COMBO Board of Directors Meeting Minutes 02-09-2020

MINUTES

Colorado Music Business Organization Board of Directors Meeting

Sunday, February 9, 2020 – 7:00 p.m.

Telephone conferencing number & code: 712-775-7031, ID 855-335-896

1. Call to Order at 7:02 p.m.

2. Attendance:

Present: Barb Dye, David Barber, Lee Bagby, Johnnie Johnson, Sheena Morgan, Angela Whaley, Tracey Chirhart, Jamie Krutz, Annette Cannon

Absent: Clark Hagan

Guests: [Alex Teitz, Ben Makinen, Sam Piscitelli]

3. Consideration and Approval of the Minutes of January 5, 2020: No motion to approve the minutes. Will do next month.

4. Treasurer’s Report:

Income received:

January Memberships: $ 92.65 (Business: Paypal charges $2.35)

January Membership: $ 28.50 (Individual: Paypal charges $1.50)

Interest on Savings: $ _ .06 (January 2020)

Total: $ 121.21

Expenses paid:

Irish Snug $ 71.46 (snacks for Grammy Party)

Todd Myers, Esq. $ 10.00 (CO Secretary of State filing fee for our registration)

Mail Chimp for Jan.:         $  31.28 (e-mail list: $30 + $1.28 local tax)

Facebook Ad for Jan.: $ 50.00

                                Total: $ 162.74

Checking Balance: $ 1,608.96 (as of 01/31/20)

Savings Balance: $ 1,423.03 (as of 01/31/20)

PayPal Balance: $ 689.37 (as of 02/06/20)

Grand Total: $ 4,573.47

Bank Service charge: $ 14.00 (December 2019) (Barb will talk to the bank about this; s/b only $2) Barb forgot: she will tend to this).

5. Membership Report:

Current Paid Members: 34

Supporter: None

Individual: Thomas June

Band: None

Business: Dog House Music Studios

January 2020: Sheena reported that these members did not renew yet:

February 2020: Sheena reported that the following memberships are up for renewal in February:

• Laurie Dameron- Individual

• Adrienne Osbourne- Business

• David Fairbrother- Band

6. Unfinished Business:

1. 1. 1. 1. Bar code requests: Barb reported that Rod at CODA, Inc. called her to request another bar code for John Austin Reed. Since John re-upped his membership, Barb sent a note to Jamie to o.k. the request so Jamie could send a number to Rod. (John “donated” $30 to COMBO so the board voted in January to change that to a membership renewal thereby giving John the right to another barcode and other membership benefits).

            • 3^rd request for Mr. Reed

1. 1. 1. 2. Membership Roster: Barb reported that she has not had a chance to update the roster. Sheena is working to clean this up and getting it “back to basics.” Sheena has been sick but will be up to date soon. Sheena has started fresh with a new roster.

1. 1. 1. 3. Membership “Welcome Surveys” – Sheena Morgan: Sheena reported that we received 0 (zero) new surveys in January.

1. 1. 1. 4. Upcoming Programs:

a. Monday, February 24, 2020: The topic for this meeting will be “How to Book a Gig” David had a better title for this meeting but Barb couldn’t find what he sent! Discussed doing a series, with the first one about booking, a second about etiquette, sound check, when to get paid, etc. Scheduled speakers are Tony Mason and David Barber.

– Facebook ad started last week (3 weeks out)

b. Monday, March 23, 2020: The topic for this meeting will be “Proper Venue Etiquette” – continuing on with the February subject. Potential speakers will be Kale Nelson (GM at Herman’s), Andy Bercaw (GM at The Oriental Theater), and Mark Sundemeier (booking agent at the Buffalo Rose). – Have not got in touch with Kale or Andy.

c. Monday, April 27^th, 2020: Clark will look for one of his “friends”; Sheena will contact Ian from the UMS.

d. Monday, May 18^th, 2020: Sheena knows someone who does Entertainment Tax Consulting (Brittany Walker.) She will contact her. We also might consider a program involving Musicians and Mental Health. Lady Gaga did an interview with Oprah in which LG said she was raped and no one “cared” – they were just too busy trying to make her a star. LG has been in counseling for years over the ordeal and the trauma she suffered. We came up with many situations wherein musicians might really need some mental health counseling. Angela sent (via separate e-mail) an article wherein the UK did a study on musicians and mental health, showing that musicians could suffer a lot from something awful happening at an event.

