Midwest Music Foundation Blog | Kansas City Music

2009 .. it was a start ..

In 2008 a few people got together to form the Midwest Music Foundation. Why? Because we saw a lot of organizations here which promote & support the arts such as painting, sculpture, dance, theatre .. but not a whole lot for the music that happens here, in all genres. And, the music here can compete with L.A., Austin, New York any day of the week! Musicians here just seemed to be lacking a support system those other cities have. So, with our rag-tag group of volunteers, we did our best this last year to start supporting and promoting the music & Musicians here in the Kansas City/Lawrence area.

How did we do that?

1) We began this website, and started filling it with resources and information
2) Through our social networks (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter) we provided news & articles about the music industry and the Kansas City/Lawrence music scene
3) We started a Membership Program where you can get some great discounts at some local venues .. even 10% off a tattoo at Mercy Seat!! Now that’s some savings!!
4) We put on shows: 3 Stay Tuned events and we brought Apocalypse Meow officially under our banner for its 2nd year
5) We sponsored shows: Cup of Kindness, Crossroads Music Festival, and the Murder Ballad Ball
6) We offered free audio downloads of our first Stay Tuned event
7) We put up videos of our first Stay Tuned event & Apocalypse Meow 2
8) We won the Pitch’s Best Nonprofit of 2009!!
9) We raised around $5700 for our Apocalypse Meow Musicians Health Care Fund!!!

And in 2010 we plan to continue all of this and turn it up a notch so that in 2011 we can turn it all the way up to 11!!! So what more are we going to do?

In January we will be putting up the application for our Apocalypse Meow Musicians Health Care Fund.
We can only ask volunteers to do so much, and believe me they do a lot .. so we’re going to start actively seeking grants and sponsors for our website, events, podcasts, music videos, and tv show .. if you think you’d like to be a sponsor for one or more of these things contact us here.
We’ve added a Shows page to our website so you can see what good shows are about to happen .. so if you’re a Kansas City/Lawrence area Musician and you’ve got a show, you’ve gotta let us know or else ya don’t get listed or tweeted about cause we’re not in the know!!
We’ve also added a Videos page .. right now it’s just got some MMF videos from our events, but we hope to soon have up some of those great Kansas City/Lawrence music videos that I know are out there .. so if you have one send it here!!
We also want to expand our blog .. so if you’d like to be a contributor and write about the music industry, the Kansas City/Lawrence music scene, or whatever else that’s music related please contact us .. let’s talk!!
And last, but not least, we still believe that one of the best ways to reach a broader audience is through a television show .. I mean, hell, when I tweeted that Tim Finn article and it got retweeted by American Idol David Cook it got upwards of 6,000 hits .. just sayin’. A television show gives that broader audience a chance to hear your music, see your performance, and get to know you a little bit better resulting in broader exposure, traffic to your website to listen/buy your music, and more people venturing out to a local venue to see your next show. That’s a little of what we plan to do with LIVE. HEAR. NOW.