Beta Testing Announced for New Music & Service Directory! | Dayton, Ohio

Music Connection Dayton is proud to announce the launch of our new music and service directory!

 

We’re creating a centralized online space for
Dayton area music, both present and past.

Why?
To put it simply, we want to harness our collective community power and help separate our community from the overload of information on other sites!

Music Connection Dayton Promo & Legalization, Kickstarter Campaign

Music Connection Dayton is our baby! It’s also a community project that can benefit greatly from your help!

We want to see it continue to grow and develop, and to do that, we need your help!
Today, we’ve started a small Kickstarter campaign to help us better promo Dayton area music AND help us go legit!

CLICK HERE TO HELP US MEET OUR GOAL!

Ohio & Dayton Music History

Check out some of the acts from Ohio listed on Wikipedia, including a brief history of funk.

…excerpt…
During the 1970s, southwest Ohio, and Dayton in particular, was known for its stable of funk bands, including Bootsy’s Rubber Band, The Ohio Players, Lakeside, Slave, Heatwave, Sun, Dazz Band, Faze O, and Zapp featuring Roger Troutman.

For more info, click here:
Music of Ohio – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The Rich History of Bluegrass in the Miami Valley, At WYSO | WYSO

…excerpt…
Between the end of World War II and the mid-1960s, about three and a half million people migrated from Appalachia to the urban manufacturing centers of the Midwest. Over 40,000 came to the Dayton area from West Virginia, Tennessee, and especially Eastern Kentucky, seeking work at companies like National Cash Register, Frigidaire, and General Motors. They brought their culture and their music along with them. Archives Fellow Jocelyn Robinson brings us the rich mountain heritage in the WYSO audio collection, preserved through the efforts of three local brothers.
For the full story, click here:
The Rich History of Bluegrass in the Miami Valley, At WYSO | WYSO.

Looking for Local Music Resources & More? Visit our NEW site!

As of March 1st, 2014, Music Connection’s local band/artist listings, classifieds, open mics, venues, videos, music and more are now located at the new website at www.musicconnectiondayton.com!   This blog is also available via the new site, so stop over and check out all the amazing local music that Dayton and surrounding areas have to offer!

Music Connection 1 Year Anniversary – Looking Back & Looking Forward

Music Connection – Dayton, Oh has officially been around for a whole year!  THANK YOU!     This last year has been amazing because it has brought me out of my shell to a community of amazingly talented and wonderfully sincere musicians and music lovers!   To those of you who stopped by to share something on the Facebook wall or like and share posts or sent me an email that you like the site and use it often… to anyone who has found new music or a new venue or a new open mic through our page… to all the amazing musicians who I’ve met over the last year, and to my friends, family, and to my biggest supporter (You know who you are) – you’ve been a HUGE part of what has kept me going and inspired and THAT is why you ROCK!   This site is all about sharing the amazing experience we call “music” and without YOU, that just wouldn’t be possible!

LOOKING BACK….

New Music Connection Website and 1 Year Anniversary Approaches!

Music Connection is approaching it’s 1 year anniversary on March 1st, 2014!  It’s been an amazing first year, and I want to say thank you to everyone who has stopped by and/or supported this page in any way!

If you have a moment and you haven’t already stopped over and Liked the Music Connection Facebook page, please jump over there now and give us a click!   Our goal is to reach 1500 Likes by March 1st, so we still need all the help we can get! Click HERE! 

I’ve been working hard towards making the anniversary special and have been preparing a brand new website for you!  It’s almost ready for the big reveal, but I thought I’d go ahead and share with you some of the upcoming changes!

As of February 21, 2014:

• The resource listings that have been maintained here on this WordPress blog will be temporarily unavailable. We will only host our postings and basic About and Contact information here on our page.
• Many of our available widgets and links will become unavailable temporarily as we begin the transfer over to our new site.

After March 1st, 2014

• This WordPress site will only be used to maintain our blog postings, news, and promotions.
• There will no longer be a single band or artist of the month.  Instead, each month will feature a specific genre and several local area artists of that genre that deserve your support.
• The new site will be available and will have a members-only Local Music Resource Center where all of the bands, venues, open mics, and many other services that were previously listed on this blog will be located on one easy-access tab.  It will be free to register and access the Resource Center but will require registration to access.
• From the new Local Music Resource Center, you’ll be able to easily filter our database listings by category to search for exactly what you want.  All listings will be updated and will include the last update date. Many listings will have new, additional categories of information included that were not previously available.
• The new site will be directly linked to Dayton, Oh on ReverbNation, allowing readers to easily listen to Dayton’s top ReverbNation music directly from the new site.  Additionally, readers will have an easy reference to local area shows posted on ReverbNation.
• The new site will have an easy-to-use online form to submit information about adding your band, venue, or service to the listings.
• There will be a new live chat and file sharing platform.

