Your Thoughts on Sonicbids
Saturday May 3, 2008
There was a time when applying for a showcases at a music trade show or music festival meant packaging up a CD and sending it off somewhere with your promo package and crossing your fingers. These days, it seems like if you want to apply, you'd better be a member of Sonicbids. Sonicbids introduced the world to the EPK - electronic press kit - and their site is designed to make the interaction between promoters and bands go a little more smoothly (and involve a lot less postage costs). All well and good, perhaps, but not everyone is in the love with the way that Sonicbids has the showcase application scene on lockdown. After all, membership in Sonicbids isn't free, and besides, maybe some people would simply prefer not to use it. Further, some people are highly suspicious of the company, whispering about collusion with festivals to get the maximum amount of money out of applicants.
I can see both sides. Trades shows and festivals gets an enormous number of applications, and getting them all via one, paper free source can only make the evaluation process go a little easier. On the other hand, although none of the sinister stories of Sonicbids make much sense to me, I get the notion that people would like a chance to opt out of becoming a Sonicbids member and still be able to apply for showcases at trade shows. So - I want to know what you think. Do you use Sonicbids? Are you happy with it? How do you feel about them being the gatekeeper to so many important music events? Let me know your thoughts, and I'll report on the opinions I receive.
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I can see both sides. Trades shows and festivals gets an enormous number of applications, and getting them all via one, paper free source can only make the evaluation process go a little easier. On the other hand, although none of the sinister stories of Sonicbids make much sense to me, I get the notion that people would like a chance to opt out of becoming a Sonicbids member and still be able to apply for showcases at trade shows. So - I want to know what you think. Do you use Sonicbids? Are you happy with it? How do you feel about them being the gatekeeper to so many important music events? Let me know your thoughts, and I'll report on the opinions I receive.
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Comments
Telling on Trixie really digs Sonicbids. Especially being in New York, where the post offices can send a person into severe nervous breakdowns, not having to go back and forth to the post office (so much) is pretty freaking nice.
We’ve been lucky enough to be pretty busy in our first year. I would say about 75% of our shows, festivals, licenses have come from or through Sonicbids. I does help, however, if you are applying to a more competitive gig to find someone to push your application to the front of the promoter’s consciousness, Sonicbids or not. So, just applying there is not enough. Getting an old-fashioned recommendation from those on the inside can never be replaced.
Also, since bands like Telling on Trixie are doing it themselves, we bare all the cost and not having to send full CDs with postage everytime for gigs we want is a God-send. Also, Sonicbids is pretty good about coaching indie artists to be smart about the gigs to which they are applying. I don’t mind the fees, because I can be more discriminative about the opportunities I apply to, because they make the promoters describe the opportunities in detail.
And by recommendations, I mean having people/venues you’ve already worked with OUTSIDE Sonicbids who can reach out to the festivals. I have never heard of any special treatment or collusion with festivals as your article suggests. Certainly no one at Sonicbids pushes anything, they have been nothing more than a platform or conduit. It is really cool to have the people work there be on the younger and hipper side of things, rather than some ancient record execs trying to get back in the business after layoffs.
Only once did I have a bad experience, finding out after the fact that the opportunity was not what it seemed. But it is no surprise that there are plenty of jerks out there who try to take advantage
of indie artists who are working really hard to make it by themselves. It happened only once, but it pissed me off. It was a ‘competition’ in NYC, and once I found out we were accepted to have a performance, the guy told me we needed to perform every other week for 6 months and bring strong crowds in the same club in to make it to the next round. It was simply a disguise for the club to get people there. Most of the Battle of Band stuff isn’t really for us, anyway.