I just posted this to
Selling With Substance, a blog I write about sales techniques and career strategy. It's highly relevant to the Talkbass discussion, so I am cross posting here. Enjoy.
Link to the actual post. The Truth About Artist “Gig Finder” Services
ReverbNation and SonicBids each provide on-line promotional services for musicians. I really like both of them. ReverbNation, especially, provides a fantastic mailing list management interface that synchronizes with all of the social network sites, and also provides outstanding widgets that change the game of maintaining a website for a touring and performing artist. In fact, I haven’t touched the code for the Fina Dupa website in a couple of years. I just add shows, press coverage, and streaming songs to our ReverbNation account and that content immediately appears on the widgets I’ve placed on the band website.
Also, ReverbNation, along with CD Baby, seamlessly handle all aspects of digital music distribution for a very reasonable fee. They say that it’s easy for any artist to get their music onto iTunes these days – it’s true, and ReverbNation and CD Baby* are a big part of the reason why.
So, ReverbNation and SonicBids are great resources that provide highly valuable services. I say that up front, because now I want to tell you that I strongly oppose another of their lines of business.
ReverbNation and SonicBids both provide “gig finder” services. To use these services, artists create and maintain a promotional profile on the websites and submit applications to venues and promoters who advertise performance opportunities. According to the model, the promoters review the submissions, which include song samples and video, and pick the ones they like the most for their performance slots.
The splash graphic on the SonicBids website says “SonicBids helps bands get gigs and promoters book the right bands.” – so this represents their primary brand.
The problem with these services is that the artists usually have to pay a fee to merely submit an application. And the fees can be expensive. Here are a few current examples from the SonicBids site:
- The 2011 John Lennon Songwriting Contest. Application fee $30.
- The 11th Annual Independent Music Awards. Application fee $24 per song.
- The South By Southwest Music Conference and Festival. Application fee $40.
A musician can quickly rack up several hundred dollars in submission fees in one session.
Buyer beware, right? Not exactly, in my opinion.
These gig finder services are predatory. Let me explain:
- There is generally no qualification process for artists to respond. If you are willing to pay the fee, all applications accepted!
- SonicBids and ReverbNation charge up-front fees with no guarantee of performance.
- Submitting artists are provided little or no information about how the selection process is conducted for any given opportunity.**
- The gigs are marketed as glamorous, high-exposure, super-great opportunities for the artists, creating an inappropriate emotional aspect to the artists’ decision to submit.
We can reasonably assume that the average artist submitting applications to these services is not only unaware of what their submission fee is paying for, but also has a completely different expectation of the outcome than SonicBids or ReverbNation do.
These companies are not Selling With Substance. Simple changes to their business models would make a big difference – they could charge a reasonable monthly or annual fee to artists for access to their gig listings rather than [sometimes usurious] fees per submission***. Or, they could command a percentage of the fees that artists receive when they are selected and perform. Their revenue may not be as high in either case, but it would be gained more fairly, for providing a service priced according to the value it delivers.
If you are a performing artist, I recommend against using the gig finder services from ReverbNation and SonicBids until they adjust their fee models to become more equitable and transparent.
If you are a professional who sells, consider how ReverbNation and SonicBids’ fee approaches are similar to or different from the ones you use. Are your offerings priced equitably and transparently? If not, what are the potential downstream effects?
* CD Baby does not provide a gig finder service. I only mention them to acknowledge their significant presence in the digital distribution market, where ReverbNation also plays.
** I don’t believe that it is possible, and certainly not likely, to be selected to perform at a high profile nationwide music festival such as SXSW without label representation or at least affiliation with an influential promoter local to the festival. In many cases, the SonicBids submissions represent the clerical end of an unrelated political selection process. Most musicians are completely oblivious about this.
*** Some submission opportunities are free. On the other hand, for most gig submissions, ReverbNation actually charges a monthly or annual fee to maintain a submission “press kit” AS WELL AS a per-opportunity submission fee.