I also would like to share with you just a few of the achievements Music Connection has had over the last year thanks to the support of this local community:

• Located and categorized information on over 400 area bands and artist, 100+ local venues and services and provided one of the region’s best easy-access listings for local music
• Reached over 100,000 people, 23,000 engaged users, and 1350 Likes via Facebook
• Expanded the reach of our local bands and artists by creating a Facebook interest feed with 140+ followers
• Expanded the reach of our local venues by creating a Facebook interest feed with 45+ followers
• Reached more than 37,800 hits, 700+ shares, and 50+ followers on this WordPress blog
• Had over 10,000 votes in our Band/Artist of the Year contest
• Raised funds through music promotions, flier designs, and sponsorships sufficient to attend 10 local shows, purchase 5 local CD’s, provide $100 worth of Facebook ads for Featured Bands/Artists, and save additional funds toward future promotions.

More details and screenshot previews will be coming soon as March 1st approaches!   Thank you everyone for your support so far!  Please send any feedback you have about this site and/or the upcoming changes to DaytonMC@live.com!

A Cool View of Dayton’s Band History – Dayton Memories Blog

Just found this cool page where people can post about bands in Dayton!  It looks like it’s mostly for acts that are no longer around, but that doesn’t seem to be a firm rule.  Either way, it’s really cool to read about the history of Dayton’s music scene from this perspective!  Check it out if you have any interest in your musical roots here in and around Dayton! Add to the memories!
Bands in Dayton

Thoughts & Goals on Connecting Our Local Scene

As Music Connection is fast approaching the 500 Like mark, I thought I’d share with you a little bit about why I created the page and some of my thoughts and goals for the page.  It probably would have been easier to create a page or group that was just for fans or just for musicians and bands, but I really didn’t think that would take the local scene where it could be and needs to be.  Those types of pages seemed mostly to end up in spam or favoritism of one genre over another, and I didn’t feel those types of pages really reached or inspired anyone, which is what the connection with music should be about.
It seems, to me at least, that if we want to continue to be inspired by music and inspire others with music and continue to have a local music scene for a long time to come, we have to:
1.) be open to new experiences and multiple musical genres 
2.) be supportive of those around us who love music and share our experiences
3.) have a place to really connect with local fans and musicians and music
4.) always work at developing our craft

* Where was the average person in Dayton supposed to find out these new experiences and what’s really happening with local music?  There are tons of local zines and event calendars, but each one only covers a fraction of what’s happening and usually covered more than just the local scene.  I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to go 30 places to find out what’s happening!  We needed a resource that connected them all and had a local only focus.
* Where is the average musician or band supposed to find out about other bands and musicians and venues and services and support them without getting spammed themselves?  It used to be DaytonBands.com, but that site is no longer available.  We needed someone to take the initiative and start connecting local bands and musicians of all types and take it a step further to include local music venues and other local music related services and news.
*  How are the local bands and artists supposed to be able to find local fans?  Let’s face it!  In a time when, more than ever, people are looking closer to home to find something fun to do, it’s really important that there’s a place where everyone can hook up with the local scene!  Many of the local fans are on Facebook already and just needed a place where they could find local music downloads, videos, pages, events, etc..
*  Where are we supposed to be able to share experiences and tips and develop our craft(s)?  Word of mouth and the occasional tip post aren’t enough.  We needed a place to easily reference those things and share and develop our craft.

Now, I’ve heard a few people say that nothing’s really happening in Dayton’s music scene, but with already over 270 CURRENT bands, 45+ music venues, open mics, and just as many photographers, sound & audio services, stores, and other music services. (and that’s just this moment in time) linked in to our page, something music related is happening ALL the time in the Dayton area, and Music Connection is looking to give it to you!

I’m so excited to be working on this project, and have many goals for the development and inspiration of our local music community.  In the short-term, I hope to make Music Connection- Dayton, OH THE local music resource for fans and musicians alike.  In the medium-term, I hope to be able to connect Dayton with bands/artists from other cities and make Music Connection the place where they come to get into our local scene!  In the long-term, my goal is to create, grow, and develop a community of music that will last well into our future and continue to inspire new musicians in our area and beyond!  I only hope that you’ll join me on this adventure and choose to be a part of this awesome thing called MUSIC!   Feel free to comment with your own thoughts, goals, and suggestions below!

Music Connection Reaches 400 Likes!

Music Connection is excited that to have reached the 400 Like mark in under 2 months, and the page is now reaching almost 5000 people each week since early April!  Our local Facebook band feed, Dayton Music Connect, now has almost 260 current local bands and 95 subscribers, and each new subscription means greater and greater exposure for local bands/artists when they post anything on their page!  Thanks so much for helping CONNECT Dayton’s local music scene!