– Chris K. wants to do a program about getting radio play. Could get Alf from KTCL and Johnnie to all speak about radio. When Carmen did radio it was always a good turnout.

– Board agreed that Jamie would moderate (he was on KTCL pre Clear Channel), and Sheena and David will put together an outline of “norms” for the event so that each speaker will have appropriate time to speak and the conversation is not dominated by one individual.

– ACTION: Will confirm what day is best for Chris.

– ACTION: Sheena will contact Brittany Walker about an Entertainment Tax Law meeting.

– Barb could discuss management (maybe with the tax / law meeting?) Barb can do a management meeting and we could potentially charge for it and the money would go to COMBO. Maybe in June?

– Music & Mental Health can be a topic at any time

4. General Program Ideas: Our running list of potential topics for General Meetings suggested at previous COMBO Board Meetings:

1. PRO [Performing Rights Organizations] Choice: This meeting topic was presented in September.

2. How to be a “YouTube Star” What is the potential?

3. How to become a game or film music composer; how to get involved in the sync world (tv shows, movies, commercials).

4. Tips to be a successful touring musician: local, regional, multi-state, or national opportunities that are accessible to musicians

5. Local clubs, concert venues, unusual venues, house concerts

6. How to get music “out there” and make money doing it

7. How to make a living with digital distribution and “streaming”

8. Indie Promoters and Labels

9. Ideas for monetizing your music such as sending in set lists of original music performed to your PRO; collecting royalties, learning how many times your song is streamed on, say, Spotify, and how much is each stream worth? Other ways to make money with music? YouTube licensing etc.

10. Advice about record labels vs. DIY or smaller indie labels; self-promotion; marketing, pitching

11. How to get your music to publishers and big artists;

12. Workshops on musician’s tools such as self-recording programs.

13. Social media management and social media advertising

4. Web Reports:

1. Current Email Subscribers: David reported that, as of February 9, 2020, COMBO currently has 2,669 subscribers which is down from the 2,678 reported in the January 2020 Board Meeting report. Barb reported that she gave Sheena several sign-up sheets at the Grammys Party. – Sheena has not added the new emails from the recent event yet. Last email had 15% open rate and 5% click-through rate.

2. Twitter Account Followers: David reported that, as of February 9, 2020, COMBO currently has 8,004 followers which is down from 8,054 followers as of the January 2020 report.

3. Facebook Account Activity: David reported that, as of February 9, 2020, COMBO received 1,407 “likes” which is up from 1,364 “likes” as of the January 2020 report.

4. Facebook Analytics: Angela reported that in general, the metrics for Facebook are up. Page Views are up by 141%, Post Reach is actually up by 92% and those paid posts help [tremendously]. Post Engagements is down by 30%.

5. Google Analytics Report: David reported that in January 1-20 2020 there were 2,058 “Sessions” which is up 9% from January 1-20 2019 when it was 1,884. The most viewed article in January 2020 was Ditty TV’s American Roots from Feb 2019, 62 sessions. Tie for 2^nd place – Social Consumption Committee Discusses 4/20 from March 30, 2018, tied with Abbey Road from March 2015.

1. 1. New theme didn’t have the GA code installed at the beginning. David has fixed this. GA Analytics above are for January 1 – 20.

Reminder – Our Facebook address is: http://www.Facebook.com/ColoradoMusicBusinessOrganization

4. Songs on the COMBO Website Player for February 2020 – David Barber:

● “Kid” – Isabelle Stillman (top scoring song of COMBO’s 2019 Songwriting Contest)

● “Goodnight Sweet Baby Sweet Dreams” – Laurie Dameron

● “Mile High Lament” – Jeffrey Dallet

● “That Sallinger Novel – Isabelle Stillman

● “Bree Tree” – Justin Faye

This playlist is now on Spotify! No more uploading MP3s and getting permission. If they are on Spotify we can add them to our playlist.

Jamie has reservations about using a Spotify only playlist. Discussion around helping artists be on one of the biggest streaming platforms.

Barb mentioned that we do have a number of members who do not live in Colorado. Priority should be given to those in Colorado.

4. COMBO YouTube Channel Uploads: Barb said she needs to make a copy of the videos on “PROs” and on the Showcase to give to David Barber. She needs to buy some DVDs to do this. David said he would use his camera to film the meetings because he can upload the videos directly to his computer and there would be no need to make DVDs. Ben Makinen is interested in helping David with the videos and possibly being on the board.

