25 years later, Duluth's Homegrown festival has expanded dramatically. Does artist pay reflect that?

CATHY WURZER: Well, speaking of music, it's the 25th anniversary of the Duluth Homegrown Music Festival. Venues ranging from the DECC, the big arena on the waterfront, to small distilleries and cafes that are hosting local bands all week long.

The event started as a two night birthday party of Duluth musician Scott Starfire Lunt. It has swelled to eight days. But while the music scene has expanded dramatically, the ticket prices and the compensation to the artists who make it great has not.

Here to dive into that as Duluth News Tribune reporter Jay Gabler. Hey, Jay.

JAY GABLER: Good afternoon, Cathy.

CATHY WURZER: Hey, tell us about Homegrown, one of those music festivals that draws lots of people. Paint a picture for us.

JAY GABLER: There is nothing quite like Homegrown. It's almost like the Duluth Mardi Gras, where people just fill the streets in the neighborhoods where music is happening. It goes to different neighborhoods. Every night, people just hop from venue to venue.

It's this massive, eight day festival taking place over the course of the eight days at over 30 venues with over 150 different artists. And what's really unique about this festival for a festival of this size is that every musician who plays in Homegrown is either based in Duluth or Superior or has a significant history here. So it's really a celebration of the Duluth and Superior Twin Ports music scene.

CATHY WURZER: Is there a specific genre of music that speaks to Duluth?

JAY GABLER: Well, you know, Duluth sort of has a reputation as being kind of a banjos and flannel town. But I can tell you, that's not entirely accurate. Yes, yes, there is a lot of Americana music that happens here. Trampled by Turtles, of course, very famous band who came out of Duluth.

But there's hip hop music here. There's electronic music here. There's synthwave. There's just a little bit of everything. So when you go to Homegrown, you never know quite what you're going to get.

CATHY WURZER: So I have not gone to Homegrown. People who have say it's just fantastic. As you say, it's like Mardi Gras in the Twin Ports there. A ticket for the entire week is $40, which seems like a heck of a deal given the number of bands you can see, right?

So I know you've been talking to artists who have some concerns that that low ticket price, $40, kind of undervalues the artists who are performing.

JAY GABLER: Yeah, this is a conversation that has been going on for a long time. It kind of came up last year. I saw some social media posts. And so this year, I reached out to a few artists to talk about Homegrown and the economics of it.

And the thing is, as you mentioned, Cathy, it started as a birthday party for Scott Starfire Lunt. And it's always been a celebration of community, so the emphasis has always been on access. Organizers want to keep ticket prices low so that as many people can go as possible. Musicians want to play, no matter what stage of their career they're at, because it's just this big community festival.

But some artists now are having concerns that as the Duluth economy grows, as the tourism economy grows, and as you were saying, Cathy, the ticket prices have not grown that quickly, that it's not just about Homegrown itself. But some artists, including I talked to Sarah Krueger who performs as Lanue, she had a tweet thread, very interesting on this, last year.

And she's concerned that Homegrown, as joyous an event as it is, sets a tone for the music scene throughout the year so that if you can pay $40 during the year's biggest music event to see eight solid days of music, well, are you really going to feel like $10 is a worthwhile price to pay for one night of music, where you might just see a few bands?

CATHY WURZER: By the way, if you're an artist, do you get a stipend? How much do you get?

JAY GABLER: You get $100.

CATHY WURZER: What?

JAY GABLER: And that's actually-- yeah, $100. And whether you're a solo artist or a band, that's what you get. It's the same for everyone. And it's actually up by a third since last year. Last year, wristbands were $30, and artists got $75 each. This year, it costs $40 for the full week of music, and artists each get $100.

CATHY WURZER: OK. Well, so do musicians still feel it's worth their time to perform at Homegrown?

JAY GABLER: The musicians I talk to by and large say yes. And organizers tell me there are still a ton of musicians who come out every year and want to be a part of this and want to see it. And of course, the crowds are big.

It is such a warm, wonderful event that people do want to be a part of it. But there is a conversation happening now about how much is music worth in Duluth during Homegrown and throughout the year?

