Story and photos by Addison Conley
MTSU Seigenthaler News Service
In the heart of Bonnaroo lies Planet Roo, an area of the festival where organizations set up tents to spread their messages about a variety of topics, from environmentalism to social justice.
One organization offers a different kind of message. The Nashville-based group Pitch Meeting is about music, and this year they are giving Bonnaroo attendees a chance to promote and showcase their original music with a professional band.
Eric Fortaleza is the founder and musical director of the nonprofit Pitch Music.
Fortaleza, 33, moved to Nashville from his native Australia four years ago as a touring artist. In the years since, Fortaleza has toured across Europe, the United States and Canada, opening for artists like Blake Shelton and playing at iconic venues such as the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville.
As his career took off, Fortaleza came to a realization.
“When I got to that point in my career, playing for 20,000 people, I realized that eventually, artists that get to that point have a compromise in their music,” he said. “They compromise a certain aspect of their musical direction.”
Intent on helping new artists maintain their artistic integrity, Fortaleza started Pitch Meeting.
“I’m trying to create another path for artists to create their music and get to that point, but never compromise their music,” he said.
Fortaleza’s concept is simple: provide musical artists with the opportunity to have their music fronted by a band of professionals. What makes Pitch Meeting stand out is that this opportunity is completely free.
“Our mission statement as a non-profit organization is ‘music done the right way for the right reasons.’ Everyone is trying to find out what that means [to them], so if you have more questions than answers, this is the right community for you,” said Fortaleza.
Pitch Meeting started in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic as music venues in Nashville slowly began to offer live entertainment again. What started as a five-piece band has more than doubled in the past three years, and is now a 12 piece band that backs up singer-songwriters live on the spot.
“If you’re a songwriter or a musician and you want the chance to play your song with a full band, just like what we did here at Bonnaroo, you just show up,” said Fortaleza.
The organization meets every Tuesday at Eastside Bowl in Nashville at 7 p.m. and the sign-up sheet for the open mic fills up fast. There is only one requirement – original music only.
The weekly event is all ages and free, so it creates a great networking environment for college students in the Nashville area, Fortaleza noted.
One of the interns working with the group at Bonnaroo is Will (last name), an audio production student at Middle Tennessee State University.
“As a nonprofit, we try to surround ourselves with artists that we believe in, that believe in our mission of music done the right way for the right reasons,” said Fortaleza. Pitch Meeting has created a community of musicians and songwriters, both in the Nashville area and at Bonnaroo, that lift each other up and help each other grow as artists. As Fortaleza says, “the best way to the top is together.”
Addison Conley is a staff writer for MTSU Sidelines.
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