Frequently Asked Questions

Blow is a list of frequently asked questions (FAQs) about the Bradford Music Collective. If there is anything you'd like to know that isn't covered, please contact us.

  1. What's it all about?
  2. Doesn't Bradford get a bad press?
  3. Aren't there are some venues missing?
  4. How can I get involved?
  5. Does the BMC only cover the city centre?
  6. Are you covering bands?
  7. Can I submit news for your feed?
  8. Can I submit news for a non-BMC listed venue?
  9. I've seen it all before...
  10. How is the BMC funded?

So what's it all about then?

We set up this collective originally in September 2008. Back then it was nothing more than a small group of people talking about their own events and trying to think of ideas for cross promotion. The biggest example which did come from that time was Hades night, which was cross promoted between an event at the University and nights at the Mannville Arms. It took 12 more months until we got into a position to move forward properly. Now refocused, we aim to be an information resource for what is going on around Bradford, the cross promotion is achieved more effectively by advertising the website and we believe that if everyone chips in, then it will be ultimately better for all concerned. It is all about promoting Bradford as a package as much as possible and hopefully becoming greater than the sum of its parts.

But Bradford is dangerous, right? We are always hearing about bad things in the media.

Bradford is in reality no worse than any other city. The city centre is well lit, well policed and there is a good amount of CCTV. We are a city which is built on immigration and so we have a diverse and generally tolerant populous.

Wait a minute, you have a list of venues there but there are some missing, why is this?

Whilst we are working to include as many people / places as possible to make the collective as extensive as we can, there are some venues and promoters which have chosen not to be involved in joint ventures and prefer to do their own thing. Thankfully for us (and you, the reader), they are in the minority. Of course there are always people we haven't got around to speaking to / hearing from yet so if you feel you are one of them, then we haven't been ignoring you on purpose. Everyone on the list so far has been positive about the idea or agreed to take part and we haven't blindly added them to our site.

I run a music related venue / event, can I please get involved? / Can you please put a link to my website?

Of course! We are always eager to hear from anybody. Simply go to the Contact Us page and tell us more.

Is the site aimed at just city centre places and events?

For the time being, yes. The reason for this is that a lot of our target audience are the newcomers to Bradford and those who have perhaps not ventured into town for a good few years. We are hoping to dispel the rumour that there is nowhere to go in Bradford city centre by providing a body of places where people can visit. There are many fine establishments slightly out of town and we will hopefully cover those at a later date.

Are you covering bands?

We will certainly publish reviews of live gigs and CDs and links to any relevant websites contained therein. We are not focussing on putting links to band sites in our resources section particularly, because they can be difficult to maintain. Bands come and go fairly quickly and we would like to keep the site as up to date and relevant as possible.

Can I submit a review / interview / flyer / gig dates for inclusion in your news feed?

Yes, please do! We would love to include as much content as possible to provide the best information we can. Even if it is just a small Tweet you would like us to put out rather than a full article.

But what if my review / advert is for a band which has played / is playing at a non-participating venue or promoter?

Just because a venue does not want coverage, should not mean that the band does not get coverage. Please feel free to submit whatever you like. If it is relevant to Bradford music, then go for it!

I have seen this sort of thing before and it usually falls apart after nothing more than a lot of hot air?

Yes, this is something which we have noticed ourselves. There are countless Bradford music scene based MySpace and Facebook groups which have not even been touched for years if not months. Whilst at the time of writing we are still waiting for some fundamental information relating to some of the venues, we are actively building up and maintaining what we can. We are only as good as our content much like any other web resource and we can't get round everywhere all of the time. Basically, the more people contribute, the better the site will be for everybody. Most of the core parties involved have many years experience between them both of hosting and running events as well as playing in bands themselves.

So how is it all funded then?

In short, it is not. Although it is a collective which contains businesses, the main core of the work is done independently on a voluntary basis by people who feel passionately about Bradford music. It is a not for profit organisation.