Minutes of August 2, 2020 Board meeting

MINUTES

Colorado Music Business Organization Board of Directors Meeting

Sunday, August 2, 2020 – 7:00 p.m.

1. Call to Order at 7:05 p.m.

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

Absent: Clark Hagan

Guests: None

Roll call: Barb Dye, David Barber, Lee Bagby, Annette Cannon, Tracey Chirhart, Clark Hagan, Johnnie Johnson, Jamie Krutz, Sheena Morgan, Alex Teitz, Angela Whaley

2. Consideration and Approval of the Minutes of July 12, 2020: Jamie so moved, second from Annette. Approved.

3. Treasurer’s Report:

Income received:

July Memberships: $ 85.50 (3 Individual: PayPal charge – $4.50)

Interest on Savings: $ .02 (July 31, 2020)

Total: $ 85.52

Expenses paid:

Bank Fees for July: $ 2.00 ($2 for checking)

Facebook: $ 24.76 (ad for July meeting)

Mailchimp for June:     $  31.28 (e-mail list: $30 + $1.28 local tax)

                                Total: $ 58.04

Checking Balance: $ 1,443.51 (as of 07/31/20)

Savings Balance: $ 1,823.12 (as of 07/31/20)

PayPal Balance: $ 369.27 (as of 08/02/20)

Grand Total: $ 3,636.00

4. Membership Report:

Current Paid Members: 36

New Members:

Supporter:

Individual: Harold Rapp, III; Kelly Triplett; and Brian Coe

Band:

Business:

Sheena reported that these members have not renewed for July yet: Cass Clayton

Sheena reported that the following memberships are up for renewal in August: Scott Fitzke, Jim Filley, Caroline Schulman

(Please note that the board voted at the March meeting to suspend renewal notices until a later date due to the coronavirus shut down. These names are for reference only).

Membership “Welcome Surveys”: Sheena reported that we received -0- new surveys in July.

5. Unfinished Business:

1. 1. • 1. Bar code requests: None.

1. 1. • 2. Upcoming Programs:

b. September 2020: Depending on the situation with the coronavirus, we may want to reschedule those meetings that got cancelled in March and April. Suggestions were Chris Kresge in September; Sheena’s friend Brittney on taxes on October 19^th; maybe some sort of a songwriters’ showcase in November; and business Side Door on ticketing.

4. Web Reports:

1. Current Email Subscribers: David reported that, as of 8/01/20, COMBO has 2,594 subscribers which is up from the 2,593 reported at the 7/12/20 Board Meeting. As of the July 30^th newsletter, we had 18% opens and 3% click thrus. (As an FYI, as of July 23^rd, we had 32% opens and 6% click thrus).

2. Twitter Account Followers: David reported that, as of 8/01/20, COMBO has 7,778 followers which is down from 7,789 followers as of the 7/12/20 report.

3. Facebook Account Activity: David reported that, as of 8/01/20, COMBO received 1,462 “likes” which is up from 1,455 “likes” as of the 7/12/20 report.

4. Facebook Analytics – Angela Whaley: Page Views up/down _____%; Post Reach up by _____%; Post Engagement up _____%; Page Likes are up/down _____%; Page Followers up/down _____% (Angela did not get the percentages).

5. Google Analytics Report: David reported that in July 2020 there were 4,878 “Sessions” which is up 24% from July 2019 when it was 3,650. The most viewed article in July 2020 was a story regarding a call for justice for Elijah McClain and, strangely, a “Buyer Beware” story on Lou Pearlman stealing from *NSYNC which appeared 12/19/19.

In July, our website got traffic from the following sources: we had 50% Google searches; 15% social media; 12.5 referrals; 9% direct; and 6.5 e-mail.

Reminder – Our Facebook address is:

http://www.Facebook.com/ColoradoMusicBusinessOrganization

4. Songs on the COMBO Website Player for August 2020: Lee Bagby:2

● “Shanna in a Dress” – Blindfold w/Joy Adams

● “The Marriage Song” – Lisa Selle

● “Washington Park CMA” – Kusogea Nobi – Part 1

● “Santa Fe Slangpolska Polonaisse” – Sandra Wong w/Ross Martin

● “Greasy Coat” – fiddle tune on cello by Joy Adams

https://www.facebook.com/sandra.wong.908

Photo: Sandra Wong (photo from her Facebook page)

4. COMBO YouTube Channel Uploads: Added an edited version of the July 27^th Zoom meeting.

4. Ombudsman Program – Annette Cannon: Nothing for July.

4. Meeting Space Ideas: Still need to check on the Roxy on Broadway which looks like it has reopened. But do we want to hold in-person meetings since the virus still rages? We’ll put this on hold for the time being.

4. Designation for Funds: Payment of bill for mask order (about $324 with tax).

4. Purchase of Promotional Merchandise Items: Barb ordered 100 face masks at $3.00 each in black with the white logo (similar to the t-shirts we had before). The logo is to be offset to the side of the face and will be no larger than 2 ½”.

