goNORTH festival

[The Pepsi Challenge]

Anyone here considering entering this? There's a fee to join, and there's no guarantee you'll get selected, either. 'Successful' bands however, will get paid a nominal fee for playing at this showcase event.

Views anyone?

[loganbiffy]

Hey Pepsi, seems like a cool festival.
Think we may enter it and se what happens.

Thanks for posting :)

[Jeid]

Your face really has to fit for these things. I've heard some awful bands get through to play

[The Pepsi Challenge]

Aye, some good, some bad. The problem I have with it, is it's not about talent - these things rarely are - but about who is prepared to spend their money.

[loganbiffy]

Yeah I imagine so, it's the same with all these things, it's never really about good music/talented bands or whatever, just about spending the money or whether your face fits as Jeid said, kinda sucky but maybe worth a try as you never know.

[Metalattakk]

Anyone here considering entering this? There's a fee to join, and there's no guarantee you'll get selected, either. 'Successful' bands however, will get paid a nominal fee for playing at this showcase event.

Views anyone?

On the face of it it sounds a bit of a con. But maybe that's the cynic in me that's seeing that.

What's your own view on it Pepsi?

Edit:

Aye, some good, some bad. The problem I have with it, is it's not about talent - these things rarely are - but about who is prepared to spend their money.

LOL! That's what I get for not reading the whole thread through. :D

I'm agree though.

[The Pepsi Challenge]

I'm not sure it's a good idea for young bands to entertain. You're paying money just to be considered, and what happens to the money paid by bands who aren't successful? It gets split between goNORTH (to fund its production costs) and Sonicbids (its affiliate). So it's really up to bands if they want to chance it or not. The fees bands get to play are not very much, and the fee also goes towards their expenses. In short, any band travelling to play at goNORTH will, most likely, end up out of pocket. Those who get through? I have a CD from last year of the event and have since rarely, if ever, heard from any on it. Still, it's a day out and an experience depending on how high - or low - your expectations are.

[Jeid]

Seems like a bit of a con tbh. Any venture that asks you to pay to enter, imo, is bad news.

[The Pepsi Challenge]

goNORTH received over 600 applications from bands last year when it was free (there was a way to 'slip through the net' via the goNORTH site), so I imagine the application fee is to act as a deterrent - and, obviously, to make money to go towards production costs.

I thought the goNORTH gigs in Inverness were very busy, and there was a good vibe around the town. But when I checked out the goNORTH stage at Rockness, just like the T-Break stage at T in the Park, it was largely empty. In fact, I also went there because it was the quietest place on-site to get some peace.