avalanche records

Archive for March, 2018

As expected there has been no last minute offer of a building or money though every possibility hasn’t quite been exhausted yet. There was always a plan to set up a non-profit making organisation with a board once we had reached the point of opening the centre as that is how all such things are run now and I have plenty of people who are willing to join the board who already hold important positions in business and the arts and have skills that will help.

One reason we have run out of time to be ready by June is it will take around three months to set all this up and then see if we can get matched funding for any sponsorship. One very positive thing is publicity and promotion will never be a problem. There is worldwide interest and support and all parts of the media are just waiting for me to press the button. From double page spreads in magazines and radio and TV coverage to a UK poster campaign from the same people who promote Record Store Day we are extremely lucky to have such support and of course social media is our friend !

Postcard Records press release

Because the idea is so popular I haven’t felt the need to go down the route of places like the Leith and King’s Theatres with celebrity endorsements but maybe we should do a little more of that in the future. 

My advice to the museum was that they would need to cover everything from introducing people to bands to having things even fans hadn’t seen and possibly that is an advantage the ScotPop Centre has in that that is maybe too broad a remit for them but something the centre can excel in thanks to all the help we have had.

For now though  sensibly I need to get back to making some kind of living and I’ll look into that in the coming weeks. All being well it will just mean selling music with some work on the centre when the focus has been the other way round for too long now.

Pic by @Birmingham_81

Sadly it looks like we have run out of time to find a home for the centre in time for the summer. Everything from what we have been offered to very visible worldwide promotion has gone well beyond all my expectations but I’ve been unable to find a home or any substantial financial support.

Money is now a huge issue and I will need to focus on that while putting the centre if not quite on the hold at least on the back burner. Avalanche/myself has financed this idea for over three years now and Avalanche will almost certainly need to return physically to raise the funds needed. Quite how that will be done is still to be decided but it certainly won’t be achieved by selling new releases ! 

Despite the support of Donald Wilson the Culture Convener and Paul Lawrence the council’s Chief Executive of Place it is clear that the centre is in no way being treated as would an art exhibition be by the council. What is more it is also clear that the more I fight the corner for pop music as art the more some folk are irritated. I guarantee the council will give plenty of space free of charge to the visual arts during the Festival despite saying they need to bring in an income for all their buildings and the Festival being the prime time to do that and of course saying that just annoys them more.

The next deadline is to have something ready in time for the museum exhibition finishing in November and by coincidence Avalanche has an offer to work on a very exciting project about that time with investment from Europe. I can’t pretend it isn’t a huge opportunity lost to promote Scottish music in an alternative but complementary way to the museum’s plans but while there was huge confidence after the Fruitmarket Gallery pop-up that individuals and businesses would come forward to offer support actually it mostly generated several enquiries from Glasgow !   

And before folk ask yes if I get a firm offer from Glasgow the centre will open there. I had always hoped to eventually have something in both cities and possibly others too and once the opportunity to coincide with the Rip It Up exhibition is lost then there is no reason not to open in Glasgow first. I have already had offers that I haven’t had time to explore fully though nothing permanent.

Some ScotPop Centre related things are already in motion and will still go ahead and there are one or two fund raising ideas too. More of that very soon. I won’t even start to try thanking people just now for all that has been done to get this far for fear of missing folk out but though I say so myself it should not be underestimated just what has been achieved. Given what I’ve managed to get done dedicating most of my time to the centre I estimate there is still about three years work left and of course often more leads are generated so as such it will probably always be an evolving idea which no doubt is a good thing.