“Panos’ Brew” is Sonicbids founder/CEO Panos Panay’s weekly (or more) post about whatever happens to be on his mind. Look for musings and observations on entrepreneurship, the state of the music business, his experiences with members, interesting things he’s seen in his travels, or just about anything else.
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I can’t believe 2008 is almost over. Sonicbids was launched way back in February of 2001 so it’s hard to imagine that in just a couple of months, this site will have been around for nearly eight years. That’s older than my six-year-old niece. Crazy.
Anyway, I thought it would be a good time to take stock of some of the stuff we managed to do (and some of the areas that we fell short) over the past year.
Though retrospectives are not my shtick, many of you this past year spent your valuable time giving me good input and ideas. I’d like to share what we did with it.
SOME WINS:
• I’ve traveled all over the place this year meeting many of you over dinners and lunches in places ranging from Berlin, London and Seville, to New York, Toronto and Seattle. Your candid insights have been invaluable; and your thoughts about how to make Sonicbids work better for you sparked many a good debate about features and additions to the site. (It was also amazing to see the commonalities of life as an indie musician around the world).
• Based on your feedback, we launched the Submission Tracker, which enables artists to get money back for submissions that are not viewed; and makes it much easier for promoters to review submissions and book artists. Pretty cool – and long overdue.
• Earlier this month we launched a revamped version of the Gig Listings on Sonicbids that gives artists much better information about a promoter’s ratio of selections to submissions (“Pick-O-Meter”) and artist-generated photos from venues. We’re close to rolling out a feedback & ratings area for you to share info about venues you’ve told us is important, like sound quality, merch sales, etc.
• A lot more “mainstream” promoters joined Sonicbids this year and offered plenty of slots to Sonicbids artists. Some highlights: Warped Tour, Lollapalooza Festival, Spin Magazine, American Airlines, MTV, Jazz at Lincoln Center, WFNX radio, and Converse to name a few, all of whom booked Sonicbids bands for their stages, promotions and airwaves.
• Some 61,000 gigs got booked by bands using Sonicbids this year. That’s nearly twice as many from last year. The number is impressive, but we know it’s more helpful for our bands to see which gigs are booking which bands. We’re finishing up a new area of the site called, “It Works,” where you’ll be able to track these gigs and the bands getting them. Look out for it in early January.
• We created a new team in house to focus on working with consumer brands to create sponsorship programs and opportunities for independent musicians from around the world – and more free gig listings. Expect to see a lot more of these in the coming year. Free submissions for promotions by Converse and Jansport are a few notable wins in this area.
• We continued our expansion outside of America and now more than 25% of our membership comes from outside the USA. Given our belief that the future of the music business is not local but global, we’ve been hard at work opening up new opportunities, particularly in Europe and Australia, for our members.
SOME MISSES:
• Earlier in the year we struck a partnership with the National Association of Campus Activities, which brought over 1,000 colleges in the Sonicbids community. These are available to submit to for NACA members but not the community at large just yet, largely because of product and contract delays. Given that this integration consumed a good part of our product team’s year, we could have done a better job with integration and speed.
• Like all companies, we needed to take a good look at our cost structure and plan for what I think will be a long winter in the world economy. We had to make some tough, proactive decisions, including parting ways with some Sonicbids teammates. Letting anyone go is difficult, especially people that you spend 10-12 hours a day with. But it’s the companies that make tough choices that succeed in the end. Having started Sonicbids during a time of similar uncertainty (back in 2000), I also know that these situations are opportunities in disguise.
• We could have moved even faster to address your needs and be even more transparent about how Sonicbids works. Beyond the Submission Tracker, we want do a better job showing bands how they’re reviewed by promoters, and helping them learn from the fellow bands who are using Sonicbids most effectively. More Quick Chats and the new It Works section will help.
• Lastly, we spent about $500,000 sponsoring bands and stages around the world last year, but we did an awful job telling people about it. Bands got subsidies from us to travel and play Popkomm in Germany, Eurosonic in Netherlands, the East Coast Blues & Roots festival in Australia, the Summerfest festival in Milwaukee, the In The City showcase in Manchester, UK, the Italia Wave Festival in Florence, Italy and many, many others. You deserve to know that we put our money where our mouth is.
I love the end of any year because the new one gives you the chance to do it (and dream it up) all over again – and get it done better next time around. Thanks to all of our bands, promoters, partners, Sonicbids teammates – and everyone who has shared their time and insights on our site – for a great and adventurous year.
Merry Christmas. Here’s to a music-filled 2009.
Panos
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