Here’s one artist’s experience using Sonicbids and thoughts on his musical successes. Adam Payne has been a member of Sonicbids since July 21, 2004 and has booked over 200 gigs using Sonicbids to date.

===

To say that Sonicbids has been a huge help to my musical career would certainly be an understatement.  I will dust off Bette Midler’s well-known words and say that Sonicbids has been the wind beneath my wings!  For real.

I’ve booked over 200 gigs with this company, not to mention the countless gigs I obtained using Sonicbids connections.  Also, I’ve built lasting, beneficial relationships with fellow Sonicbids artists, booking agents, and others in the music industry.  The Sonicbids staff do an exceptional job of not only helping you with an issue or concern, but more importantly, they truly make you feel appreciated as a member.

Just like anything else, though, Sonicbids is what you make of it.  If you put in the time and effort to understand how to best navigate the site while ‘putting your best brand forward,’ you’ll see a return.  As an artist, I find comfort in knowing that the opportunites to which I submit have met or exceeded specific standards of quality, which saves me a whole lot of time, effort and energy messing with cold-calls and the like.  Plus, you get a sharp electronic press kit, which is extremely useful in so many ways!

I feel like I have learned a large portion of what I know about this music industry through being a Sonicbids member.  The information and tips for success made available to members are a great resource, and have helped me to avoid some serious pitfalls over the years.  Wow, this probably sounds like an informercial script!  Truth is, I don’t feel as if I am exaggerating at all.  Sonicbids is much more than a place for artists to get gigs; It can be your mentor, manager and booking agent all at the same time.  For independent cats like myself, it can be the momentum that keeps your musical going.

-Adam Payne

Adam Payne’s EPK: www.sonicbids.com/AdamPayne
Adam Payne – Official Website: www.AdamPayne.biz

===

For more success stories on Sonicbids, visit www.sonicbids.com/success.

I recently visited The Real School of Music in Burlington, MA to speak to their students about how bands get gigs. The Real School has a week long summer music camp for Middle School and High School kids that groups them into bands and teaches them how to rock. They also spend some time learning about the business side of being in a band which is where I came in.

I talked about what a press kit was, walked them through a Sonicbids EPK and finally had the kids build an EPK for a few of the student bands. You can check them out here:

http://www.sonicbids.com/TheDragonsReal

http://www.sonicbids.com/CCBlackTrain

I learned a few things myself by talking to these young musicians:

• They have no memory of life without the internet.
• When I asked about the social networks they use a few were on MySpace, about half were on Facebook and no one was on Twitter (they said it was for stalkers).
• They told me I was an adult.

Any of these music students that decide to eventually make music their career to will be entering a music industry that’s completely different from any generation that’s come before. Where no one mails physical press kits, album sales are driven by YouTube videos instead of radio airplay and upcoming bands don’t need an insider booking agent to get great gigs opening for major artists at amphitheaters and stadiums.

One more thing, if you’re a stalker you can follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/SonicbidsLou.

There are a few things you should never bring up on a first date:

1. You have a moving truck on reserve for Sunday morning in case this date goes well.
2. You need to call it a night since your cat’s performance of Les Miserables is at 7am.
3. You spent last weekend at a marching band competition.

Since you and I are not on a first date right now (although the way you look at me makes me wonder your intentions), I feel OK telling you that I spent last weekend at a marching band comepetion.

And it. Was. AWESOME.

Last weekend, the Boston Crusaders hosted a small Drum Corps show in Lawrence, Mass. Drum Corps (for those unfamiliar with toe-roll and pops-to-the-box) is like major league marching band, but without the steroids, gold chains or fantasy leagues.*

My Very Pretty Girlfriend™, being from a music family, is not a music person. Being a field hockey player, she understands competition but not how a bunch of dudes wearing doofy hats walking around in unison on a football field can be competitive (or fun to watch).

So I brought her along to experience my little guilty pleasure.

Being that this-here blog is read by music people, I think it’s safe to assume that most of the people reading this blog were probably in their high school band. And if you were in your school’s marching band, you understand the time and effort that it takes to put together a 10-minute show throughout the fall.** Multiply the hours and heat by 10 and now you’re starting to understand what it’s like to march in a drum corps. It’s hardcore. (Hard corps? eh?)

