Split Gigs

As I've said so often on this blog, getting gigs is one of the hardest things for an artist or band to do. Once upon a time, there seemed to be a club on every corner and most of them had live music, but obviously that's no longer the case, so the competition for every date and time slot is fierce.

If you're playing in showcase clubs where you only play a single show, a way to expand your reach into another territory is to trade gigs with another band. This is where you each book a local show, but you trade them so each band gets to play in a new venue. The problem is, it's not always easy to find another band to trade gigs with.

Now comes a service called Split Gigs, a social network that helps bands, musicians and dj's find gigs to play. The site enables bands to connect with one another to exchange gig possibilities, and according to the site, even book a tour.

While this idea can work, be aware that you run the risk of incurring the wrath of the club owner or promoter if the band you're trading with doesn't bring a crowd (which won't happen since probably no one knows them), so it might not something that can be done often. Then again, if you can arrange for the other band to share the same bill on an opening slot and then vice versa, that could work well as long as the promoter agrees to it.

Check out the trailer for SplitGigs.

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