Board Meeting Minutes June 2022

MINUTES

Colorado Music Business Organization Board of Directors Meeting

Sunday, June 5, 2022 – 7:00 p.m.

1. Called to Order at 7:06 p.m.

2. Present: Barb Dye, David Barber, Annette Cannon, Johnnie Johnson, Jamie Krutz, Tony Molina (TLoop).

Absent: Alex Teitz & Tracey Chirhart (both excused)

Guests: Maurice Avatar & Todd Caron

3. Approval of the Minutes of May 1, 2022: Davidso moved, Annette seconded. Approved.

4. Treasurer’s Report:

Income received:

Memberships (Paypal): $ 175.00 (See Membership Report)

Song Contest: $ 160.00 (16 songs paid & 2 free to members = 18)

Interest on Savings: $ .01(May 2022)

Total: $ 335.01

Expenses paid (Ck = check; PP = Paypal; BW = bank withdrawal, checking acct.):

Bank Fees for May: $ 2.00 (checking fees)

Possibility Promotion (ck): $ 18.00 (Send WP software for Feb. & March)

Facebook ad (Meta): $ 35.00

Paypal fees (PP): $ 18.41 (See David’s accounting below)

Zoom acct. for May (PP): $ 16.30

Mailchimp for May (PP):    $  33.00

                                Total: $ 122.71

Paypal Fees: (4 x $1.64) + (1 x $2.41) + (16 x $.59) = (6.56) + ($2.41) + ($9.44) = $18.41

Checking Balance: $ 1,289.21 (as of 5/31/22)

Savings Balance: $ 703.36 (as of 5/31/22)

PayPal Balance: $ 1,118.49 (as of 5/31/22)

Grand Total: $ 3,110.06

D. Membership Report:

Current Paid Members: _____ (31 individuals, 5 businesses, 13 bands, and 1 Supporter) (Old numbers; Need updated numbers)

Renewed Members in May:

Supporter(s): None

Individual(s): Mark “Mad Dog” Friedman, Christopher Ryan

Band(s): None

Business(es): None

New Members in May:

Supporter(s): None

Individual: Kwan Houghton, Kevin Danzig

Band(s): Mark Marushin (King Stan Band)

Business(es): None

Up for Renewal in June: (2 bands and 6 individuals)

Supporter: None

Individuals: [Kathy Wells for] Maurice Avatar, John Riger, Thomas Mai, Steve [Son] Wilson, Joel Ashmore, and Jeremy Dion

Bands: George Williams (Reckless and Blue)

Business(es): None

Membership “Welcome Surveys”: 3 (Friedman, Marushin, Ryan)

David will send out renewal notices this week. We still need a Membership Chairman. Our many thanks to David for filling in until someone steps forward to help out. This puts a terrible strain on David because of all his other duties for COMBO.

E. Unfinished Business:

1. Bar Code requests: None.

1. Upcoming Programs:

a. June 27, 2022: Social at Illegal Pete’s on Monday, June 27^th – Colfax & Race location at 6:00 p.m.

1Saturday, 4^th – All Day & All Night- Five Points Jazz Festival – No one attended

https://www.artsandvenuesdenver.com/events-programs/five-points-jazz-festival/

2Saturday, 18^th & Sunday, 19^th – Juneteenth Music Festival, Five Points Denver

https://www.juneteenthmusicfestival.com/

b. July 2022: Barb will check into tours of some entertainment venues, maybe the Colorado Music Hall of Fame on the Red Rocks campus. Otherwise, we will cancel a general meeting for July.

Friday, 8^th thru Sunday, 10^th – Colorado Black Arts Festival – more info here: https://www.juneteenthmusicfestival.com/

c. August 2022: Cancelled for Summer Recess.

d. Monday, September 19^th: Nothing at this time.

3. Web & Social Media Reports – David Barber (as of 6/01/22):

1. Current Email Subscribers: COMBO has 2415 subscribers which is downfrom the 2,417 reported at the last Board Meeting. As of the 5/26/22 newsletter, we had 28% opens and 3% click thrus.

2. Twitter Account Followers: COMBO has 7,644followers which is unchanged from the last report.

3. Facebook Analytics: Page Views: 50, up 28%; Post Reach: 4,275, up 186%; Post Engagement: 206, up 67%; Page Likes: 14, up 56%; Page Followers: 17, up 70% from last month.

