Few sub-cultures are as fanatical as those closely associated with musical groups or genres. Famous musical festivals such as Coachella, Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza or the World Music Conference draw crowds from all over the world. Certain bands, in particular on the jam and punk rock scenes, have fans so loyally they are willing to pay prices upwards of fifteen times the face value of a ticket for the opportunity to see a performance. In both cases, events are typically preceded by months of digitally transmitted communications (via blogs, fan websites, etc.) regarding opinions on line-ups and headliners, potential surprise crowd pleasers, and set list speculation. Such behavior has made digital channels a critical part of this particular community. Why all the frenzy? Well, there is substantial segment of habitual concert-goers that view musical performances as something far beyond a form of recreational entertainment. They see loyalty to the festival and tour circuits not as a hobby, but rather as a priority or lifestyle. They form tight-knit communities and view performances as a way to reconnect with people thy view as friends and family. They collectively strive to transform these events into fully immersive experiences. And the music is star this crazy galaxy wildly orbits around.With this picture painted, it is not hard to accept that this group of people takes a huge amount of pride in their knowledge of and involvement in the music scene. Songkick recognized this simple point and capitalized off this realization by creating a forum for music enthusiasts to contribute to the documentation of of highly relevant musical movements of their generation as well as expand their musical “family”. Songkick is a USG site started in 2007. The original purpose of the site was to allow live music lovers to discover new bands, track live shows and purchase the cheapest tickets available to see the performances of their favorite bands. However, the site has evolved to realize a much deeper vision. Songkick is currently attempting to create a database of every concert that has ever taken place. Users can simply search the site for a show they attended and see if that performance is contained within the database. If the show is not currently listed on Songkick, the user can upload information about the performance (band, venue, set list, etc.). If the show is there, the user can click a button to indicate that they were in attendance. This latter possibility has huge implications from a social networking perspective in that a Songkick user can create a profile for themselves detailing which concerts they have attended. In doing so, they are documenting their preferences for and dedication to certain bands and events. By sharing such information, a user could easily connect to another user with similar tastes and levels of involvement in the musical community. This social networking component of the site gives Songkick the flavor of the original MySpace, but combined with heightened utility and benefit for the user. Click the link below for the full story on what’s new with Songkick:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/06/08/songkick-aims-to-make-a-database-of-every-concert-ever-—-and-its-well-on-its-way/
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