SONG CONTEST BLOG

Battle-of-the-bands site, OurStage, signed a deal with concert giant, Live Nation, last month to offer its members the opportunity to fill high-profile opening slots.  Through the OurStage Marketplace, participating artists can create a free electronic press kit for venue promoter’s consideration.  The model is strikingly similar to Sonicbids, the leader in the artist-to-promoter submission business.  OurStage has raised a staggering $20m since its launch in 2007 and, although the site’s traffic volume has dropped since its high profile inauguration, it appears that it is gaining renewed traction, boasting a healthy advertising model and strong reputation among the independent community.

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Sonicbids, the leading online event submission platform, has released a series of plugins for its 14,000+ promoters to better gauge the online presence and reach of the artists they may wish to book through the site.  Now, when an artist submits his EPK (Electronic Press Kit) for an event through Sonicbids, the event’s promoter will have access to third-party, public data from Last.fm, Twitter and Google.  As such, in addition to reviewing the artist’s content on Sonicbids, a snapshot of number of plays, listeners, mentions, links and posts across other networks should support and streamline the promoter’s selection process.

Sonicbids is home to 150,000 artists and bands, offering an event marketplace for artists to find gigs, and for promoters to secure talent.  The site caters to every imaginable music industry sector, with a strong focus on live performances at leading music festivals and conferences, including SXSW, CMJ, Popkomm, Midem, and MusicExpo.