Reminder – Our Facebook address is:

http://www.Facebook.com/ColoradoMusicBusinessOrganization

4. LinkedIn – David: 135, 6 new followers

5. Google Analytics Report: In May 2022 there were 4.949 sessions, which is up22% from May 2021 when we had 4,064sessions. There was a spike in traffic on May 23 approx 650 visits to our home page. No clear source of where they came from. The most viewed article in May was /local-loved-jazz-musician-ellyn-rucker-passes/

4. Ombudsman Program – Annette Cannon: Nothing new to report.

5. Promotion/Advertising: One Facebook ad for May meeting. Barb passed out guitar picks and business cards to people at the Dry Dock Brewing Open Mic Night.

Barb is wondering if we should run Facebook ads during the summer months to attract new members and for the Songwriting Contest. Discussion: David will draw up a couple of ads to run.

6. COMBO Organization By-Laws: Barb will update the revised By-Laws and will send out to the Board of Directors soon for Ratification. After Ratification, we will send them to the Colorado Secretary of State for recording and entry into the record.

7. Potential New Board Member – Maurice Avatar: Maurice said he would like to join after having attended 3 board meetings. Jamie so moved, Annette seconded the motion, and the board approved Maurice joining.

8. Five Points Jazz Festival & Juneteenth Festival: Barb never heard back from The City of Denver – Arts & Venues Department even though she contacted them several times. So we’ll not have a booth at either festival this year. Cost was prohibitive anyway – Barb thought around $475 for one booth. Annette asked Barb to follow up to find out why no one responded.

9. Open Mic Night with Tony: Marty Jones contacted us about having a “COMBO” night at the Dry Dock Brewing Co. at 15120 East Hampden (& Chambers – pretty far east). David & Barb went out on May 10^th to check it out. David Lash runs the 2^nd Tuesday of the month. He had a good turnout. PA set up was adequate for the glass & concrete room. Tony was unable to make it. Tony will try to go June 14^th to check it out. Tony did say that he lived in NW Denver so Hampden & Chambers might be prohibitive to his schedule. He said he is trying to work something out with the Monkey Barrel.

10. Songwriting Contest – David: We have 18 songs submitted as of May 31^st. We have two judges so far and need at least 3 more, preferably someone in the music business but not songwriters.

11. Re-Do on 501(c)(6) Status: Barb contacted Steve Replin (former COMBO lawyer) and he said he is re-doing another group’s c6 status now. He said our big problem is the word “business”. While FoCoMA’s description is similar to ours, even referencing the word “Networking”, they do not reference “business” other than in the context of “fostering community with music businesses.” He also said that he thought the IRS cost would be less than $500.

F. New Business

1. Alex sent this info. It looks like this group was formed to partner with music schools in Denver to promote music education / lessons. The event was supported by Denver Arts & Venues through a Denver Music Advancement Fund grant.

The Alliance for Music Education Equity (AMEE) is the backbone organization of a collective impact effort of music organizations that are passionate about equity, diversity, and inclusivity, and are committed to cooperatively making systemic change in music education across Denver. AMEE offers training, workshops, networking and special events for its members to work towards greater equity and access to music education and music programs in Denver. We imagine a cooperative, solutionsoriented network that is adaptive and responsive to the changing needs of our community so that the power of music is unleashed in new and creative ways. The annual AMEE Festival and Resource Fair will be a way for community members to interact with different music organizations and the programs available to them while enjoying great bands, booths and food. Learn more at http://www.allianceformusicedequity.org.

This looked like a one-time event. There is nothing on their calendar now. No date, time, or place was listed. Y La Bamba has been many things, but at the heart of it is singersongwriter Luz Elena Mendoza=s inquisitive sense of self. Their fifth record, Mujeres, carries on the Portlandbased band=s affinity for spiritual contemplation, but goes a step further in telling a story with a full emotional spectrum. No mention of Kayla.

https://www.artsandvenuesdenver.com/events/detail/ameemusiceducationfairwithylabambawithkaylamarque

After discussion, the board decided this was just “for information” only and not something we needed to be involved in.

