Music to No...

  

The Music to Know Festival, slated for an inaugural weekend (Aug. 13-14, East Hampton) of live bands, “VIP tents with premium alcohol and specially-curated food service,” has withered and died like a neglected house plant.  As we know, anything that sustains life must be fed, nurtured and watered—in the Hamptons social circuit, this typically comes in the form of PR and corporate sponsors and the dearth of both has killed MTK during germination.

According to a blog on the NY Times, ticket sales were not sufficient enough to cover costs and the MTK launch was scrubbed on the pad.  Demanding $195 for General Admission while (attempting to) command $645 for the “VIP Program,” left the MTK crew with a surplus of stubs. 

spyehampton scoured the web for the real scoop on the debacle, but this only left us with more questions.  Such as: Where was the initial PR?  Why no social media?  What is your phone number?

While no one really wins in this type of situation, our hats go off to the verdant Escape to New York Festival (www.escape2ny.com), who agreed to honor Music to Know tickets at their event in Southampton.  

A visit to www.musictoknow.com left us with more questions than it did answers. 

Despite the bailout from Escape to New York, Music to Know gets a credit downgrade.

Nevertheless, spyehampton has a heart and is perturbed by the plethora of blogs and press which have been published using this debacle as a conduit to trash the Hamptons.  Certain blogs, citing traffic, lack of hotels and poor transportation as the deterrents that unwound this event, are way off the mark. 


-Blogs stating that this event was to be held in an inconvenient location have never been to the Hamptons.


-Critics citing transportation to the Hamptons have never experienced the impressive convenience of a LIRR cannonball.


-The traffic argument is a shotgun attack--traffic can occur anywhere, incuding but not limited to: New Jersey, Canada and Manhattan.  Anyone who has partied or dined out East this summer knows that congestion is actually lighter than normal, save the holiday weekends. 


*     *     *


Let us all use this as an opportunity to learn and relax.  Rethinking PR strategy is probably a good idea.  Amateurs writing rubbish about locations they have never visited is probably not a good idea.  With nightclubs and hotels hopping and restaurant reservations in high-demand, one failed music festival is a blip on spyehampton's radar screen.