Over the past few weeks, things were looking incredibly bright for GigsGuide. Traffic to the site was growing. More and more people were finding great gigs to attend all over the world. Concerts ticket were being bought, trips being booked.
And then, very suddenly, the world came to a complete stop.
We built GigsGuide because we are passionate about live music and want more people to experience it more. But with gigs getting cancelled* and people in many countries not even allowed to leave their homes, we were sitting on a pretty useless site.
And then on Saturday it hit us... if we can't travel for music, then maybe we can get music to come to us?
The biggest challenge is that our system is built with the assumption that a gig will take place in a physical venue. But we quickly got around it by creating an imaginary place where all these great gigs can take place.
And what better place than one where the grass is green and the girls are pretty? Enter Operation "Paradise City" 🤘.
We ended up spending Sunday and Monday adding support for "virtual" concerts to GigsGuide. It is still all very "work in progress", but you can see the results at https://gigs.guide/live
Discover the music you love, wherever you go are
I think GigsGuide might actually be the first concert listing service that makes no difference between physical and virtual gigs and lists them all under one roof.
The core of GigsGuide functionalities is still there, so particularly if you are a registered users we'll still try to help you find the gigs that best match your taste. Furthermore, if you have set your home town in your profile, we'll show you the time the livestream starts in your own location.
Looking on the bright side, I also see an unintended - but amazing - consequence of not having to physically move to go to a gig. Being stuck at home watching live concert streaming all day might actually be the best time to discover new artists to love.
This should also give us all something to really look forward to when we will be finally free to roam the earth again: take amazing trips to go see our new favourite artists perform live!
Calling all the artists!
True to our mantra that we don't make money on the music, if you are an artist planning to stream your next live gigs you can advertise them on our site for free. Even if you charge a fee or ask for donations to access the event. We also don't care what streaming platform you use, as long as you give us a working link we can share with your fans.
If you don't know where to start or what platform to use, we recommend Cherie Hu's excellent guide.
From our side, we have a couple of suggestions/requests/recommendations to make based on what we have seen so far:
- Don't wait until the last minute to announce the gig. Ideally, you should give us (and your fans) at least 48 hours notice.
- If possible, use a service that allows you to schedule a live performance in advance and gives you a direct link to where the performance will be accessible to the audience. Then share that link with us ;). It looks more professional. It helps visitors not feeling like they ended up in the wrong place if they arrive early. It also makes the recording easily accessible even when the event is over.
- Have a clear call to action. Do you want people to buy your merch? Make a donation (to you or a cause you support)? Write it clearly in the descriptions, have all the links ready and visible and make sure you mention it during the show.
When you are ready, we have a simple Google form here that you can use to submit all the details.
We need your help to spread the word!
We want to let more artists and music lovers know about our virtual concert listings page, so we can throw the biggest f--ing (virtual) festival this planet has ever seen!
Yesterday it was mentioned on the BBC site  and Dee Snider 🤘🤘retweeted our tweet: will you help us spread the word too?
Here is a few social media posts you can RT/share:
https://twitter.com/mygigsguide/status/1239619918129233923
https://www.facebook.com/gigsguide/posts/672528593576724
https://www.instagram.com/p/B91GwLGAMo3/
Thanks!
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p.s. Fuck Corona!
* My personal little tragedy: missing the Therapy? 30 year anniversary gig in Hamburg that was scheduled for tomorrow.
