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[dick]

Originally Posted by Scorge

Whoopty skip. It's a BOTB, what did you actually expect? If you actually had any integrity you would have pulled out as soon as you sussed out the con, or was the prospect of telling your mates OMGZ WE'RE PLAYING MOSHULU FTW!!LOL! too much at the time?

All a bit hypocritcal too, considering the Bloodstock heats were virtually the same principle, as was getting all your Cryspace mates to vote for you to play MetalFest!

Good luck with that, but it works both ways squire.....

It's not hypocritical.
The red battle seemed like a good idea the first time you hear about it, but you realise what a load of filth it is when you read closer into it and progress through the heats.

The Bloodstock heats weren't the same either, that wasn't a money making scam, the bands and the fans weren't ripped off, it was a BOTB organised by bloodstock and the judge was a bloodstock rep, there to see which band was most suitable for the festival in his opinion.

The same applies for the MetalFest voting. It's not the same, cos there was no money involved, therefore it wasn't a scam like Red Battle is. Aswell as getting to play a festival, we spread the word about the band and more people heard our music, so even if we hadn't won it, we still would've seen benefit from it.

Needless to say, we've learned from our experiences with the Red Battle and we wanted to spread the word about how gash it is so that other bands don't get lured into it with a false sense of hope when at the end of the day it's a popularity contest to see who can throw the most money into the organisers' pockets by voting for the most mainstream band to win.

[dick]

Just to make the same points as Ricki, we're not posting these things cos we're bitter about not winning, we're trying to warn other bands about this scam before they get disappointed.

Ascension played in The Red Battle 2008, at first we thought it sounded good so we applied for it. We found out it was text voting which cost you 50p + network charge to vote for the band that you wanted to win.

Some of the bands pulled out after realising it was a money making scam, but we decided to stay and see it through.

Basically, it's a popularity contest which is all about which band can throw most money at the organisers with voting money. It's not about the music at all, because there was no judges present in the heats. The national final in Liverpool stated that you needed to sell 50 tickets before the judges' opinion was taken into consideration.
I can't understand who would buy a ticket to see a local band in a different country!

It's a shame cos lots of good bands played and in the end it was the most mainstream, indie, ned band who won, cos they brought about 100 thug fans and the organisers realised that they would be the ones to make them the most money.

The reason I'm writing this is because if someone had written this before we applied, we wouldn't have bothered with it.

If you are considering playing the Red Battle this year, be very wary, read the rules properly and take into account what Ricki and Myself have to say about it.

Dick

[givemeasmile]

I completely agree, we pulled out of the second heat after realising that the competition had absolutely no desire to display talent but instead decided to reward bands for their willingness to obtain votes which in turn meant a wad of cash for the company.

The Locals from Aberdeen won the entire competition last year, which is quite obviously a fantastic achievement for which they deserve the merit and are now playing an entire UK tour on the back of it (which I believe was a prize??), but you can't help but think that if they didn't take a bus load of people to Liverpool (at least 100 people) that the competition result may well have been different......

[unbroken]

why take part in a battle of the bands competition anyways?

You are already an established band to a degree, so playing these things would be pointless, no?

A tour as a prize??!!!??!?

FUCK SAKE.

Book it yourself.

[saf-one]

No band has ever gotten anywhere by winning a "competition".

ALL battle of the bands/voting comps only exists to either make money, obtain emails, advertise or market research...fuck alll to do with good music.



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[RossP]

Didn't Idlewild and Placebo win 'In the City' or something like that, which then helped them get their record deals...?

I agree BOTB are bad btw...

[saf-one]

Originally Posted by RossP

Didn't Idlewild and Placebo win 'In the City' or something like that, which then helped them get their record deals...?

I agree BOTB are bad btw...

In The City - That music industry/go north/mini sxsw type thing in Manchester?

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[RossP]

Aye that's the one! Pretty sure I remember they both won it many years ago?

[Scorge]

Originally Posted by dick

It's not hypocritical.

Your vocalist was on here last year trying to coerce folk into coming along even though you knew it was 'filth'! There's a linkback at the bottom of this page, it is a good read.....

Originally Posted by dick

Some of the bands pulled out after realising it was a money making scam, but we decided to stay and see it through.

It's doesn't matter if the prize is a support slot with Bon Jovi, or a packet of crisps and a scotch egg (copyright Del Franklin 1980), you are a part of the whole swindle by asking folk to fork out 6/7 quid for a gig which you have no control over. To then come back on 6-months odd later and have a rant about it stinks of shit.......

As I said before, MetalFest was a decent gig for your lot to pull, but the whole BOTB works both ways, and the only people who ever win are the folk not sweating their arse off wearing face paint/body armour/dominatrix gear/etc on stage for 30 minutes......

[Tubthumper]

Deciding to see it through sounds like less bands, more chance to win.