2. Movie Night With Barb: Please join Barb on Wednesday, June 22^nd to view “George Michael Freedom Uncut”, a film that Mr. Michael started before he passed away. The movie will start at 7:00 p.m. at the Mayan Theatre, 110 Broadway, Denver. Parking is available in the back of the Walgreen’s lot (next door). Dutch Treat!

3. Member Accounts: A couple of members in late April/early May forgot their passwords and asked for pw resets. David sent them this (it’s a simple click on the website to send a pw reset link to a specific member). They didn’t get the emails and David finally had to send them a new pw via manual email. David tested the system and discovered the pw reset emails (and some other routine emails weren’t being sent). After paying a bunch of money a couple months ago to make sure this kind of stuff went through, that was a bad thing.

David contacted the company responsible and they were blocking the emails because of a hosting issue. David contacted the host who was convinced this was not their problem. They sent their recommendation for a different way of handling email from the website and forms. (Note: the newsletter uses a completely different system because it’s mass emailing, not routine emails here and there).

David setup a new plugin, which required a Google app to be created, so the mail would go through our existing gmail email. This took a couple hours. David turned off the other email plugins that required monthly or yearly payments, so this saves COMBO some money moving forward. Now everything works. No fees.

We discussed the gmail costs we will soon be paying. They will be charging for each e-mail address. Barb said that she would donate $100 when they start charging to pay for the “President @ …” address so we can keep it for at least a year.

4. Direct Sell NFTs – Music LFG – Tony: This is seems like a legit start up new local streaming service (out of Longmont, CO) that would allow indie artist to sell NFT’s. I think there’s a few members that would be interested. I know Jen Cleary and Mad dog have been working on their Streams and maybe a few more. Tallix said he is going to be launching this next month. They will be offering musicians $.10 per play as versus Spotify and others offering only $.033 per play. Tallix can be reached at 831-359-8668) or e-mail him at Tallix@MusicLFG.com Tony had nothing new to report.

5. Country Jam: Barb was contacted by the Country Jam people back in February. When she returned from her trip in April, she asked how she could help. They wanted to set up 3 songwriter rounds at the Jam and needed 2 “local” people for each day. Barb was able to book COMBO members Rich Owen & Tim Champlin, American Idol finalist Jeneve Rose Mitchell, Carin Mari, Jackson Emmer, and Jason Abbott with Peggy Malone as a back-up. Each songwriter was to receive 4 tickets for each of the 3 days of the shows whose headliners will be Eric Church, Miranda Lambert, and Tim McGraw. Hopefully this will lead to other work with Live Nation.

G. Reports

1. May 23, 2022: TV/YouTube – Headroom Sessions, Channel 12. Elle Neaf and Heather Dalton were our guest panelists. They spoke as to their television shows on Channel 12. Other attendees were Barb Dye, David Barber, Annette Cannon, Jamie Krutz, Alex Teitz, Steve Son, Mark Marusin, Maurice Avatar, Travis Daudert, Clark Hagan, Laurie Dameron, Todd X, and a phone no. xxx570 (Tony – no; this might have been a guy named Anthony who attended the Social). Sincere thank you to Alex for setting this up! (David thought we had 16 attendees but the screen shot Annette sent only showed 13; we have 15 here. No big deal. Just records for our reference only. Barb checked her copy of the notes of the meeting but there was no one there that we don’t already have).

H. Next General Meeting: Monday, June 27^th at 6:00 p.m. Social at Illegal Pete’s at Colfax & Race. We’ll end around 8:30 p.m.

I. Next Board Meeting: Sunday, July 10^th at 7:00 p.m. Sign in time 6:50 p.m. via Zoom.

J. Meeting Adjourned at 8:40 p.m.

/s/ Barb Dye

___________________________________

Barb Dye, President

Mile High Festivals LLC <milehighfestivals@gmail.com>	Wed, Apr 21, 2021, 12:04 PM

to President@coloradomusic.org Hi, Vendor registration is open for the 2021 Juneteenth Music Festival below I have attached the sign up link. https://www.juneteenthmusicfestival.com/merchants-submit-page If you have any questions or concerns please contact me at 720-505-3274. Thank you Christopher Banks  — Visit us at www.MileHighFestivals.com