From The RCBS Board - Membership Requirement for Bands being paid to perform at RCBS Series events

[Hoodoo Rhythm]

The Officers and Board of the River City Blues Society have debated
establishing a “Band Membership” or alternately, establishing a
minimum membership threshold for Bands wishing to participate in the
various event series we sponsor for well over a year. The topic has
been repeatedly discussed at both Board and General Membership
meetings. The decision to use individual membership as the criteria
was based primarily on the fluid nature of band lineups. Band members
come and go, as do the bands themselves. By choosing to base
eligibility on bands maintaining a minimum percentage of RCBS members
it eases the administrative burden on both the bands and the Society.
It also eliminates the issue of what happens to a band membership when
a band dissolves or re-forms.

RCBS depends on membership dues for a significant portion of our
revenue, and relies exclusively on member participation for
operations. We encourage members to participate, express their views,
share ideas, and debate the issues that confront us as we work to keep
Blues alive and vibrant in our region. We take our responsibility as
your Board very seriously, and endeavor to make RCBS as inclusive as
possible. At the same time, we must ensure the Society has a sound
financial base, to maintain growth, and to be able to continue
bringing the music we so love to our community.

Because our efforts to encourage voluntary membership and increased
participation in Society Events and Series by bands were less than
successful, we decided to to mandate a minimum, and in our view
reasonable, membership standard for bands. By asking bands to maintain
at least 2/3 of their lineup as current members of RCBS we help ensure
a more robust membership while giving bands flexibility in how they
satisfy that requirement. We understand there will be concerns over
the new standard, appreciate the dynamic nature of band composition,
and empathize with those that may have special needs. We have tried to
foresee and eliminate issues by building in an exemption to address
guest artists, and by limiting applicability of the standard to only
our sponsored series, have exempted touring acts and other performance-
based social or fundraising activities. We hope that together we can
overcome any specific issues and continue our mutual goal of
preserving, promoting, and perpetuating the Blues as an original
American art form.

We deeply appreciate, and publicly acknowledge the voluntary efforts
by the bands and individual musicians who time after time, month after
month, day in and day out, support not only the Society, but their
fellow musicians. You know who you are, and we do too. We thank you
for your efforts and for your generosity. To the members that attend
the events we sponsor, that bring their friends to our shows, that
sacrifice time, effort and money to staff our events and spread the
word, to you also, we say Thank You.

Collectively you are the lifeblood of this Society.

We serve all of you to the best of our ability, and strive to put the
needs of the Society first in everything we do. That is why we made
the change, and sent the following message to the bands.

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This letter is to let you know about an upcoming change to the
eligibility requirements for River City Blues Society bookings at the
Capital Ale House, Bleu Bistro and any regularly scheduled events we
might sponsor.

RCBS is a 501c(3) charity, but more importantly, we are a volunteer-
based organization. Since the bands that are performing at the various
event series we sponsor are being compensated, the Board of Directors
has passed an administrative change to our procedure for determining
eligibility for the event series.

As of June 1, 2009, a minimum of 2/3 of each band’s regular line-up
(guest artists are excluded for their first appearance only) must be
members of the RCBS to be eligible for bookings that provide
compensation to the artists. This applies only to regularly scheduled
series like “Brews and Blues” and does not apply to fundraising or
other one-time events.

It does not affect band or calendar listings on the website, nor will
any visible distinction be made on the website between bands that do
or don’t meet these new requirements.

Currently the “Wednesdays are Bluesdays” series at Bleu Bistro is
booked through the end of May so there is no impact on that schedule.

Capital Ale House “Brews and Blues” series has bookings scheduled
after June 1st. If your band is scheduled to perform at Capital Ale
after June 1st you have until May 1st to do one of two things. You may
either meet the requirement by having the required number of personnel
join the Society, or you may notify us that you do not intend to
become eligible. If you choose to not meet the new eligibility
requirement we will cancel your booking and schedule an alternate act.

This also means we need each band to send us a list of personnel so we
can verify membership.

Both venues have RCBS tables at our shows and you can sign up there or
print the membership form from our website: wegotblues.com. Bring
your membership form or receipt to either venue to pick up your tee
shirt.

Both the Capital Ale House “Brews and Blues” and Bleu Bistro
“Wednesdays be Bluesdays” series have been well received, and have
given us a great opportunity to get the music we all love in front of
live audiences. They've also allowed us to feature the wide array of
Blues talent in our region. We hope to continue this tradition and
hope you choose to participate.

We appreciate your cooperation and look forward to continuing to see
and work with each of you.

Sincerely,

Greg Willard
President, River City Blues Society of Virginia

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