Music Business Fri Mar 12 2010

The Not So Hidden Sonicbids/Chicago Connection

By Aharona Ament

Music is a living organism. It lives, breathes, and is changing constantly. How music is made, found and promoted is part of this life force and is also morphing. The international company Sonicbids is a huge contributing factor in this. Since its incarnation in 2001, Sonicbids has provided pragmatic outcome to an ever changing industry making gigging a reality to many struggling musicians and giving people in the music industry more fresh faces than they could have ever imagined. The company blends business, music and technology giving necessary tools and guidance to both performer and promoter. The company also nurtures what they call "The artistic middle class."The artist in limbo somewhere in between a deal with a record label and busking for spare change. They interact with their worldwide network of members to provide and accept feedback to a global community involved with constantly emerging music.

Last week Sonicbids's founder Panos Panay (pictured, above) was in town holding a music networking night at the Double Door. This was also part celebration Sonicbids as is the city's newest resource in finding bands to play major fests, a relationship that in Panos said was "fairly unique to Chicago." The Festivals include Celtic Fest, The Chicago Jazz Festival as well as the epic Taste of Chicago. This is a small part of the unsteady ground known as the future of music. A term that brings discomfort to some, but to Panos,the extreme changes the music industry has experienced in the last fifteen years (with regards to the use of the internet) is exciting. Impressed by how Chicago uses its street, music and food festivals to promote local music, the founder of the world's largest musician/promoter site met Barry Dolins, Deputy Director of The Mayor's Office of Special Events on a panel at music conference in 2003. This was the spark that helped launch this partnership.

In addition to this connection, five Chicago based Sonicbids members are set to play SXSW this month. The bands landed playing the event through the use of the site and although they were selected outside their connection to Sonicbids, it is assumable that site helped them along the road to one the largest and most anticipated music festivals. Stephanie Nilles, Psalm One, Willy Joy, Joe Pug and Light Pollution are set to play. Panos said he was excited about many of the bands, including local bands playing SXSW this year. "It is all about music discovery. A lot of the bands I am going to be hearing about for the rest of the year play at SXSW".