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OurStage pits bands against each other in one-on-one talent competitions to win cash payments of up to $5000. But this online talent show of sorts is about to get even more real, thanks to an apparent deal between OurStage and the massive/promoter/venue owner/label/merchandise company Live Nation. OurStage says its bands will have a chance at scoring one of 300 gigs opening for artists at Live Nation venues across the country.
If this works, other companies looking for talent could join OurStage's music marketplace, giving bands even more incentive to enter and creating a crowd-sourced classified section of sorts that matches talent to opportunity.
"Basically, we're building ourselves into a central hub, where we're the marketplace for the world," OurStage founder Ben Campbell told Listening Post. "If you think about what eBay did, or what Monster did – it's a place where the entire world comes to a single platform to have the value of someone's goods or wares or services determined by the broader community… and to have a transaction take place."
Under the terms of the deal, which was discussed but not announced, Live Nation will post 300 opening gig opportunities in OurStage's new Marketplace section, according to OurStage. A Live Nation spokesman, on the other hand, told Listening Post, "Basically,
there is not going to be an announcement... anything you have heardis totally preliminary at this stage."
Be that as it may, Campbell has his sights set on one specific stratus of the musicindustry: bands that have reached the tipping point between MySpace andpractice studio, and the larger opportunities represented by labeldeals and bigger venues:
"Say there's an opening slot for the DoobieBrothers (whose shows are booked by Live Nation) coming up," he posed. "Let's say 500 bandsapply for it. The first thing (the venue/promoter) is going to do is filter bygenre… Southern rock, or whatever it happens to be. That might shrink(the pool of applicants) down to 50, and then they say, 'Okay we onlywant the top acts' (as sorted by user ratings), and that might shrinkit down to 15, and then out of those 15, they'll say, 'Sort by fancount within a 100 mile-radius of this zip code.' And that'll shrink itdown to five. They'll take their time drilling down the EPK's(electronic press kits) of those five (until they've picked one to openfor the Doobie Brothers). They'll know (the band is) available, andthey'll know they've agreed to the price" that the venue or promoter has offeredto the opening band.
Once the transaction is complete, the band and venue discuss thelogistics offline, but the deal will have already been done.
The venue/promoter will be able to e-mail fans of the chosen openingbands to tell them about the gig and offer them deals to attend, afterwhich they might become a fan of the headliner.
In order to succeed on the sort of large-scale level that Campbell envisions, OurStage will need to swell its ranks largeenough that Live Nation and other companies looking for talent cantrust that a high rating on OurStage translates to thousands or tens of thousands of real,
live fans who will buy tickets, albums and merchandise.
In addition, safeguards must prevent gaming of the system bybands and their overzealous fans.
OurStage already has a mechanism inplace that makes gaming its system difficult, in that users are presented withrandom face-offs between artists. In other words, you can't just trackdown your friend's band and vote them to the top. However, users withhours to spare could game OurStage a bit by plowing through the site,
selecting 'no preference' except when faced with a certain band orbands.
To combat that technique, OurStage is giving its users varying degrees of influence, basedon their voting patterns. Campbell explained how it works. "The system candynamically assess whether or not someone is judging in a fair fashion," he said,
"or if someone's just trying to drive through some gaming and do 'nopreference, no preference, no preference' and just listening to 15
seconds" before voting for a specific band.
"We're building a points system basically that allows for recognitionof higher level A&R talent, if you will, amongst the fans."
Although the deal appears to be in the preliminary stages, Campbell said Live Nation plans to submit 12 opening gigs in July, with a total of 300 gigs total over the next year.
