Thanks for the response!

Greg here, i’m gigdoggy’s cofounder and developer - thanks Ian for the very nice writeup/interview!

I think Matt raises some valid points : a service like this one is only as good as the people using it, and there are bands out there only working for themselves that won’t contribute anything meaningful to the “conversation”.

However the platform allows you first and foremost to stay in touch with your own network - the bands that you’re playing with right now, or have played with before.

We hope to grow the platform organically, and one of the reasons is that most bands with live gig experience have already shared stages with other bands - and will probably turn to those bands first for other gig opportunities. That’s why it’s a lot more important for us that you build your own community by inviting bands that you know.
Communication within gigdoggy is a bit like twitter-for-bands: you follow only the activity of people you care about, so there is little room for blatant self-promotion: people will just stop following you if you don’t give back.

Let’s say you guys are playing in Sweden (just a hunch :)- if you are sharing those gigs with other bands, you could create a gig profile and invite the bands that you’re playing those shows with.

You then have a centralized place where you can discuss all aspects of the gig’s logistics. It’s quite simple really - but it organizes the information in a way that back-and-forth emails with multiple bands doesn’t allow.

We’re really hoping that the first bands using the platform will give us as much feedback as possible and help us make this even more useful for future bands.

Anyways i really encourage you to sign up and find out for yourself.

It also depends on whether a band would use it for their own needs and not the needs of the many (ie promoting themselves to bands when they play to not a local audience, but when a band needs their help, they only do it half-arsed)

As long as the participating bands/artists are willing to share their audiences - as well as some of their knowledge, i guess - then I see this being quite successful.

Am I right in thinking this application is just for bands “hooking-up” or is it also for promotion to the public?

I started a site a long time ago, which main aim was to have bands submit gig dates in the hope that if I or any other net user was stumped for something to do, they could look up a date, and an area and find a gig to go to… Unfortunately, and obviously, the only people who visited the site was just bands looking for another place to promote their gigs…

Matt