4. Ombudsman Program: Annette’s report: Lots of complaints about venues closing down. The venue on 38^th or 44^th closed without warning. Busty G’s just closed down out of nowhere. No complaints about not getting paid.

4. 1. Lots of talk about places in Ft. Collins getting shut down because they didn’t have a SESAC license. Barb still gets calls regularly about artists going to bars and coffee shops and that they have to play their own original songs. She explains to the musicians that the bars and coffee shops still have to have PRO licenses if the musician is registered with one of the PROs in order for the musician to collect royalties.

4. Meeting Space Ideas: IHOP, libraries (challenge with libraries is they close at a certain hour or don’t want people in after a certain hour, or weekends don’t work.) Electric Car Group?

4. Designation for Funds: Have not spent any more money

4. Purchase of Promotional Merchandise Items: Haven’t looked at anything yet.

4. Promotion/Advertising: Barb sent notes to Esteban and Donna at Denverite to see if they’ll write an article on COMBO. No reply yet. Also Facebook advertising.

4. Girls & Science Expo: So this turned into instant chaos! On January 6^th, after the January 5^th board meeting the night before, CBS Channel 4 Denver started advertising the G&S event. Barb immediately contacted Elaine at C4 who put her in touch with Susie at the Colorado Museum of Nature & Science. After much discussion, it was agreed that COMBO, Innervision, and Women in Audio would have a “booth” – but at a cost of $5,000 for this year, $10,000 for next year! Barb sent out an e-mail to the board who agreed that 7 weeks was not enough time for us to raise that much money. Somehow Susie got that we already had that much to “donate” to the museum since this is technically a fund raiser for them. Barb then sent a note to Susie to respectfully decline since we did not have such funds. Barb still feels that we need to participate in this event and suggests that we try to find funding from some other source such as Yamaha or Peavey (they make sound boards). She also has some other ideas that we can follow up on in the next few months.

Unfortunately, a couple of other problems came out in the discussions with the board members and WIA which were “How do WE make this a fund-raising project for any of our groups” or “How do we get jobs from this?” Barb’s idea was to promote the educational aspect [since that is what COMBO does] of learning about sound and encouraging young women to go into the careers of “sound” (like running sound for various events, recording studios, or perhaps inventing better hearing aids and in-ear monitors). Perhaps we need to have a live, in person, meeting of the sound ladies, COMBO, and Innervision to get this ironed out before we hit up businesses for funds. Maybe we could speak at one of WIA’s meetings?

What does COMBO get out of this? Ability to capture email addresses. There will be hundreds of children and parents attending. Barb feels strongly that COMBO should have a presence at the event to represent sound. Sponsored by Channel 4, fundraisers for Denver Museum of Nature & Science. Calling it STEAM (instead of STEM because “A” stands for Arts. “STEM” is “science, technology, engineering, and math).

Barb sent a note to Steve Replin, and he knows someone at Channel 4. He said he would speak with them and see if there’s something we can do, for example get the fee lowered or waived. If we can’t find the money we can drop it, but Barb would like to continue pursuing this at this time.

4. Articles for Newsletter: Barb reported that there is some confusion over how to communicate news items to her. If a board member decides to post a note on Facebook, please send a cc to Barb so that she either knows about it so that she may (or may not) post in the newsletter, or won’t post it twice. She appreciates Alex and Ben sending her links to articles that she might be interested in re-posting. Sheena has been posting some notes so Barb would like to be notified of those, too.

4. Membership Retention: Sheena reported that she has developed a 2020 plan for raising membership. Update: Nothing new to report. Trying to make changes so we can keep our current members and doing more marketing to broaden and bring in more new, future members. This section can be removed for next month.

4. Storage for COMBO Stuff: Barb still has not had a chance to clean out the neighbor’s storage unit [it’s a disaster] but another neighbor offered her unit – which is clean. So Barb has moved a few of the overflow boxes to that unit until she can clean out the other unit. She has not moved anything that Mark has yet.

4. Posting on Facebook: Barb reported that Non-COMBO members are still posting their shows, etc., to COMBO’s Facebook page. Any ideas on how to handle this? Or perhaps a note to such posters saying something? Or maybe even just deleting the posts?

4. 1. Nobody should be able to post to our page except admins

   2. No one is posting to the page, they are just tagging COMBO and Barb is seeing the notifications.

4. Secretary Resignation: We still need a secretary! Very, very, very important!!! David suggested that the board members take turns each month taking the minutes but we still need a secretary to be registered with the IRS and the Colorado Secretary of State. Angela volunteered to take the minutes in February.

