I have gotten 9 Sonicbids approvals now. So to an extent it works — but there are issues.
First is that organizations that would have simply searched for artists are now receiving money to search for artists — and the more widely they promote the opportunity, they more they make. So your odds get worse the more they promote the opportunity, and they make more cash.
Second is that you’re far more likely to get a CD compilation, a review, or radio airplay than an actual gig. It would be very hard to book a whole tour using Sonicbids — maybe a couple anchor gigs.
I think it’s also mostly oriented towards rock, pop, hip hop, and such — there are some opportunities for other genres, but they’re slip pickings and there’s a lot of competition.
It’s a good service overall, but it’s also what you make of it. Do it if you can work hard at it, and if you can handle a lot of rejection. For every acceptance I got there were at least 5 rejections, and that’s a pretty good rate of acceptance.
I’ve been a member since 2004 and have been selected for 12 opportunities – I’m pretty selective about what I submit to. Mostly using it to submit for an offiical showcase at the various Folk Alliance Conferences and an occaisional CD complilation.
SonicBids is a godsend for conferences, song contests and festival producers who need a central place to review new artists and/or new songs, especially when the judges are geographically dispersed.
But Marian is right, the fact that SonicBids provides a revenue stream for promoters introduces a new variant to the mix. What’s the easiest way to make money in independent music? Sell hope to other independent musicians.
A debate has raged in the folk and acoustic community for a couple of years concerning SonicBids. My 2 cents is that the problem is with some unscrupulous promoters, not with SonicBids itself. SonicBids has recently added an opportunity review section where artists who have been selected for a specific opportunity in the past can post about their experiences.
Bottom line? Do your homework, check out the promoters site, look to see who they’ve presented in the past and don’t apply for the Rock Festival in Witchita if you play bluegrass music. Otherwise you can find yourself clicking that “submit” button to to the tune of hundreds of dollars before you know it.
We have been very selective with it….but so far it has not been totally worth the expense…I’m starting to consider canceling the subscription….but I still hold out some hope….and therein lies the catch…
I would love SonicBids if I were a promoter charging artists to submit their material.
I would love SonicBids if I could earn a few thousand dollars in submission fees for an event that may or may not occur at some point in time.
…but I’m not. I work hard booking and promoting m band (rather successfully thank you) and SonicBids are has proven an unfortunate waste of time and money,
I am thankful that I discovered ReverbNation as a an alternative. They provide a similar suite of services for free–minus the promoter’s drop-box which I think is a sleezy insult to musicians.
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I have gotten 9 Sonicbids approvals now. So to an extent it works — but there are issues.
First is that organizations that would have simply searched for artists are now receiving money to search for artists — and the more widely they promote the opportunity, they more they make. So your odds get worse the more they promote the opportunity, and they make more cash.
Second is that you’re far more likely to get a CD compilation, a review, or radio airplay than an actual gig. It would be very hard to book a whole tour using Sonicbids — maybe a couple anchor gigs.
I think it’s also mostly oriented towards rock, pop, hip hop, and such — there are some opportunities for other genres, but they’re slip pickings and there’s a lot of competition.
It’s a good service overall, but it’s also what you make of it. Do it if you can work hard at it, and if you can handle a lot of rejection. For every acceptance I got there were at least 5 rejections, and that’s a pretty good rate of acceptance.
I’ve been a member since 2004 and have been selected for 12 opportunities – I’m pretty selective about what I submit to. Mostly using it to submit for an offiical showcase at the various Folk Alliance Conferences and an occaisional CD complilation.
SonicBids is a godsend for conferences, song contests and festival producers who need a central place to review new artists and/or new songs, especially when the judges are geographically dispersed.
But Marian is right, the fact that SonicBids provides a revenue stream for promoters introduces a new variant to the mix. What’s the easiest way to make money in independent music? Sell hope to other independent musicians.
A debate has raged in the folk and acoustic community for a couple of years concerning SonicBids. My 2 cents is that the problem is with some unscrupulous promoters, not with SonicBids itself. SonicBids has recently added an opportunity review section where artists who have been selected for a specific opportunity in the past can post about their experiences.
Bottom line? Do your homework, check out the promoters site, look to see who they’ve presented in the past and don’t apply for the Rock Festival in Witchita if you play bluegrass music. Otherwise you can find yourself clicking that “submit” button to to the tune of hundreds of dollars before you know it.
We have been very selective with it….but so far it has not been totally worth the expense…I’m starting to consider canceling the subscription….but I still hold out some hope….and therein lies the catch…
I would love SonicBids if I were a promoter charging artists to submit their material.
I would love SonicBids if I could earn a few thousand dollars in submission fees for an event that may or may not occur at some point in time.
…but I’m not. I work hard booking and promoting m band (rather successfully thank you) and SonicBids are has proven an unfortunate waste of time and money,
I am thankful that I discovered ReverbNation as a an alternative. They provide a similar suite of services for free–minus the promoter’s drop-box which I think is a sleezy insult to musicians.
I’ve been looking at it, and I’m wondering… I live in Europe and this website seems to be very USA oriented. What do you think?