The show started off with an exhibition performance by a senior corps – made up of members who are too old to compete with their corps and lead normal lives otherwise. They didn’t move and were (understandably) not as polished as a World Class corps. At the risk of hurting a few feelings (send complaints here), the exhibition was pretty boring. This was MVPG™’s first show at a drum corps competition and her comment to me during their performance has been redacted by the Sonicbids management. It wasn’t what you would consider a “positive” remark.

But then something incredible happened. And that something incredible was The Crossmen*** from San Antonio, TX. Their show started out with a loud, fast hit that gave me goosebumps immediately. Their ballad was slow and awesome. Their finale brought everyone to their feet. MVPG™ ate it up and from then on, compared every other corps to The Crossmen.

Corps after corps performed and she would go on about how x and y were great, but they weren’t better than The Crossmen. She would hold her breathe when the guard’s rifles went in the air and clap for a great soloist. We made plans to travel to the 2010 Allentown, PA show before the fourth corps had even stepped off. She was finally understanding why I had been so excited for this one night.

Unfortunately, The Crossmen didn’t win that night (MVPG™ says they were robbed). But in addition to seeing some great performances by Phantom Regiment, Madison Scounts, Boston Crusaders, Colts, Jersey Surf and Spirit, I feel like I can finally watch a random corp’s peformance on my laptop without feeling her silently judging me from the other end of the couch.

If MVPG™ can get pumped about a drum corps show, you can too. The 2009 season ended with the DCI World Championships on Saturday night, but next summer there will be more than 200 corps performing all around the country that would love for you to give them a chance at giving you goosebumps.

* Business idea. I called it first.
** And the effort it takes to not punch someone when they say how much they loved that “Drumline” movie.
*** I didn’t know there was a drum corps wiki either!

Hello friends!

Well, it’s hard to believe SXSW already over and I’m already back in action at the Sonicbids office in Boston. It was a great time and if you don’t mind, let me share some of my experiences. SXSW is a cool event and the city of Austin is fantastic; this was a first for me to travel there and attend the event and while it was a lot of work, I also had a great time.

Most of my days during SXSW were spent at the Sonicbids Booth at the conference trade show. Here I met a lot of existing Sonicbids members (both artists and promoters) and got some great feedback and ideas. Being in Member Relations, I get to talk to folks all the time via phone and email, but you really can’t beat a productive face-to-face conversation. It was awesome to see that people are really excited about what we do and were generally really candid as far as what they’d like to see from Sonicbids in the future.

Interestingly, it was suggested to me a couple times that folks were interested in seeing an official Sonicbids tour in the future. Now, I’m not sure if we’ll be rolling out a full blown tour anytime soon, but we did get our first taste of by hosting our first event at SXSW. On Friday (March 20, 2009), Sonicbids hosted an official SXSW party, presented by the Armed Forces Entertainment and in partnership with The Planetary Group. We held it at Maggie Mae’s, where 13 bands were able play back-to-back between the two stages within the venue. We had bands playing everywhere from across the US, Ireland, Australia, Iceland, and even South Africa. Here’s the full list that played:

Hot Lava: www.sonicbids.com/HotLava
The Forms: www.sonicbids.com/TheForms
Mt. St Helens Vietnam Band: www.sonicbids.com/MtStHelensVietnamBand
Wild Light: www.sonicbids.com/WildLight
Takeover UK: www.sonicbids.com/TheTakeoverUK
Gay Blades: www.sonicbids.com/TheGayBlades
Gliss: www.sonicbids.com/Gliss
The Devil Makes Three: www.sonicbids.com/thedevilmakesthree
Dead Confederate: www.sonicbids.com/deadconfederate
The Parlotones: www.sonicbids.com/theparlotones
The Temper Trap: www.sonicbids.com/TheTemperTrap
The Beat Poets: www.sonicbids.com/TheBeatPoets
Sprengjuhollin: www.sonicbids.com/Sprengjuhollin

And okay, I play favorites: I absolutely loved The Temper Trap, The Beat Poets and the Parlotones especially — but I really do mean it when I say that I was so impressed by all of our bands that played; everyone was fantastic!

