ReverbNation Develops Venue Submission Dashboard For D.I.Y. Gig Booking
[Updated] After reviewing BandWagon's gig booking site, I got a demonstration of ReverbNation's new Submission Dashboard designed to facilitate gig booking for artists and venues using ReverbNation's services. It too is a well-designed product that benefits from the company's critical mass of artists and venues already in the system. It's one of those tools that adds additional value to an already useful toolkit.
I spoke with Howard Han, VP and General Manager, Reverb Live at ReverbNation based in New York. Mr. Han is the former CEO and Founder of GigMaven which was acquired by ReverbNation in 2011. GigMaven specialized in tools for venues, so it was fitting we spoke about ReverbNation's new Submission Dashboard for venues, a free tool that is currently in beta.
ReverbNation's Venue Submission Dashboard for Gig Booking Management
The Submission Dashboard adds gig submission and booking management to the tools currently available for venues via ReverbNation. Related offerings include a venue Profile Page and promotional tools include a Facebook app for venues.
ReverbNation's Submission Dashboard allows venue operators to receive and screen submissions for bands in a much more orderly fashion than the multichannel approach traditionally employed. For bands with ReverbNation accounts, instead of calling or emailing, they can go to a venue profile, click the Submit Press Kit button (currently Book A Gig) and submit already well-organized materials for a professional look. This process can also take place via the venue's FB app.
When venue operators log in and go to their Submission Dashboard, they can check out submissions beginning with the above illustrated view (click for larger image). A snapshot of basic artist info including a sample track is available and the results can be filtered using a variety of criteria including specific dates and genres shown in the left hand column. The option to listen to music samples in a stream is also available from 10 second snippets to full length tracks.
Venue operators can then click through to get the full view of information available on artists which is quite substantial including fan demographics, uploaded press materials and similar content. If desired artist profiles can be browsed from profile to profile and notes can be added for future reference.
Given ReverbNation's reach, including over 30,000 venues with a stronghold in the U.S. and Canada and well over 2 million artists, the Submission Dashboard helps strengthen an already potent platform for connecting artists and venues. Though the benefits may seem primarily for venues, artists always benefit when the submission process is streamlined and they are presented in a professional manner.
Though ReverbNation's various toolkits are open to whoever feels they'll find them of use, their focus has been on serving small to medium venues and artists who want to handle their own business including bookings.
Hypebot Features Writer Clyde Smith maintains his freelance writing hub at Flux Research and music industry resources at Music Biz Blogs. To suggest topics for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.
Last year I thought Reverbnation was the next big thing. Maybe I’ll eat my words, but I have a change of heart now, I’m just not impressed
Any significant artist ever really benefit from anything like this on Reverbnation?
I’ve never heard a “significant artist” credit any tool that wasn’t social media. Does that have any real meaning other than people don’t credit their tools?
Reverb is a good idea in theory. My opinion is, the “significant artists” don’t need to use reverbnation and don’t need to have a silly account to submit themselves to the venues. I know from booking festivals myself that while I knew I had to post on reverbnation and sonicbids that most of the submissions I would recieve would ultimately be a waste of my time no matter how “professional” the presentation looked. The bands music were generally sub-par and they generally had no following. As a venue or promoter, you know what you’re getting with sites like this.
“I knew I had to post on reverbnation and sonicbids”
Why do you say that? That doesn’t make any sense if you felt it was a waste of time.
Great article Clyde. I think it’s important that artists feel included in their local music scene. Often they struggle to play at venues because of a ‘closed shop’ effect. Any tool that enables artists an opportunity to break down the barriers to entry for gigs and events can only be a good thing.
Reverb is a fantastic site they offer endless tools for the DIY musicians. The problem is there are more musicians then venues, and more then likely the venues are using more resources then Reverb to book musicians. Then it becomes more about odds, well the odds are not in your favor if you submit a press kit and wait. Point is you can’t blame the site if you aren’t getting gigs, or the gigs you want.
I love the changes to Reverb and am happy to see them changing things to make their site that much more user friendly.
As a band manager who prefers to book DIY, I use both Reverbnation and BandWagon Gigs and find them both useful.
The former for connecting a page on facebook and the latter for getting shows with a minimum of fuss and transparency up front.
Obviously these sites are of most help to up and coming artists, so I welcome that the UK has a brand new, free (and approachable) service at home and am pleased to see how BandWagon is evolving and growing.
Its all to help.