Book A DJ Or Band: Sidestage Comes to New York, Beatsy Adds Hip Hop To Electronic Music

While a pretty wide range of startups have been hacking away at the venue booking side of things over the years, there haven't been nearly as many that have attempted to address booking for parties and alternative spaces. Sidestage is a newer startup that's now launching in New York. Beatsy is another that helps everyday people and event organizers book electronic music artists and is now opening their service to hip hop djs and groups.

The Book A Musician Space Has Been Weak To Date

The book a musician for your party or event space has been fairly quiet. Hear It Local pivoted in 2012 into the space but eventually shut down.

Gigit launched last year and has gotten substantial funding but the site makes one wonder what's happening. I'm particularly concerned that they're including artists who've been requested on the platform and who have no other relationship with Gigit in the browse artists section.

Originally artists would post what it took to book them. But now every artist listing I checked just describes the artist and gives you the option of setting a price and pitching them a gig.

This becomes a bit odd when you see Lorde appearing to be reachable with offers to cover one's "Drink/Bar Food Tab." Obviously they can send the offer but I kind of doubt Lorde signed up and I seriously doubt this is a good way to try to reach her for bookings but you can't tell from Gigit's site what's really going on.

The way they're setting this up is deceptive to users who may not read the half-a-sentence that explains that some of these people have been added because they're basically on wish lists. Not a good look.

Sidestage Comes To New York

Sidestage is a solid looking contender that launched this summer. It began in Berlin, expanded to London last month and launched this week in New York.

A local emphasis makes sense for this kind of thing. Everyday people or event organizers are going to be in one location and they'll typically think in terms of someone local. Of course, in these particular cities it's not hard to find amazing artists but even in smaller towns the local emphasis still best fits this market.

Acts on Sidestage have set up their own accounts and have set pricing. There's no wishlist scenario to confuse things. This is a real service for real artists with about 100 on board to date according to a recent press release.

From various quotes in the coverage I've seen of Sidestage, it's clear that Founder and CEO Schuyler Deerman really wants to serve up-and-coming artists and to open up the non-traditional events market for musicians in general. And that's not only a great business opportunity but something that would grow the potential music revenue pie for all musicians if successful.

Beatsy Adds Hip Hop To Electronic Music

Beatsy launched early last year but I'm just finding out about them. Based in Finland, until recently they were focused on booking electronic music acts. Now they've added hip hip acts.

Here's a bit more of their backstory. I look forward to sharing more in the future.

More:

• Gig Booking Site Sidestage Adds London
• Gigit Launches Direct To Fan Music Booking Service
• Hear It Local Brings House Concert Booking To Facebook

Hypebot Senior Contributor Clyde Smith (@fluxresearch) recently launched DanceLand. Send news about music tech startups and services, DIY music biz and music marketing to: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.