And do we need to have a conversation about what needs to happen during Homegrown and really throughout the year at various venues, at various events in the city of Duluth and the Twin Ports community to help artists keep a sustainable living here so that it's not a situation where you start a band, it starts to be successful, and now you have to move to the Twin Cities or who knows where else to actually make a living at it. What can we do to help those artists stay here in Duluth?

CATHY WURZER: What are some of the ideas? I mean, you look at other music festivals like-- what is that? In Winona-- Midwest Music Fest, right, in Winona? And that's coming up, too. I mean, can you look at other music festivals around Minnesota as a way to maybe increase stipends for the artists and to make it worth their while and to grow it?

JAY GABLER: Yeah, it could be. I did take that as a point of comparison because there's a festival, as you say. It's a festival that takes place two different weekends, one weekend in Winona, Minnesota, one week in La Crosse, Wisconsin. And that festival costs about $80 for just one weekend of music, so it's about twice what you pay for eight days at Homegrown.

Now, in fairness, the Midwest Music Fest books more widely. It books some bigger regional acts, even some national acts, so you are getting some bigger names for your ticket price. But I think when you look at other fests that are maybe as comparable as possible to Homegrown-- there's nothing quite like Homegrown.

But when you do look at other big regional music festivals, you do see that they are able to charge more. So that is a question. Could organizers, should organizers charge more for Homegrown? For-- excuse me, for Homegrown.

CATHY WURZER: OK, so this is the situation in front of us. Let's talk a little bit about the actual music that you'll be listening to. Now, I should say, by the way, congratulations. I'm very proud that you're in Duluth at The News Tribune. You were of course here in the cities at the Current, so you know music really, really well. Is this going to be the first time you'll be getting to go to Homegrown?

JAY GABLER: It is, actually. I wasn't able to get up here for Homegrown when I was living in the cities, and last year, unfortunately, I was sick when Homegrown happened. So this is going to be my first Homegrown. I'm super excited, Cathy.

CATHY WURZER: OK, so what's your plan here? What's your plan of attack when it comes to who you're going to see and when?

JAY GABLER: I've got my notes ready. The big nights for me, first of all, tomorrow night. Tuesday is the night that there's going to be Homegrown music at the DECC, as you were mentioning. That's the big arena down on the harbor, and actually many venues within the DECC.

But where music is going to be happening for Homegrown is in the DECC arena. That's the historic arena where Elvis played, where Bob Dylan played. So that'll be just fun, to see Homegrown in that venue. But poignantly, one of the artists booked to play tomorrow night as part of Homegrown at the DECC is a band called AfroGeode and the Gemstones.

It's a band that was fronted by an incredible musician and just incredible community member named Diona Johnson, who, tragically, died just a couple of weeks ago, very suddenly. So this is going to be the first time her band, the Gemstones, will be performing without her, and this is going to be, they say, a tribute to Diona Johnson. So that will be-- that's a priority for me, for sure.

CATHY WURZER: For some reason, when you say the DECC is historic, I just don't see it that way. It doesn't strike me as a historic venue. But I get what you're saying, in terms of who's been there.

JAY GABLER: Duluth likes talking about things as historic, but there is a lot of history up here. Some of it is newer. Some of it is older. But yeah, we like to emphasize the history.

CATHY WURZER: Anything-- any of the smaller groups you're going to be watching?

JAY GABLER: Well, on Saturday, I'm going to be going to Pizza Lucé to see this band. I don't even call them a small group anymore because they are kind of legendary. It's a band called All the Pretty Horses fronted by-- yeah, Minnesota music legend Venus Demars, who grew up in Duluth and then has been based in Minneapolis for a long time.

But I talked to Venus about Homegrown, and she said she just loves to come back every year and have that hometown cred and get to be a part of this music community again for that weekend. So I can't wait to see All the Pretty Horses playing at Pizza Lucé this weekend.

CATHY WURZER: All right. I wish you well. We'll be reading your stuff in the Duluth News Tribune. Jay Gabler, it's a pleasure. Thank you so much.

JAY GABLER: Thank you, Cathy.

CATHY WURZER: That's Jay. Homegrown runs through Sunday, May 7th, and all shows are in Duluth except for the Soup Town night, which is Thursday when shows are in Superior.