Nexus Meets… Gigride
Before Christmas (remember that?) we delved into the live music side of the industry behind the scenes here at Nexus. We wanted to highlight some of the fantastic work that companies and individuals do to promote emerging talent going into 2020. One of the companies who have been on our radar for a little while now is Gigride. So we jumped at the opportunity to interview one of the founders, Oscar!
Gigride has a mission statement to revolutionise the way that live music works. With an effective and simple way of pairing musicians with promoters and venues, this is an ideal opportunity for those who are seeking shows to give the site a go!
Gigride has recently begun to Crowdfund as well, so be sure to take the time to support them if this is something that interests you!
Tell us a bit about Gigride and the services that Gigride provide?
Gigride aims to be the UK’s leading platform connecting bands with venues looking for bands. With over 8,000 acts and 800 event organisers booking over 50 performances a month, Gigride is attempting to prove an entirely new business model for the live music industry.
Just how important is it to have a site like Gigride that evolves within the music community as a whole?
Who doesn’t hate an empty room at a gig? Current industry practice is to trawl Social Media to match musicians, gigs and locations. Attendance can be based on guesswork. This exposes venues to the risk of poor bar sales, compromises promoter reputation and demoralises bands. Gigride aims to enable organisers to make informed booking decisions and boost revenues by maximising attendance. Artists can find gig opportunities anywhere suiting their audience and enhancing their career. We get in touch on a weekly basis with musicians, venues and promoters to understand what are their needs, we need them to be part of our project in order to create something that is truly valuable. Our vision is to create an ecosystem where an artist can find anything, from gigs, instrument rentals, insurance, video makers, and so on.
What has been the biggest accomplishment of Gigride since its inception?
We love to see people getting together. Thanks to Gigride around 20 bands got to tour, a few went from the UK to Italy, and the other way around as well. There have been bands that keep on coming down to Italy every year as they fall in love with it, and an Italian band became really good friends with artists from Cardiff and they often organise gigs together. Then, I’m very proud of having organised a gig for Dr Danny at the legendary Rough Trade in Brick Lane.
What are the most challenging aspects of undertaking a service like Gigride?
Gigride is a marketplace and a social network so it needs loads of critical mass before it’s valuable. This usually means that a company needs quite a bit of cash for marketing costs while we’ve had to get the word out manually. We operate in a market where there isn’t much money so it’s not easy to create a sustainable business model, you need a high number of transactions and aim for the mass market to do so. You’ve begun Crowd Funding for Gigride!
In a paragraph, what would your pitch be to potential investors as to why they should take a chance on Gigride?
We’re currently signing up 400 live acts and 40 events organisers a month, we have 8000 acts and 800 hosts onboard. We’re struggling to keep up with the demand and this is why we’re now crowdfunding. Music engenders a passion that no other industry can match. It’s a huge market with no leader. We’ve been successful so far, with minimal spending, organising gigs is just the first step, we’ll help artists take ownership over their careers, becoming the one-stop-shop for all their needs.
(At the time of writing, Nexus and those behind the scenes have no financial investment in Gigride which would provide a bias or otherwise towards this article).