Thursday, May 21, 2009
Cream Calendar / Next Big Nashville Sonicbids: A National Concern
Posted by Adam Gold on Thu, May 21, 2009 at 8:56 AM
The image above is screenshot of my Gmail when sorted by sender "Sonicbids." For those of you who don't know, Sonicbids is a pay-subscription based website on which you maintain an electronic press kit that you, for varying fees, submit to festivals, booking agents, publishers, magazines etc. Many music festivals require you to set up an account with and use Sonicbids as a means of submitting an application to perform. If, like me, you have made the tactical error of trying to forge a career in music, then you've likely had dealings with Sonicbids, or "services" like it.
When setting up my smart-phone I opted to receive personal emails on it. This was a mistake, as when making the decision I forgot about one unrelenting emailer who is indiscriminate about whose inboxes they barrage with opportunities to play Warped Tour and knows no appropriate time of day to tell you so: Sonicbids. Despite my subscription having long ago expired, Sonicbids still manages to thwart all attempts to block their various daily alerts--meaning that morning, noon and night my phone is blowing up with licensing opportunities, development deals, songwriting competitions and music festivals that I "might be interested in." I have the feeling that I'm not the only one who has this problem.
Last year, Next Big Nashville required bands to submit via Sonicbids, so I know many of you have dealt with them. NBN chief Jason Moon Wilkins says that they decided to go with SB in an attempt to make the process of organizing submissions and band info easier. He claims that they didn't necessarily get what they thought they would out of it but that the issues they had with SB, mainly technical, have been addressed. He went on to say that while they will be using SB in 2009, there will also be other submission options such as American SongSpace.
Perhaps some of you out there would like to share your story on how you overcame Sonicbids? Also, has using Sonicbids really paid off for what you've paid in? What's the biggest gig any of you have booked using their service?
In other NBN news, Wilkins said that for the 2009 installment of the festival they are working to set up a Friday evening event to take place at honky-tonks on lower Broad, as well as an outdoor event to take place Saturday. Also, Wilkins has begun meeting with chamber of commerce members as part of Mayor Dean's Music Business Council, and is encouraged by his dealings with them so far.
Comments (18)
Showing 1-18 of 18
I loathe Sonicbids. Have you ever tried to cancel a subscription with them? It's like pulling teeth. And then, when you do get them to cancel your subscription and refund your money cause they double charged you for a service you had cancelled, you can't log back in to unsubscribe to their fucking e-mails. I eventually marked them as spam and moved on with my life...
Totally stoked about being out doors and going honky tonkin' during NBN this year, though.
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Reminds me of an e-mail forward I got a few years ago from a friend regarding CMJ Music Festival and their use of SonicBids. Bands who had used Sonicbids to submit to the festival claim their press kit hadn't even been viewed and they were denied a slot at the Festival. I can't figure out if it was just a bunch of whiny crappy band or if CMJ had already decided who would play using some other criteria.
Sonicbids is the spawn of Satan. Two gigs "awarded" for Sonicbid membership turned out to be two gigs that would have been secured regardless. Long-cancelled subscription results in mutiple daily e-mails. Fuck those assholes. And if you're a festival that requires bands to use Sonicbids exclusively to submit, well then fuck you too.
Gold,
Why don't you just unsubscribe at the bottom of one of those emails or go into your account and opt out of receiving emails? You should still have access to those options even if you're not paying for sonicbids right now.
I have had some success with it, but no big festivals or anything (I don't submit to those though). I mostly use it as a very quick and easy link to a variety of information about our band, but I'd say it's about 50/50 in comparison with MySpace. Most clubs I work with have requested one or the other so for it's basic features I am satisfied with what it provides.
It DEFINITELY beats sending out hard copy press kits.
Sonic Bids can Suck it. I had the same problems as Gold, ryan and Maloney. I feel that SB preys on hopes and dreams of artists that don't know any better. SB is laughing all the way to the bank with your submission fees. I have no qualms supporting a worthwhile festival like NBN with a application fee. Just don't bring the Devil in on your submission processing.
they got me a spin magazine plug once, other than that, kind of a rip. get a booking agent, fuck these dudes..... and yes, 45 emails a day can SUCK IT
i was skeptical but joined for sxsw last year. i didn't get booked, but have since gotten a song on american airlines & an ad in paste magazine, played a couple of small festivals and have gotten some decent licensing placements. i do my research before i spend my money and have yet to be scammed.
to "bingham" above, why would artists "not know any better"? do we not have brains? the scene would be a whole lot better if we all took charge of our careers and stopped playing the victim.
any venues/bookers reading this thread? inquiring minds want to know your take on sonic bids. i personally would rather pay a drinking buddy to book a leg of shows and not get any dates than to pay a website and not get any dates. i can't say the same for romantic dates. wait. that doesn't work either way.
same problem here.
the best part is that i got a refund for a festival that never actually happened...
buuuuuut, I'd have to re-subscribe and pay like $150 to get that $15 back.
so.
maisie - glad to hear sonic bids has worked out for someone. keep up your subscription and paying fees to enter your songs in all those this and thats. Personally I think it is a rip off. And yes, some artists don't know any better, naive may have been a better word. I did not imply all artists. There are thousands of bands that see this as their opportunity to get heard. I think it is sad to see anyone spend money repeatedly entering songs for contests, festivals and a chance to be heard by a panel of industry "insiders." I refuse to become a victim of a internet company that charges $71.40 per year to take charge of my career. NBN, I'm still raging mad that I had to get a Sonic Bids account to play at THE END. Thanks.