4. 1. Angela taking notes this month, offered to do minutes again next month.

4. Board Member Bio’s:  David took head shots at the Grammy Party and will contact each person to get a short bio to add to the newsletter and to the website. Update: David got 6 people, Annette was given a pass (haha!) Sheena will be taking them this month since David will be speaking at the general meeting. David will send Sheena a list of who we still need. ACTION: Sheena will send bio example around again.

4. Website re-design. David has uploaded his new designs to the website. Also, a big THANK YOU to Tracey Chirhart for updating the listings on “promoters & promotion companies!” (Under “The Network”) If [you] volunteered to update one of these pages, please let us know how you’re doing.

4. 1. Still in the works but everyone is impressed.

   2. David needs help with network section. Attempt to list everything available in the music industry. David did a venues page, please submit new and closed venues so we can keep this updated. Also did a festivals page and recording studios page. Promoters and promotion companies added. Barb can do lawyers. They do not have to be a member. Members will be highlighted in some way.

   3. ACTION: review

4. COMBO Re-Branding Meeting: David, Sheena, Angela, Alex, and Jamie held a meeting on Saturday, January 25^th on re-branding COMBO with a goal to develop a marketing plan that will help to raise awareness of the group, and attendance at meetings. Once the branding exercise is complete, the team will produce a strategic roadmap document with monthly, quarterly, and annual goals to help expand the COMBO mission. Include Lee on next meeting.

4. COMBO Organization By-Laws: David Barber reported that he has posted the organization by-laws as part of the Google Docs platform. David pointed out that, as directors of the organization, all Board members should read and maintain general knowledge of these items. David requested an Agenda item for the Board to discuss. There are a couple of items that may need an update. Barb will read the first section of the By-Laws tonight for discussion.

4. 1. First section of the By-Laws is ok because it is just an overview of the group

   2. One piece stuck out, referenced card carrying members, which should be removed because we don’t issue cards any more.

   3. ACTION: Barb will send out the first section only.

4. Algorithm for Copyrights: Kathaleen Hancock inquired about an algorithm for copyrights. Barb will send Sheena Kathaleen’s contact info as Sheena thought maybe she could answer Kathaleen’s questions.

   1. ACTION: Barb will send info to Sheena

4. California Law on Sub-Contractors: California recently passed a law where sub-contractors are going to be considered “employees” and that “employers” need to start withholding taxes. This has created a BIG problem for clubs and musicians who are not regularly employed by anyone! We will keep an eye on this development.

7. New Business:

a. Filing of Legal Reports: Todd Myers filed our 1099 report with the Secretary of State which has a fee of $10. Barb sent him a check for $10. Barb also filed the Federal Government 990-Ns for both COMBO and Innervision so both of those are taken care of for this year. No fee is involved with those.

b. “Choice of Words”: Barb noticed that using the word “teach” to tell people about COMBO was sort of a turn-off. So she sent out a note asking board members what they thought of using “coach” or “coaching” instead. She received several replies but most suggested other words such as “advice” or “advisor”. Annette hit up her Thesaurus and came up with this: “guidance – meaning in the sense that we give advice, our experience, suggestions, etc to those who seek our help as in, “We offer resources, guidance, and networking opportunities to musicians…etc.”  Thanks, all! We’ll remember that for our next outreach booths. We may also consider that wording for our business cards. Discussion: This will be part of the branding discussions happening now.

c. Cancelled January Meeting: A couple of people didn’t check out their newsletters or the website before heading out to the January 27^th meeting (cancelled). One of them wrote Lisa Gedgaudas to complain about it and to send her a “promo kit.” Lisa forwarded that note to Barb who responded to both Lisa and the writer(s), offering her apologies and free dinner if [they] decided to come to another meeting (although it was really up to those persons to check for changes before they drove a long way to attend the meeting).

d. Kory Brunson proposing a new for-profit business: We are launching an Artist Education Program that coaches and educates artists on the in’s and out’s of making a living in the music industry. Curious if you have any thoughts how I can make connections with other artists that might be interested in such a thing? Barb responded to Kory, informing him of COMBO – which he apparently wasn’t aware of. She encouraged him to start his program but cautioned him about the number of non-profit groups, such as FoCoMA, and colleges who offer similar programs, and suggested that he might want to check to see if there were any similar programs in his living location before adding to the competition!

