1 - Unlike an agent, SB makes no judgments as to whether an artist is any good. What kind of employer is interested in hearing from bands whose only qualification is that they paid a $5 fee?

2 - I’ve yet to see a post, anywhere, from any musician who says “yeah, I got gigs through SB, it’s worth it.” Seen plenty saying the opposite.

There’s a vast industry built on selling picks and shovels to us miners - ie, separating indie musicians from their cash!

Thanks for forwarding the message from the Sonicbids Artist Relations manager. For those who are following this thread, the Sonicbids folk do a good job of making sure any complaints or concerns do not go unanswered, including mine. Their diligence is commendable, and practically unheard of in the music industry (and the world at large, I’m afraid!).

We can’t wait to come back to the UK! We’ll count on you being there!

Thanks so much for posting your comment here. It’s funny the number of people who were were not happy with sonicbids, but unwilling to post here due to the thought that it might keep them from getting a gig in the future. I really appreciate you taking the time to tell your story. You guys are fantastic, if you can’t get a gig with sonicbids, I’m not sure who can!

Pay to Play is a phrase I’ve heard used many times in conjunction with SB….which as you said does not even guarantee that you’ll get a gig. A horrible system. Also there’s really no way to monitor whether or not a promoter actually listens to the material at all. It’s pretty much on the honor system and that in the music business is pretty laughable really. With sonicbids not doing a very good job at chasing up promoters who aren’t updating…we might as well have been throwing our money down a well. I’m quite surprised that there hasn’t been some kind of class action lawsuit drawn up against them yet. I’m not saying that’s the right thing to do…I’m just surprised.

You should email Lou, the SB Artist Relations Guy, to see if he can get you the proper contact emails for the opportunities for which you want to apply. After all, I think sonicbids owes you an explanation of why it took 5 YEARS to get an update from a promoter. That’s absolutely scandalous.

When you coming back to the UK??? I promise I’ll be here next time!

We actually canceled our SonicBids account last year. After spending over $300 in submissions alone (talk about feeling embarrassed!) it finally dawned on us that it was nigh on impossible to be selected out of the gazillion bands who were submitting entries. Now, this isn’t necessarily the fault of SonicBids; it’s hard to vie for a slot in a large festival or conference no matter how you submit your material. But when we saw that random clubs, including one in our hometown, had listings where you could pay $5-10 to be considered for a show, that just seemed weird. That smacks more of pay-to-play, but what’s worse is there’s no guarantee you’ll even get a show.

What has been irking me this week is that there are a couple of opportunities we’d like to be considered for but the only submission path is through SonicBids. I’ve written to ask if there are other options but have gotten no response. I suppose festivals, clubs, tours, etc. get enough entries through SonicBids to keep them plenty busy so missing out on a few outsiders isn’t any big deal to them, but I find it frustrating.

Well, like everything else in the music business, this is fluid and before long another paradigm shift will push musicians and industry folk into a completely different mode of communication. But I still can’t help but feel a little duped.