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Musician’s
Referral Service Celebrates 19th Year Dick
McVey Estimates He Has Referred More Than 10,000 Musicians For Jobs [Nashville]
– When Dick
McVey founded the Musician’s Referral Service in Nashville in 1986, he had
little idea it would be so successful. After
19 years, McVey says he estimates he has generated more than 10,000 calls to
musicians for auditions and working situations. The
idea for the Musician’s Referral Service came from McVey’s personal
experiences in Nashville. “Being
a struggling musician myself, I knew there were a lot more musicians than
jobs,” McVey states. “I would
go to the Musicians’ Union and to music stores and see people getting names of
available musicians off the bulletin board.
I decided to put out a list of those available musicians’ names in the
hands of everybody I thought might hire a musician – and it worked.”
McVey’s
list of musicians is updated on the 15th of each month and goes to
agents, managers, artists, bands, night clubs, music stores and, according to
McVey, “anybody else we think might hire a musician.”
The list is distributed via regular mail, faxing, email, and his website at www.dickmcvey.com.
“We normally hit about 1,000 potential employers each month,” McVey
says, “and being on the Internet there is no telling how many more people are
using our service.” McVey charges a monthly fee of $15 a month to be placed on
the List and the Internet, or an annual fee of $125 for 12 months
of service. “It’s well worth the money,” says McVey. “A couple of
calls will pay for the entire year.” McVey
is also proud of the number of major artists who have used the service. “We get calls from major artists each year to help fill
spots in their bands,” he relates. “Our
musicians have auditioned and / or gotten jobs with stars like Alan Jackson,
Randy Travis, Lorrie Morgan, and George Jones, just to name a few.
It’s always rewarding to see a musician get their ‘dream’ job.” The
Musician’s Referral Service also places musicians with road bands, on cruise
ships, in theaters, entertainment parks, with weekend bands and in emergency
fill-in or sub situations. “We
try and cover it all and in the past I think we’ve seen every scenario,”
McVey adds. The most unusual
request came from a family who wanted someone to play “Amazing Grace” on the
bagpipes at a funeral. The
Musician’s Referral Service came through. McVey,
who also operates Moonlight Recording Studio and All Star Publicity, says he
intends to operate the Referral Service as long as there is a need. “As long as it works for the musicians and is truly a
‘service’ to the Nashville music community we’ll be around,” he
concludes. For
further information, you may contact McVey at 615-264-3637.
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