I have used them as a "promoter" and here is my opinion based on that experience.
PROS -
1. It's great not to have a ton of press kits clogging the office.
2. The submission fee is a good filter to keep away bands who are not serious about doing a show with me. It's not the best filter but pretty close.
3. It can be a nice income stream, depending on how you set it up. It costs a lot of money to do something like NBN. Am sure the money they make from Sonicbids helps to keep things running.
4. A good way to find out about opportunities you'd never otherwise know about.
CONS -
1. Interface sucks. It's slow and takes forever to go through submissions.
2. Some idiots submit for ANYTHING without really looking at what it is. There is a lot of noise. For example, I'm sure NBN gets submissions from people in no way connected with Nashville.
3. All the "press kits" look the same.
This is actually a "pro" in some ways, since people going through them can find the info they need. A page that looks like 1000 others does make it harder to stand out though.
If somebody wanted submissions on CD, would you send them a cassette, an 8-track, or a VHS tape? The person in charge chooses how they can best go through material. Don't fault NBN of anybody else for wanting to use Sonicbids. Most people have no idea how much work it is to go through 2500 press kits. Uniform submissions make the process a lot easier.
Yes, some of the things on Sonicbids are poor opportunities. Will it really help you to play Iceland? Doubt it.
Stop living in a fantasy world and get real.
Sonicbids doesn't have a lock on stupid shit. Some things in the music business are poor opportunities. Do you really need more than 1000 CDs these days? Most bands don't. Do you really need national distribution? Most bands don't.
Instead of bitching, take ownership of your music career. If you make a poor decision, deal with it and move on.
Check out the new anti-sonic bids facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=245193228788
From the moment I heard about it Sonicbids immediately set off my bullshit detector. I didn't notice any artists promoting it, but boy did the festival organizers seem to love it. None of the tools provided on Sonicbids are at all special, rather they take a great deal of the control out of the hands of the artist. If you want to control how your message is portrayed –sonicbids will not do that. It levels the playing field TO THE LOWEST COMMON DENOMINATOR, and even if it was doing actually what it claims it would kill the art altogether.
Follow the money... artists give money to Sonicbids, Sonicbids gives money to promoters, promoters give a little bit back to some of the artists, maybe. Even in the case of artists who are getting nothing -- they are still paying for it.
Paying a fee to "make sure you are serious"? Really? Maybe if you were serious you would give artists some money. Or actually do some of the leg work.
Without music, the festivals fail. Without music, radio stations fail. Make no mistake, despite the marked dilution it is still the musicians who are in control.
Sonicbids may have the best of intentions, but it has the shadiest of practices, and who exactly regulates it?
We have been a client of Sonicbids for almost 10 years - and had a number of our artists' EPK's registered through them. We have never liked or used their "pay to see if the venue might be interested in us" scheme. A phone call and email is cheaper. The festivals that operate a "closed shop" system through Sonicbids will be the poorer for it.
We are a UK based company, but our artists perform in Europe, India and China. We have growingly come to the conclusion that the majority of Sonicbids effort and advantage remains in the USA.
The scheme certainly has an 'Indie feel' in the early days - but in our view has become corporate and now has all the baggage usually associated with that.
The most apparent of this is their lack of understanding concerning the service part of the offering. Interacting with their "Community Representatives" is much like trying to communicate with the customer service hotline at your bank. Their Email correspondence is scattered with corporate terminology and meaningless platitudes. Your complaint becomes "feedback" - and your concerns are treated as a resistance to change and assurances that "you'll get used to it".
You can read our response sent to Sonicbids and posted on their blog page here: http://blogs.sonicbids.com/lou/2010/04/16/…
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Going online (thanks google) made us realise the scale of dissatisfaction that echoed our own. We have just taken on 3 new artist clients and have made the decision not to register them with Sonicbids. We have since discovered a number of very good sites where we can create an EPK and which will embed the artist's giglist in other places. We will transfer our existing clients from Sonicbids during the next few weeks.
This action was not taken lightly - it entails a lot of admin effort on our part and people get attached to what becomes familiar. I also like Panos - I've shared coffee and donuts with him at the international music festival MIDEM in Cannes when I was with the British stand. Unfortunately, when it gets big, you lose control of the corporate beast and it becomes driven by other - irrespective of the original vision.
Inevitable this is the way of the "Indie" scene. It's beautiful and idealistic when it's 'lean and mean' - but becomes distant as it evolves. (There are corporate strategies to address this - but that's all they are ... strategies!)
We now feel quite liberated and "Indie" pioneers once again. We were also pleasantly surprised to discover some of the fabulous alternatives which now have the edge on Sonicbids. With our heads firmly buried in Sonicbid's beach we never noticed others developing a "better mousetrap". We are also delighted that they nearly all offer a free service.
It's a brand new music business - go and have fun!
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