Hi,

We've made a few significant updates to this website.
​

1. Diary. We've centralised all of our production diaries, so now you can view them all in one convenient place. Rather than having separate blogs per production, we've combined them all into one integrated diary blog where each production equates to a blog category. You'll notice when you click "Diary" in each of our production websites, they will signpost through to the relevant category in the Red & Black Music Label Diary. This way, we can keep our diaries updated, standardised and consistent.
2. Resources. We've done exactly the same here. It's much simpler to have everything all in one blog, categorised by production, rather than having separate blogs per production. This section is more relevant to clients (agents and promoters) who require our multimedia in an accessible, downloadable location. You'll also notice we've compressed collections of files into zip archives, which will speed up the download/cataloguing process.
3. Blog. We've left the blogs as they are, as they're there for different purposes: one to 
4. Diaspora Collective. Diaspora Collective was the precursor to Red & Black Music. We've re-published our original Diaspora Collective website for posterity purposes, and to broaden our online/digital archive. Check it out here: www.diasporacollective.weebly.com

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​What happened to Diaspora Collective? 

I work across the following areas of management:

• offers & engagements
• memberships
• payments
• private hires (Rory is still leading on public promotions)
• as an ongoing project, developing the Red & Black Arts Network (online database)

I realise that the issue of memberships requires some clarification, and it is worth being clear on this.

Everyone copied in on my email is a first member of this production (I'm currently tying up loose ends with a couple of members), having signed the release in April. I'm sorry that it is taken so long to provide membership certificates.

As we are not technically acting as an employer, we cannot use membership 'contracts' as such. This is why we are using 'certificates' as they are effectively casual, written agreements, which, unlike engagements (contracted on a freelance basis), are not contractually binding, i.e., they work in the same way as offers, where you are free to choose.

In theory, they outline my parameters / expectations which will hopefully be useful and informative. In practice, you are all busy freelancers, some of you working with multiple productions, so it is also an opportunity for you to stipulate your own preferences regarding your availability and / or membership within this particular production. 

I will continue to send and contract offers and engagements, so any availability and / or membership issues must go through me. For certain members, I need to know in advance any unavailability for periods of 14 days or more.

Rory will continue to produce engagements (subsequent to a gig confirmation) including devising arrangements / programmes, organising rehearsals and acting as an on-the-day liaison, as well as doing auditions, but in terms of bookings, I am responsible for all O&E.

Meanwhile, T&C (supplier) can be found here: www.redandblackmusic.co.uk/suppliers.html

My email address: redandblackevents@icloud.com

Let me know if you have any questions.

I look forward to meeting you soon.

Thanks,

Jo

In August 2012, a lead vocalist withdrew from an engagement. Diaspora Collective closed as a result of this because the way in which the incident was dealt with was considered too lenient and created a negative client situation.

Their final engagement was 6th September 2012. Diáspora + affiliated jazz and world music projects were set to go under new management.

Scroll down to the incident thread to see how the incident was resolved.

Also, it may be of interest to link this post into the Jason @ Book Live thread. The irony is that this engagement (06/09/2012) was via this agency and could have easily created a negative client situation. However, the agent critiques the exact same measures that would have prevent this situation and also similar situations occurring in future.

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​Jason @ Book Live Music & Entertainment
​Emma & Arthur
Gig confirmation re: 16/08/2014
Gig confirmation re: 23/08/2014

​Apologies if anyone has been trying to get in contact this week. The Diáspora phones are down. Please email diasporacollective@me.com. Thanks!

Recently, there has been some confusion regarding pricing and representation.

Diáspora comes 11-piece as standard, and breaks into anything down to 5-piece. This means that the possible lineups for Diáspora are 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5. Anything less than 5-piece is not Diáspora and the band performs under an affiliated name such as the name of the solo artist. Diáspora has never performed as less than 5-piece and the one time that it did perform as a 3-piece, Diáspora lost a booking because a prospective client came to see the gig, but decided not to make a booking because he was looking for a larger band, which is ironically what Diáspora is - a larger band (as the name implies)! Ever since, so that we are not confusing people (people are easily confused) Diáspora has never performed as anything less than 5-piece because it is simply not Diáspora. If you are an agent or promoter, please do not hire or bill us as 'Diáspora' or put 'Diáspora' on the contract unless it states 'Diáspora' in the original quotation.​

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The Diaspora Collective YouTube channel is our brand new portal for showcasing videos of DIÁSPORA other related Diaspora Collective projects.

View it here: www.youtube.com/diasporacollective

​Several changes coming to Diáspora this summer.

Firstly, we are pleased to announce that the band is going under the management of DIASPORA COLLECTIVE, a brand new ‘umbrella’ company that will manage and promote the band DIÁSPORA and other projects.

Secondly, we will soon be offering a London band to reduce costs for bookings in southern areas of the UK.

Thirdly, due to the imminent demise of iWeb / MobileMe :-( our old website is due to expire and a new website for both DIÁSPORA (band) and DIASPORA COLLECTIVE (management) will be launched. However, this site will remain at the same address www.diasporamusic.co.uk  There may be periods when the site is down for maintenance (around end of September / beginning of October). If you require any information/material during this time then please email us!

DIASPORA COLLECTIVE will be launched at its new home www.diasporacollective.co.uk in the early autumn.

Please note our new email address for bookings: diasporacollective@me.com

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