Copyright © 2005 Caroline Facella

The 5th annual Florida Music Festival welcomes the music, film and interactive gaming industry and artistic community to sunny Downtown Orlando May 17th-20th for more than 40 screenings, 250 music showcases and three full days of industry panels.

In its five years bands have received record deals, filmmakers have developed production relationships, and reputable industry reps have networked the Southeast. FMF creates an opportunity for visual and aural artists to further their creative process while cemented industry leads that will prove profitable in both art and commerce.

Coming back for its second year as part of the Florida Music Festival, the 2006 Indie Film Jam is now a nationwide short film and music video competition.

| Official Site |

While I think this festival has outgrown its breeches a bit, it can be fun. With so many bands and the confusing amount of venues to navigate it is easy to miss that one great band. The layout and structure of the event also doesn’t seem to lend itself well to lesser known bands trying to rise in the ranks of the local music scene. They get stuffed in the crappy timeslots and the dark corners of the least known venues. With the adding of the film competition the task of getting your money’s worth is made even more difficult.

However the adventurous nature of stumbling into a venue you never go to and hearing new band can make it all worth while. Who knows, you might even get lucky and discover a band bringing something new to the scence. Then again with the amount of cookie cutter bands flooding the indie scene these days, maybe not. Thank heavens for beer specials.

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