During the party, we gave out 1,000 bags full of cool swag like hats, CDs, discounts on musicians gear, and other little fun thingamabobs. We also held our raffle giving away a Pro Tools 8 Studio Giveaway Package, a Taylor SolidBody Classic Electric Guitar, a Guitar Amp, Pocket Pod, Pod Studio (courtsey of Line 6) and a Sonicbids lifetime membership. Jim, Panos and also Christian from Catchpenny (winners of the Armed Forces Entertainment “Entertainers of the Year” award) helped draw the lucky winners. A huge, HUGE thanks to all our partner friends that made the party such a success with either helping to promote the party, staff it or by supporting us with goodies to give out to party attendees: Yamaha, Sweetwater, Jakprints, Onitsuka Tiger, Bambu and Musician Atlas.

In addition to the tradeshow and party, we of course went out to see some of the nearly 400 bands that booked their SXSW gig using Sonicbids. We took some great video footage and interviewed some bands as well. Check out our Youtube channel at http://www.youtube.com/sonicbids to see just a handful of them (I wish I could have seen them all!). You can also view a TON more photos and on our Facebook and on Flickr.

If we saw you there, thanks for joining us for another great event; if we missed you, we’ll see you next year!

Tess

Hello friends,

It’s time to hit the road again, this time to sunny Austin for SXSW! I can’t express how excited I am to get into some nice weather and speak with a lot of fine folks while I’m there – not to mention seeing shows from the nearly 400 bands that booked their SXSW gig using Sonicbids.

In case you haven’t heard yet, we’re hosting an Official SXSW party at Maggie Mae’s on Friday, March 20 from 11:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. Of course, you are cordially invited to join us… but if you RSVP in advance, or present the printed invitations/laminates we’ll be distributing on site, you will have “priority access” to the party. (Yup, that means you’ll get to cut the line.) You can RSVP and also check out the 13 amazing bands that will be playing HERE.

Be sure to also stop by the Sonicbids booth at the trade show (you can’t miss us; we’ll be right across from the Stevie Ray Vaughan Exhibit). While you’re there, don’t forget to enter our giveaways… and let me tell you: we’re not messing around with these giveaways. You could win a Pro Tools 8 Studio Giveaway Package, a Taylor SolidBody Classic Electric Guitar, a Guitar Amp, Pocket Pod, Pod Studio (courtsey of Line 6), or a Sonicbids lifetime membership!

You can get your fill of industry tips and info by checking out the “Artist As Entrepreneur” panel that our very own Panos Panay will be moderating, Wednesday at 1:30.  And if that’s not enough for you, Sonicbids communications guru Adam Ritchie will be part of the “Crash Course #4: Online Resources panel” Wednesday at 3:00.

Last but not least, don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @SonicbidsTess since I’ll be traveling around the conference taking photos, doing interviews, video blogging—all that fun stuff.  I can’t wait to see you in Austin.

Until then,
Tess

Hey all,

First, let me say what a great conference Eurosonic is.  I spent 4 days in Groningen, NL meeting with artists, talking with promoters about working with them for the 2009 season, and seeing some great music.  For those of you who aren’t aware of the conference, Eurosonic is a three day conference in the Netherlands that provides a unique opportunity for European acts to showcase their talent directly to some of the largest music festivals in Europe. Sonicbids has worked with the conference for the last 3 years helping to subsidize selected Sonicbids artists with a $1,000 stipend to travel to the festival and perform at the festival for these festival buyers.  This year, Sonicbids helped 8 bands travel to the conference and perform.  You can check out these great acts here through their EPK’s.

(more…)

For those who don’t know, the National Association of Campus Activities (NACA) is an extensive network of college campus activity boards, musicians, lecturers, comedians and so much more. Several weekends each year they meet up for regional conferences (and one national) to book shows at college campuses all over the country. Sonicbids has been hard at work building features into our artist and promoter accounts to take the “block booking” process that NACA pioneered onto the web. It was great to experience the method first-hand at the NACA West conference in Ontario, California this past weekend. (more…)