Sonicbids, the company that helps you get gigs, has acquired ArtistData, the company that helps you promote gigs. Brendan Mulligan, CEO of ArtistData, published a letter to ArtistData users talking about the transition and what it means. When I first read the news, I have to say I was pretty pissed. I have a Sonicbids membership and while they have some good exclusive gigs, parts of their system desperately need improvement. My fear was that Sonicbids would screw up ArtistData and/or lock it up for members only.

Fortunately, Brendan relieved these fears. Part of the acquisition deal was a free option for ArtistData’s services. The paid parts of ArtistData would become standard issue for Sonicbids members (yea for me!). He also said he’d be helping improve the Sonicbids system. If the amazing work he’s done with ArtistData is any indication, we can all look forward to a vastly improved Sonicbids! I’m very happy about the change in this case.

What does this mean for you? Since there will still be a free option, you can still publish your gigs through ArtistData for no cost. If you have a Sonicbids membership as well, like I do, it will mean getting some extra AD features for free. I think the biggest thing will be having Brendan and his team working with Sonicbids. I sincerely hope they’re able to help Sonicbids improve their system.

Here are some suggestions for Brendan as he helps improve their system at Sonicbids:

More granular options for gig listings. Nashville is only a four-hour drive from Cincinnati, so I have to include Ohio in my options for gig listings to see shows there. Unfortunately, Ohio is lumped in with Michigan and Pennsylvania, so I see tons of gigs that too far away for me to consider. Not to mention seeing gigs for Cleveland which is also too far away. It would be nice if you could select not only which states you’d like to see, but which parts of states, like southern Illinois vs northern Illinois or eastern, middle, or western Tennessee. Or maybe select by city. I know several musicians who fly back and forth from Nashville and Los Angeles, so it would benefit them to see gig listings in those cities, but not every city & state in between.

Improved email notifications. I’ve changed my email preferences several times and I still get daily emails with gig listings (I’ve asked for a weekly digest instead). For the last three weeks, these daily emails have included all the same gigs. While I understand why you’d relist the same upcoming deadline, if you’re going to send a daily “new listings” email, it should only include actual new listings. Not listings from two weeks ago that you’ve already either submitted to or decided to ignore. Same thing for deadlines. Maybe try sending a third email when a listing is half way over to remind people about it.

What about listing venues, period? There’s a site called indieonthemove.com that lists venues and allows bands to give their feedback about the place and their experiences there. Sonicbids could allow members to submit venues and their contact info, which could then be verified and listed in the Sonicbids database. As part of the verification process, SB could contact these venues about possibly accepting peformance offers from their members. Keeping in regular contact with venues would also give SB the most current, up-to-date venue listings around; that alone would be worth the SB membership fees! I do the booking for my band and I can’t tell you how many closed venues still have sites up with no news about them closing.

AD improvement:

Have a form to submit media. I have a habit of picking up out of town newspapers and periodicals and such, but there’s no easy way for me to submit them to your database. Crowdsource this part of the process to make your life easier!