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By John Moxey
What sort of experience in the music industry did you gain before OnlineGigs?
I was a drummer booking my own band for a few years. We were traveling from VT to DC regularly and getting great exposure. When the band suddenly broke up I soon realized I had great success booking other bands as well. I was approached by a number of acts to help them put together their own regional and national tours. Eventually, I became a full time booking agent with about seven touring acts, and a bunch of others that I booked one-offs for. I was booking tours for independent bands from all across the country and trying desperately to take on more acts. Booking new bands in new markets is an extremely labor intensive process with relatively low pay off, so the key is to have a large roster of working bands. It was then that I had a realization: if I was going to grow as an independent booking agency, I had two choices. I could invest heavily in furniture, computer equipment and more staff or I could use existing technologies. I also have a background in Management Information Systems, so I thought I had a really good idea of what kind of application I wanted and what it needed to do.
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Do you think the online indie music scene has a direction? How do you see it evolving?
Live touring dollars are starting to surpass record sales as the real money maker in the music industry. Recorded music is essentially free, but the magic of the live show is priceless. When independent bands cannot get played on any radio stations or MTV, the best way to get exposure is to play as many gigs in as many different markets as they can. Until now the process for booking gigs and tours has been shrouded in secrecy. But as existing technologies get grouped together and applied to old problems, the independent is going to be the one to truly prosper. I think it is an incredibly exciting time in music there is so much upheaval but nobody can deny the constant of the live performance. There are plenty of bands that do not care about much else than being able to travel and play their music. They are not focused on the big pay off of a record deal or hit single because they are satisfied with being able to make music. Thats about as independent as it gets.
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How did Online Gigs get started? How did you become involved?
As I added more bands to my roster I became increasingly frustrated with trying to run an agency and being out of business for days while I tried to get Act to work with Word and Excel to work with Streetfinder. Or even just trying to integrate a bulk emailing or fax program into my day could occupy endless hours of valuable booking time. I knew that existing technologies could handle all of the functions that I needed and I knew most of it could be relatively automated so I did not have to interact with it on a regular basis. So at one point I just started building it. I hired some freelance programmers and just began with the essentials. At first I only had a venue database that could be added to or edited, but slowly I built in the robust features you see today with virtually every stage of the administration of booking and promoting completly automated.
It can be difficult building an online presence for new music sites. How did you go about it?
I have had the great benefit of being able to get the word out by word of mouth. As soon as one band was able to use the site to put themselves on the road for a few months other bands realized they could capitalize on the first bands work. Members get to use the site for free in exchange for keeping the data up to date so the word spread pretty fast. I also go involved with a number of non profit musician organizations and music competitions.
What are the main benefits of membership to Online Gigs?
Spare time and organization.The way I see it is why should I have to spend valuable time updating my wesbite with tour dates, sending out contracts, creating itineraries, getting directions, issuing press releases and reminding fans about shows in their area. I put a ton of energy into just finding a receptive contact in a new market, sending and following up on a press kit and then actually booking the gig. Once I have confirmed the date all of the resulting adminstration should just happen automatically. With Onlinegigs thats exactly what happens, the member clicks one buton to submit their performance information and the web updates, press releases, fan reminders, contracts and itineraries are done automatically. The member now has a substantial amount of free time to spend pursuing more and more opportunities rather than servicing them. They also gain confidence that they are on top of their game and constantly working their network. Every new person they meet goes into their Onlinegigs account and automatically gets a perdiodic message to maintain contact with them. To be succesful in any business you need to stay in touch with your network and you always need to be able to find the contact information for important business contacts. Onlinegigs stores and tracks everything online, no more beer stained notebooks stuffed with business cards and scribbled bar napkins and no more forgetting who needs to be called and when.
How do you see Online Gigs developing?
The performer/agent tools are really just one small facet. I am working on the venue/promoter tools as we speak. I am even adding in more directories so the site will be equally as useful for the Canadian, Australian & European markets. Onlinegigs is also working on ways to harness newer technologies like data feeds and syndication to keep the data as clean and free flowing as possible.
