Idea for a band showcase website

aligator_am

Hi folks, I've been running an idea around in my head for a while now and just wanted to see what you all think, basically what i was thinking of doing was building a site with a details of unsigned Irish bands, now i know there are a few sites like this already but sure the way i look at it the more the merrier. There would be gig dates and some info about each band, also links to their sites (assuming they have a site that is) there would be no charge for the service and if there was a great demand for the service then i could buy dedicated webspace for the project, it's more of a hobby than anything else and to be honest, i've been to a good few garagelands gigs where the bands playing were about a million times better than the tripe that's played in the charts so i think its only fair that these should be given some kind of wider coverage.

Lets know what you think.

Al

ShriekingSheet

Sounds like a nice idea- if you maybe focus on band details- who's who, pictures, gig/demo reviews, band backrounds etc rather than the gigsmart community approach! Couldn't hurt to contact yer man Thomas Brunkard from Gigsmart actually!

However I reckon this would be alot of work for you to do it decently but if it's a labour of love then I'd imagine you'd enjoy it.

Let us know how you get on. Im in an as yet unnamed band (see my band name thread) writing and rehearsing at the moment- we're actually not terrible either! Anyway if you get started im sure you can count us in!

robbie1876

Hi Al,

Firstly, good luck with your project! I'd second what SkriekingSheet said, it needs to offer something different from the Gigsmart approach, simply because Gigsmart are already doing it. No point in competing, find a niche for yourself.

A couple of things you could maybe think about. If the site was set up as a review type site, as opposed to a listings site it might be better. ie, if you only listed bands who you had reviewed and thought were worthy of a mention. Another possiblitly is to make a band submit a review of another listed band before they can be listed themselves. This helps to send people to each others gigs too.

I think a great thing to do would be to establish a solid link with another unsigned site from a different country. You could exchange ideas on how to run the site, as well as expose both collections of bands to new audiences internationally. Maybe you could go so far as to arrange 'exchange' programs for unsigned bands.

In summary, you should think long and hard about what the unique selling point of your website should be. There are plenty of opportunities to do something that hasn't been done yet in this area, so once again, best of luck!

If there is anything we can do to help you out, let me know.

Robbie
New Colour Soul

aligator_am

Hi, thanks for all the support, yeah i think i'll contact the lads in gigsmart, sure it can do no harm, if anything it should help. Robbie, they were some good points, what i was thinking of having was a site where the bands send in some pics, a demo (if they have one) and a biog/info about themselves so that the public could get to know a bit more about the history of the band etc. there would also be a featured artist every 2 weeks or whatever, and like i already said, if there's enough interest generated in the site then i'll get some dedicated webspace so that everyone will have their demos available for download.

What i'll do now is draw up a list of features that should be in the finished site, there's no timescale as to a date of completion just yet, but the actual building shouldn't take too long.

If anyone is interested in having some info about their band displayed on the site then please don't hesitate to contact me.

Thanks

Al

humbleCounty

hi i was thinking of the same idea, i opened up a forum, http://humbleforums.ixforums.com

which we want to be just dedicated to bands, the forum looks pretty good, and its completely dedicated not like here, get posting if you can and well try and get something going **** all people on it at the moment

Thomas from Presence

Give me a call on 085-7189920 if I can be of assistance! (Thomas Brunkard Gigsmart)