Korea Gig Guide

Live Music 2.0

Posted by: mark ˑ  March 21, 2010 – 8:03 pm

By Mark

So I have been poking around on the various live music websites that are scattered across the Internet. I had no idea there were so many these days. I had been struggling with near-useless, last-generation sites like Pollstar, so was amazed how much things have changed. Now there are a multitude of websites that are trying to combine social media, data harvesting, and whatever the media 2.0 flavor of the month.

These include:

• Hearwhere – a gig listing site that is flashy but hard to use, and not good for Asia
• Songkick – nice interface, but geared toward big shows, and very little information on Korea
• Iggli – another attempt at media 2.0 and live music (and other live events). This site’s hook is the “invite” – it is all about people inviting each other to events; claims this is not social networking. Dubious. Not much on Asia.
• Bands in Town – big artists, not for Asia
• Jambase – ugly, just big Western acts, incomplete, basically another Pollstar
• Madlounge – only the US
• Superglued – social networking plus concerts; not sure how useful this could be if it takes off, but not much yet.
• Gigzee – specializes in local music, but buggy, and nothing for Korea yet
• Gig Junkie – not much in Asia, not very complete
• Gig Listing – trying to be the Google for live music. Still in beta, and it shows
• Gig Freaks – I think I like this one the best. Nothing for Korea yet, but its Japan and China listings show some promise. I like the interface (despite the big, ugly Google ad banner in the middle), which is easy to use and informative. Seems to be a one-man operation, though, so I am not sure how much it will develop in the future.

As you can see, I am biased toward sites that focus on local and indie music. Really, how much help do people need finding the next Lady Gaga concert? But hopefully these services will find a way to make it easier to find local and more unusual bands, all over the world. As the saying goes, your mileage may vary, so I link to all of them so you can check them out for yourself. If there are any you particularly like, please let me know.