So... yesterday was the Ourstage.com competition that brought me out to LA. It was interesting. I think it just wasn't in the cards for me to get a fair shot at winning. I benefitted from going, I can't deny that, but I think the way it went down was pretty bogus. Maybe it's bitchy of me to still be sour after all of this is over, but I honestly believe things should have been handled differently. I am going to do my damndest to get a copy of the video footage from this event, then I'll let you judge for yourself. Until then, my recap will have to suffice. WARNING: This blog post is not suitable for children under 17. Rated R for course language and some independent artist bashing.
The whole point of the Artist On The Verge competition was for 3 artists from 3 different genres to compete at the New Music Seminar in LA for a grand prize, which was $25,000 worth of gear and consulting from entertainment industry professionals. The celebrity panel of judges all agreed that trying to compare the 3 acts was like comparing apples and oranges. But I think I'm a pretty convincing orange, so I actually thought I had a shot at winning.
LOL at my optimism.
So... I went to the seminar and was learning a ton of valuable info from the discussions. The tickets are $175 a pop but because I was a finalist I got in for free, so I was soaking it up like a sponge. I got tapped on the shoulder and asked to accompany a NMS staff member backstage. I found out about 30 minutes prior to the Artist On The Verge segment that the audio on my video was not coming through the sound system. It played back fine from the laptop, but for some technological, intricate, fuckeryish reason, it wouldn't patch through to the sound board.
Did I mention that this competition was supposed to be judged off of performance videos? Yeah, I was screwed.
The people from Ourstage and NMS felt so bad for me, they did everything they could to get it to work, but it didn't. The only thing that could be done was to play the video of my live performance running over the actual song. It was out of synch with the music, but people got to actually see my performance, which was a pretty great stage show if I do say so myself. The audience seemed to respond to it well, but the first thing the judging panel said was "Ummm... so that video was out of synch with the music, wasn't it?" I wanted to melt into a puddle of mud and sink into the fibers of the carpet, never to be seen or heard fro again.
The other 2 competing groups were Loomis and The Lust and Admiral Twin. After all of our videos were played, it was supposed to be time for judging. However, one of the competing artists decided to take it amongst himself to run up to the stage and beg to have another one of his videos played. His performance footage looked like shit, and he didn't think it was a fair depiction of his group. This guy Loomis didn't consider the fact that all of our videos were screwy. He just ran up to the stage like a little bitch to have another video played until the crowd got all sympathetic and started cheering that he should get a second chance. If you think I'm exaggerating, I'M NOT! THEY GOT IT ALL ON TAPE! Just wait til I get hold of that video.
ANYWAY, the crowd starts cheering for him to get another shot, and me and my background singers are sitting there looking like "What the fuck?!?" The people from Ourstage and NMS were put into a crazy ass position where they woulda looked like tools/douche bags/assholes if they didn't give the crowd what they wanted, so they got forced into a corner and had to let him play another video. Instead of playing a video from a live performance, he decided to play his actual MUSIC VIDEO. The crowd ate it up. I was sitting there fuming, like "Did I really come all the way to LA to get treated like this?"
I was fucking furious. NEED I REMIND YOU, the other group's sound on their recording was worse than Loomis and the Lust's first video, but were they asked to play another video? NO. Was I asked if I wanted to play another video? NO. Epic fail.
We had to go onstage to take promotional pictures, and of course I had to sit next to this asshole. He said something to me, I don't remember what it was, and I just told him "Dude, what you did was unfair as hell." The photographer had to actually tell all of us to smile, nobody was happy. Admiral Twin and I had just gotten slighted, we weren't in a smiling mood. The crappy part is everybody from Ourstage.com and New Music Seminar felt terrible about the way it went down, too. They did a whole lot of preparation before the event to make sure that even though we were all different, everybody had an equal shot at winning. But this is the entertainment business, things rarely go as planned.