e. Five Points Jazz Hop: Annette asked if we planned to get involved with these events. Discussion: No idea on how to get involved.

f. Other new business: None

8. Reports

1. Book, Movie, and Featured Member(s) for the Month of February 2020: None as of this meeting.

2. Sunday, January 26, 2020: Grammy Watching Party at the Irish Snug. Barb came up with some gifts for drawings: a nice water bottle (won by Doug Bohm), a wreath with a card in the center saying “All We Need is Love” (Beatles’ tune) won by Jamie Krutz – which he gave to Karen Gerdine, an adult coloring book complete with colored pencils (won by Sheena), a Christmas porch hanging, won by Nataliya Johnson, and other prizes. The show started at 6:00 p.m. so Barb was there at 5:00. People wandered in, mostly around 6:30 (wrong time accidently advertised)! Please note: Chris Maunu, the choir director from Arvada West HS, was one of the Top 10 Music Educators honored by the Grammys. Unfortunately, Chris did not win again this year. Darn. We only had 16 people attend the meeting (and this is why we didn’t go with the GWP in the first place since attendance was about the same last year). COMBO purchased a tray of eggrolls and a tray of cheesecake bites to serve to the attendees.

3. Colorado Springs Meeting: Barb reported that she still has not had a chance to develop a meeting for the Colorado Springs area. She will work on this as the weather is getting better.

4. Denver Balanced Breakfast: Barb Dye reported that the Balanced Breakfast meeting was scheduled for Saturday, January 25, 2020 at the Mercury Cafe. Did anyone attend?

– No one attended this last meeting

5. Denver Open Media Open Music Session: This month’s DOM was set for Friday, February 7, 2020. Did anyone attend the program?

– No one attended this last meeting. Include DOM on radio panel?

6. Mental Wellness Meetup Group Meeting – Angela Whaley’s report: Angela noted that the group just celebrated their second year anniversary. She has submitted her application for a “First Aid” class to be held in Nashville. This class will offer how to recognize if a musician (or anyone) is having a mental wellness problem and how to offer help.

The Mental Wellness Meetup meets in Denver the first Sunday of each month from 3 p.m. until 5 p.m. at the Youth on Record office, and then group organizers are hosting a group meeting on Monday in Fort Collins.

7. Women’s Group – “She Said So”:

Angela working with Cassie who is launching the Denver chapter.

8. Women’s Group – Women Crush Music: Alex Teitz contacted this group. They have a new leader, Megan Rose from Sister Neapolitan, and are hoping to get up & running again soon.

9. Women’s Group – Setting the Stage: Julie Gellar (who moved to Israel) continues to lead this group. Barb added one of Julie’s messages to the newsletter.

10. Career Day – Cherry Creek School District: Barb reported that she, Jamie and Tracey manned the booth at the CCSD Career Day on Thursday, January 30^th. The attendance was very good in spite of one of Colorado’s “pop up” snowstorm/blizzards hitting at exactly 5:00 p.m. (rush hour) All three had problems finding the campus which is just off Arapahoe Road and Potomac (just south of the Broncos Training Center). (GPS units were sending us to Parker & Chambers Roads – way off to the north & east). Tracey’s GPS finally got us there a few minutes before 6:00. Best way to go – if we do this again next year – is to go Arapahoe Road to Potomac, south on Potomac, across Broncos Parkway, and about 5-6 blocks south. The campus is on the left side of the road. We did get quite a few names for the e-mail list which Barb will need to get to David or Sheena. Any way she can either fax or scan and e-mail the list to them? Yes. That works.

9. Items for Newsletters/Announcements: Calling all music lovers! Red Rocks Amphitheatre‘s Local Set is an uniquely intimate, indoor Red Rocks experience that features local Colorado musicians, themed menus for a full dinner buffet, drinks and a once in a lifetime opportunity for a backstage tour. Headlining the next Red Rocks Local Sets are progressive reggae band Stylie [and Kayla Marque] on Feb. 9 [tonight] and rising pop-star Raquel Garcia on Feb. 13. Note: It looks like they have already set all their performers for the foreseeable future. No mention as to how a band might apply to perform. Anyone have time to check into this?

10. Next General Meeting: Program on Booking on Monday, February 24, 2020 at 7:00 p.m. at the Irish Snug’s Dublin Room.

11. Next Board Meeting: Sunday, March 1, 2020 – 7:00 p.m. Telephone conference.

12. Meeting Adjourned at 8:50 p.m. _________________________

Angela Whaley, Acting Secretary