4. Promotion/Advertising: Facebook ad for the ZOOM meeting in July.

4. Girls & Science Expo: Nothing at this time. On hold until ??? the virus is knocked out.

13. Posting on Facebook: Sheena posted one article.

14. Secretary: We still need a secretary! Thanks to Angela for July’s Minutes!

15. Board Member Bio’s – David & Sheena: Barb’s is up!

16. Website Update. David has been testing out the “members only” section. We have had inquiries from a couple of members about how to “get in!”

17: Storage for COMBO Stuff: Barb will move some of the COMBO boxes to her neighbor’s unit. Barb will contact Mark about moving the stuff he has. Barb will contact Lee and work out a date for her to move the stuff from Mark’s house to Lee’s.

18. COMBO Organization By-Laws: We approved changes to the first two sections. We tabled this until September.

19. California Law on Sub-Contractors: Update: Still a big deal with the Uber and Lyft drivers. Until that is settled, and the clubs/bars presenting live music are opened again (closed due to the coronavirus), the musicians are still “dangling.”

20. Reopening of Bars, Clubs & Theaters: Quite a few have reopened at 50% capacity and with special guidelines. However, due to the uptick in coronavirus cases, many have had to shut down again. Colorado Senator Michael Bennett is a co-sponsor of the ENCORES Act which will provide funding for clubs, theaters, and other venues shut down by the pandemic to help them with rent, mortgages, and so on. Please call your senators (Bennett and Gardner) to ask them to vote for the bill.

21. ZOOM Account: Angela has set up a Zoom account for our meetings. The numbers will remain the same.

6. New Business:

1. Google Account: Free but we’d like to upgrade it. Will cost around $12-$18 per month. David will work on this.

2. GoFundMe Set-up for Ryan McPherson: Annette mentioned that an account for Ryan, singer for NightWolf who was injured trying to save a man who got shot outside the nightclub the band was performing at. The man died, and Ryan spent a couple of weeks in the hospital for a head injury.

3. Songwriting Contest for 2021: David ran into Rob Roper who asked about the annual Songwriting Contest. David told him that we needed someone to run it so Rob volunteered! We will need to keep our eyes out for potential judges – which became a serious problem in running the contest. Judges need to be willing to make a short critique on each song, preferably “positive” ones. Because the songs are uploaded to Drop Box, the judge can listed on their own times.

7. Reports

1. Book, Movie, and Featured Member(s) for July 2020: None.

2. July 27, 2020 General Meeting: Kori Hazel wrote an article in 303 Magazine about the lack of diversity in the Buying & Booking part of the Music Industry. David, Sheena & Alex took the initiative to set up a meeting on this subject. They invited several music industry people to join us for a ZOOM meeting to discuss the subject. We had 22 attendees. Barb invited Duane Taylor of DT Entertainment to join us. He started his own booking agency and specializes in high-end events (black tie affairs and dinner concerts). Barb did not hear back from Duane. David also invited Erica Brown to join us as she has been writing posts on Facebook lately about the lack of people of color in the industry. Erica declined as she felt we needed to have representatives from companies like Live Nation and AEG. VIP guests who did join us were Ean Tafoya (UMS Community Engagement Director, and host and DJ at KGNU, k/a Mr. Denver. VP of City Park Jazz, 420 Festival, Black Actors Guild, and CO Festivals & Events Association), Kori Hazel (writer of the original 303 Magazine article), Andy “ROK” Guerrero (Flobots, UCD professor) and Andrea Barela (with the Cinqo de Mayo festival).

Denver’s Music Industry Lacks Diversity Where It Counts

3. Colorado Springs Meeting: Tabled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

4. Denver Balanced Breakfast: No local live meetings; continue to hold Zoom meetings from San Francisco, BB headquarters.

5. Denver Open Media Open Music Sessions: No meeting in July due to the holiday weekend. They are still posting videos of previously taped bands’ performances. They were going to move to a new, renovated building at 20^th & Arapahoe. Barb went to their website to check for “news” and found that they are running a song contest! She notes that they still have the 700 Kalamath address listed.

https://www.denveropenmedia.org/

6. Mental Wellness Discussion Group Meeting – Angela Whaley’s report: Nothing new.

Mental Wellness Meetup now meets weekly every Monday, 6-7pm via Zoom. Consider doing a Netflix Party for a COMBO music watch party?

7. Women’s Groups

a. She.E.O.: No report.

b. Women Crush Music: No report.

c. Setting the Stage with Julie Gellar: Julie sent another update as well as posting a new song which she and her band worked on via ZOOM.

8. Items for Newsletters/Announcements: Post an update on Ryan McPherson.

9. Next General Meeting: Monday, August 24, 2020 at 7:00 p.m. via ZOOM. Diversity in the Music Industry – Part II.

10. Next Board Meeting: Sunday, September 13^th, 2020 (late due to the Labor Day Holiday) – 7:00 p.m. Zoom conference.

11. Meeting Adjourned at 8:38 p.m.

___________________________________

Barb Dye, Acting secretary