So the votes were tallied, and it came back tied between me and Loomis and the Lust. We both had to perform 2 songs and the audience would judge accordingly. But by the time I hit the stage, the audience was about 10% industry people like label reps, A&R's and music professionals, 10% women, and about 80% white, middle-aged men who'd attended the seminar to progress their own rock careers. Needless to say, white middle-aged men are not in my demographic.
I killed my performance, but Loomis won. His set included a live band and a little speech about how badly he wanted to win. His show wasn't bad. It just wasn't great. His music is cool. But it's nothing new. See for yourself.
Honestly, what the frontman of Loomis and The Lust did was tacky and ghetto as hell. I just love how it was acceptable for this dude to hop out of his seat and run up to the stage and demand they play a second video from him. From what I hear, his initial performance video that was played was the wrong one. But my audio on my video was fucked up THROUGH NO FAULT OF MY OWN, and I didn't storm the stage and beg the panel to play another one. And he was allowed to play an actual music video instead of a performance video. COME THE FUCK ON!!!!! He shouldn't have been rewarded for a bitch fit.
I knew I was the underdog, being the only solo artist AND the only female AND the only black person who made it to the finals. But I at least expected it to be fair. In the end, though, I made some connections and got the direct attention of several people who can be very influential on my career, including Rodney Jerkins (Darkchild) and the owner of Tommy Boy records, Tom Silverman. I had A&R's, label reps, and marketing people from major brands approaching me at the end shoving their business card in my hand and telling me that I should have won. After my performance the guy Loomis came up and said "Hey... no hard feelings?" I just looked at him and said "Dude, you have no idea." And I walked away. Trying to explain to this idiot how I REALLY didn't appreciate what he did because it's already hard enough for black females artists to catch a break in the recording industry without selling themselves as sex objects was not on my agenda. The guy is daft. I guess he thought "If Kanye and Lil Mama can have a career after running up to the stage and making a scene, why can't I?" And apparently he did the right thing. Because HE won.
The whole thing really was an interesting experience. Do I feel like I advanced my career and am better off for having done the show? Yes. Do I feel like the right act won? No, I don't. I can't wait to get my hands on the video from NMS so you guys can see for yourself. Please stay tuned for that.
Tom Silverman spoke with me for about 10 minutes after the show and gave me some very specific advice as it relates to my recordings. Coincidentally, we were all staying in the same hotel, and the night before the competition he overheard us rehearsing in the hotel's gym. He'd already heard my music because he was given my press kit prior to the competition. And when he overheard me rehearsing live he liked what he heard. He wants more music from me. He gave me his direct number and email and told me to send my new songs. So, in a way, I did win something valuable. And I didn't even have to throw a bitch fit to get it.
Filed under: blogging
Tags: Artists on the Verge New Winter Artist Search, Loomis and The Lust, Nikki Lynette
Hi Nikki,
This is KB, the Director of Community at OurStage. In fairness, NMS was not our event. We brought the artists the opportunity. The OurStage community, myself and the founders of NMS recognized your talent and were thrilled to include you at this industry event. It is regrettable that there were technical difficulties but you're a pro and anyone who works in the music industry and has been part of live events knows that this is part of the gig. It happens. We all learn to roll with it and make the best of the situation. I know for a fact that Derrick and Chris from OurStage were your advocate and did there best to make sure you- and all the artists on the bill- were given a fair shot.
At the end of the day, this is just the beginning of your relationship with OurStage, NMS and the people you met at the event. It may have been an unfortunate start with the various glitches but hopefully we can all respect the relationships we are building.
We have a lot of exciting opportunities on the horizon. Looking forward to working with you in the future.
KB
I think that the people from Ourstage and the New Music Seminar did everything they could to make sure everybody got a fair shot. I thought the idea of choosing the winner based upon performance videos was the best way to fairly judge acts from such different genres. I just thought that the whole running up to the stage and begging to have another video played thing was super wack. I'm disappointed, but not really surprised, because I knew I was screwed when I was initially told my video wasn't working properly. It was one of those freak occurrences that nobody could have seen coming. There was no way of predicting how things would go, so I can't be mad at either organization.