"Connect with artists and venues to see the shows you want."
- Research and communications tool that enables artists to plan, publish and promote shows and tours through cooperation with fans, venues and other artists.
1) As an artist, what does Bopgig do for me that I can't do already?
It provides a single place to research your fanbase, make venue and artist bookings and promote any shows and tours to fans. You can also tweak and extend a tour, especially if enough of your fans are following you: you'd utilize the location analytics. Likewise, fans can keep track of and attract the hottest and their most desired touring acts coming through their city.
2) What are some features?
heatmaps, driving directions, notices, multiple-profiles, fan analytics (age/gender breakdown, popular artists, postcode lookup), saving, table/csv view in finder, twitter and foursquare claiming, twitter follower crosscheck, ping notifications, dash with shows of interest, overall design
3) As a non-touring artist, why should I signup?
Primarily to be found by other artists and venues looking for touring support acts, although there are other benefits and features you can take advantage of (like learning about and connecting with future and preexisting fans.)
4) As a venue, why should I signup?
Primarily to avail yourself to, find and book touring artists, although there are other benefits and features regarding learning about and connecting with patrons.
5) As an artist, does another artist or venue need to be signed up to the site for me to include them in a tour?
The database contains a number of artists and venues already who can be included in a tour, but an artist can still create venues when entering a tour if they don't exist.
6) As an artist, can I publish shows that aren't part of a tour?
Yes, it will become a standalone show.
7) As a venue, do I get the same features as artists?
You cannot add gigs to your gig schedule, but artists can add themselves to your schedule. You can see metrics of your fans and see their preferred artists, but not fan heatmaps. As with fans and artists, you can create and send notices.
8) What are notices?
They are like email messages but can also be pinned up publically to your profile. Fans can get pinged by email when they are created or through one's notices rss feed so they are also like blog posts (so far without commenting.) Artists can create notices about tour or album launches. Fans may post about gigs they're going or have been to. Venues may post gig calendars periodically, tips about playing shows or news.
9) I manage a number of artists, can I create profiles for all of them?
Yes, you'd signup with the one username, receive your fan profile, but then create separate profiles for each artist (or venue) you manage. If you have access to their twitter accounts, you can then associate those with each profile. In general, it is best if you attach a twitter or foursquare account as it adds legitimacy to a profile.
10) How do I get started?
As a fan, signup, use the finder to check out existing artists, venues and shows. Become a fan of, or save any that look interesting. Share your profile link with others: they may become fans of yours. As an artist, you can create an artist profile and then send that page out. If you have a present or upcoming tour, create that first and send that out. Artists and venues should check to see if they are already in the database (in the finder or search) and then claim those preexisting profiles.
11) What's the difference between becoming a fan and saving?
As a fan, another's profile is shown on your profile and yours on theirs, in the appropriate panes. You also receive their notices and are included in their analytics. You can also limit searches in Finder from just your favorite artists and venues, and similarly see upcoming shows on the dash from only those artists and venues for whom you are a fan. With saving, you are essentially creating a list of artists or venues (but not fans) that interest you, which can be inserted later when creating a show. The two are similar in that they are both groups of other profiles that interest you, but one is more involved.
12) As an artist, how do I make the most of Bopgig?
It's best to have as many of your fans as possible signup and become fans of yours. This way you can obtain locations and analytics on them to devise better tours, they know when you're coming to their city, and you can them send notices. Fans, venues and other artists can also find you (in addition to anonymous users.)
13) No one's using Bopgig yet, does that matter?
Not really. The database already contain many venues and artists (and is regularly updated) that you can browse, follow, save and contact. You can also use it as a tool to connect with, and reach out to fans. As a fan, you can see new touring acts on the dash coming to your city out of the entire database and from just your favorites.
14) Can Bopgig replace twitter, facebook, youtube, myspace or my own site?
Generally no - they may be used in conjunction, and should be: especially to communicate an image to fans, present talent and link back to your Bopgig profile. You could link to those sites from your profile and in notices.
15) Can only music artists and live music venues use the site?
Not at all, although the launch database represents those entities. Upon initial signup a fan profile is created automatically, but then additional ones would be created. Any place that holds an audience could create a venue profile and any entity with an audience could create an artist profile. Tags can also be applied to profiles for classification. Thus, artists could be bloggers, speakers, film producers, roadshows, sports demos, exhibitions, theater and stage groups, and circuses. Venues could be homes, outdoor venues, auditoriums, halls, stadiums, parks, arenas, bars, clubs, pubs, cinemas and galleries.
16) What do I do if I have a problem, question or feedback?
Please do not hesitate to contact the site regarding any issue or matter at all via the email, twitter and forum links at bottom.
The Bopgig team consists of:
The team resides in Israel. Contact adrian@bopgig.com for further information.