Bands cart thousands of dollars worth of gear around and spend hundreds getting to a gig in the next state only to get paid $50 at the end of the night. That’s how you know you’re in it for all the right reasons. And if you love a band who’s in it for all the right reasons or are a band who just laughed their arse off because you know exactly what we’re talking about: read on.
Songkick lets you track all your favourite musicians & sends you personalised updates informing you when one of them is performing near you. Brilliant huh?
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll have heard of Songkick. But if by chance you have been spending all of your time in the wilderness somewhere, we’ll explain. Songkick is a website which allows you to track all your favourite musicians and sends you custom updates letting you know when one of them is performing in your area. Brilliant huh?
For Music Fans
Gone are the days of getting (mostly spam) emails from every venue and record label under the sun in the hopes of getting news on your favourite band’s touring schedule. Songkick creates a hub of information – a single place where you can go to find live shows in your area. It integrates with web sites and Facebook as well (nerds call this an API) which means you can have a stream of shows set up on your very own platforms.
Once you sign up, you track the artists you like by searching through the site, or uploading your favourites in bulk from your iTunes. Or if you’re just in the mood for some live tunes on a Friday night, you can check out what gigs are playing in your city by using their locations feature.
For Bands
So now we’ve convinced you how good it is for a music lover, let’s talk a little bit about why it’s great for a music maker. Songkick isn’t just focused on big acts – with the aim of having the most comprehensive database of upcoming shows around the world, there are just as many (if not more) gigs from the small guys down the local pub as there are stadium shows in New York.
By integrating the Songkick API (yes, we’re nerds) with your band’s Facebook page you can create a tab in your menu called “Tour Dates”. This means that all the gigs you list on your Songkick account automatically appear here. It’s an easy way to keep the Facebook world up to date on your tours, and makes you look like you know what you’re doing.
Claiming over one billion users, this is an amazing platform for any band, but especially the little guys. By listing your upcoming gigs, they will be seen by everyone looking for shows in their area, meaning a huge amount of exposure to potential fans who otherwise might not have heard of you.
And if you’re worried that you’re not the most tech-savvy individual, don’t. The back end is super user friendly. When you list a gig you have the option to sell tickets through the site, or link to an outside URL (ie. the gig or promoter) and there are customisable buttons that you can link to wherever you like, allowing you to promote presale, merch or anything else you’ve got going on. You’ve got no excuse!
The other nifty feature they have is the ability to upload events as drafts and schedule them to go live on the day they’re announced to the public. No more scrambling around five minutes after the announce to get details online.
Songkick on Happy
As you can tell, we’re big fans. Such big fans in fact, that we’re using Songkick to drive our new Gig Guide. With a little development help from our friends at IYBI (we may be nerds, but we’ve got nothing on them). That means that you can find out what’s on in your city through Happy!
It’s a big step for us and we’re pretty pumped. We’re still in beta mode, but head on over and check it out. Find a band you’ve never heard of and go see their show. Who knows, they could be your new favourite!
