one band signed. Native to
Colorado, Antik is a pop-punk/screamo act, “a cross between
Thrice and Bloc Party,” according to Garrett.
Garrett said that despite the advantages and affinities of
genre-oriented music, Bandvibe will not follow a genre model.
“I don’t have a specific genre that I want to
represent. I just want to have the emotionality of music. Emotional
quality crosses musical genres,” he said.
While Bandvibe Records may only have one band signed, it is
currently on the hunt for new creative talent.
“We’re forced to find the most creative, passionate
people of our society,” Garrett said. “From the
beginning, that’s been my dream, to make a living at it. …
I wanted to be a part of it. Bands like The Mars Volta, At the
Drive-In and Hot Water Music inspired me so much. I wanted to see
what those people were like and how they lived and how they saw the
world.”
Garrett is excited about the possibilities of his venture and
hopes to take advantage of his new home in Los Angeles, though
Bandvibe’s expansion is placing the company in other major
markets as well.
“We have access to a lot of big bands coming to
L.A.,” Garrett said. “If you look at the beat(nik)s and
the hippies and punks, music was at their core. It was the simplest
common denominator that could get the message across. Being focused
on making money without screwing people, it could be the perfect
vehicle for something like this.”