Indie Ambassador

with Ben Maitland-Lewis

In case you haven’t heard, Sonicbids recently acquired budding music tech start-up, ArtistData and plans to fully integrate their social-sync software into the Sonicbids platform by September. This is a big move for Sonicbids and one that definitely gives their users more power to not only book gigs, but promote them with relative ease.   I’ve been a user of both services and see the  benefits of the acquisition, but I’m still not sold on Sonicbids' service for artists.

I've used Sonicbids for different projects as an artist and promoter.  I was happier as a promoter because it allowed me to expose my brand and field submissions while also sharing in submission revenue.  Nothing to complain about there...  For the artist account, we had to pay a monthly subscription fee to maintain a profile and then drop anywhere between $2-$30 to apply for any  "opportunities" the band was interested in.  As an active band, we didn't find it worth while to drop hundreds of dollars a month on a chance to play a show or be reviewed in a zine.  That said, when I do use Sonicbids it's strictly for their promoter service.

ArtistData has some great tools, but most notably it allows users to enter show data in one location and sync it with their social networks, show listing sites and publications across the web.  It saves a lot of time and energy and has become quite popular among independent artists that don't have interns updating their profiles all day long.

Now fast forward to the acquisition... A band can submit to a gig online, and if chosen from among the thousands of other bands submitting, they can announce the show to the universe with a few simple clicks.  This is a cool application and definitely adds value to any artist promoting shows or even a promoter getting exposure for an event or product.  The real question in all of this is whether Sonicbids can integrate the social-sync platform in a way that preserves the non-paying community currently using ArtistData.

Panos Panay, a fellow Berklee Grad, started Sonicbids in 2001 when eCommerce was in its infancy, online subscription services weren't popular and people didn't trust companies to store their credit card information securely.  They stuck it out, growing modestly over the last decade and now that people are conditioned to online subscription billing their growth of late has been much stronger.

Both companies remain extremely accessible throughout the integration process. Sonicbids created an FAQ page and  Brenden from ArtistData is answering questions on a message board.  I appreciate their personal approach and feel that keeping users in the loop is  a necessity.  So far, the reaction from ArtistData users is relatively negative, mostly questioning Sonicbids' real intentions. Are they looking out for the artist or the promoter? We'll see how everyone feels once the full integration is released later this summer.

More coverage on the acquisition: ArtistData - Brenden’s letter Sonicbids - Panos' letter TechCrunch - Sonicbids Aquires ArtistData HypeBot –  Sonicbids Aquires ArtistData

Chris Cave also contributed to this post.