I heard that your office was damaged during the hurricane in Florida. Firstly,I hope everyone is ok. How severe was the damage? Did it affect the running of the site much?
The damage was real bad. The building I work out of lost the entire roof and we were without electricity and phones for about a month. At the time the servers were being hosted in Florida so the site did go down for a few days. I recently relocated all of the data to a much calmer environment outside of the state and have backup servers ready in case of another emergency. The positive affect has been my preparedness, Onlinegigs is ready for most natural disaster eventualities now and it was a good lesson for me to learn at this stage of my growth.
Are you involved in Music outside of Online Gigs?
I still play drums and congas but have not played in a band for the last couple of years. I have been so immersed in launching Version 4 of the site and have not really been able to seperate myself from the computer. Now that it is done however I really need to get back to playing out. I can feel the hole that it left inside and can't wait to get back to filling it up. I am a live music junky though and try to see as much as I can. Jazzfest in New Orleans played a yearly role in re-energizing me spiritually. The recent destruction down there motivated me to start a volunteer effort to spread the gospel of New Orleans music to fans & talent buyers. I started the NOLA Connection ( http://www.onlinegigs.com/newsletters/nola1.asp) newsletter and have been getting an overwhelming response.
What is your most satisfying professional achievement?
Launching version 4 of Onlinegigs is truly the most satisfying. I have been building this site for just about 5 years and have always envisioned where I am now. Its been a long and difficult road but being able to talk to so many musicians and agents that find the site an invaluable tool makes it all worthwhile. I could never understand this set of tools did not exist and it became something of an obsession for me. Now that I have achieved it I am very excited by all of the new possibilites ahead of me.
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What are your ambitions for 2006?
In 2006 I really need to start getting out and marketing more. I have been in beta mode and really just testing out the functionality with the existing member base. Now that I have the bugs worked out I have to begin the process of talking to more people about Onlinegigs. I am also in discussions with a number of potential partners to start building Version 5 and completely revamp the user interface.
The Music industry as a whole is undergoing a period of change. How do you see the fledgling online industry fitting in?
The internet has eclipsed every other method of music promotion and distribution. It has completely transformed the independent to have a viable career and be heard above the din.
What advice can you give to online musicians?
Get organized and be persistent, treat your music like the business that it is. Too many musicians expect the success to come by sheer virtue of their musical talent. But we have all seen some incredibly successful musicians that are just plain awful so we know that talent is not always the deciding factor. It constantly amazes me how many musicians spend countless hours and money on fine tuning their CDs and press kits. They then send out hundreds of packages and just sit back and wait. They do little or no follow up and then spend most of their time complaining about the lack of response. Never take no for an answer and always ask if it is ok to stay in touch when someone tells you that they are not interested. Success typically does not happen overnight so an uninterested contact you make today can turn into a very valuable contact down the line. But of course the key is not only asking if you can keep in touch but actually maintaining that contact.
What other music sites do you rate and why?
Obviously Myspace is a force to be reckoned with. The power of finding fans with similar tastes in the music that you are making is unparralelled. I also love Pandora.com for this reason, it creates recomended playlists for you based on the artists you choose. I am also a big fan of Reap & Sow, they are starting to distribute music to the online retail outlets for independents.
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About John Moxey
John Moxey started Songstuff in 2000 and is an active songwriter and musician as well as a regular Songstuff author of music and music technology related articles and member of the site crew.
John started playing his first instrument (piano) in 1971, and has been writing songs since 1979. He began playing his now main instrument, the guitar, in 1982. In 1986 he finished training as a studio engineer and in 1997 obtained an Honours Degree in Electronics and Music from the University of Glasgow.
John now plays several other instruments including mandolin, violin, bagpipes, didgeridoo, bodhran, and vocals.
John has a broad range of performance experience from choirs and orchestras to pipe bands. He has sung for, played in and written for various bands, and produced songs across a number of genres.
John Moxey - Full Site Crew Profile
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