Call me cynical (I am) but hey, I’ve always had a problem with Sonicbids; any company that purports to offer a service that can help a band get connected to promoters and vise versa while asking for a sign up fee has to be treated with the proverbial grain of salt in my book. They say on their site – “Get a gig, guaranteed! Free trial for one month, then $5.95 per month.” Wow, guaranteed, ok. Unfortunately if you applied through Sonicbids to play this year’s CMJ festival (and paid the $45 application fee) then you were shit out of luck. Let’s face it, I can’t believe for one minute that the folks at CMJ planned to book bands that submitted through Sonicbids, but I’m willing to be wrong. Whatever the intentions here it appears that things went a little wrong in the process.
According to the Ghost Media blog “One emailer noted, in a less-than-friendly email to Baskin, that “Apart from the fact that we are now open to a bunch of spam, it has also brought to my attention that Sonicbids has collected the $45 fee from at least 670 bands ($30,450) knowing full well that you could never accommodate all of the bands.”
Soon the folks at Shiny Little Records pointed out a little known statistic that comes with every Sonicbids account.
“Check your SonicBids account and see how many plays you received. Ours, attached, shows that there were NO plays of any of our music by anyone at CMJ (CMJ was the only ap we submitted). $45 should at the very least mean that they get an intern to click play on your song once. How sloppy. Yes, I think a refund, apology, and full explanation are in order.”
Oh dear…..
Post update from Ghost Media – the only way to apply to play CMJ was through Sonicbids….
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guess what ? there is no free lunch.
September 24th, 2007 at 9:10 pmimportant detail…..the ONLY way to apply to CMJ was via sonicbids. That is why the whole thing is a scam.
September 24th, 2007 at 9:35 pmHey, guess what!
It costs money to submit to any big festival, INCLUDING CMJ. There would be a fee whether associated with Sonicbids or not. I doubt Sonicbids ate up that $ 30 Grand…something tells me that most of it it goes to the folks at CMJ – Why else would any promoter even USE sonibids? The fault here (if any) is with CMJ..Although I don’t see any issues with looking at a bands info and seeing that they just aren’t a good fit BEFORE you even listen. I mean, if you are a band with no pictures, no press info and no gigs…C’mon. You are fooling yourself if you think you are ready for CMJ.
September 25th, 2007 at 5:49 amNot only is Sonicbids a huge crock of shit when it come to the big fests—I’ll take it one step furthur and say that any festival that accepts application fees from artists without having an actual slot open is racking up some serious bad karma. Not to mention the fact that they may even be run a greedy douche bag with a heart the size of a common garden gnome.
Thankfully SXSW is accepting online apps this year through their own website. Some fests say you can ‘only’ apply through sonicbids, which I take as code for “you aint got a chance”. I’m so sick of the festival system, which gives unsigned acts no chance while having label showcase after label showcase. Labels are all in debt, listeners don’t give a damn what label a band is on anyways, and yet it seems these fests are still completely operating in the old system because they lack the creativity to change with the times.
heh. obviously I really shouldn’t comment until I’ve had my coffee….
September 25th, 2007 at 7:06 amI’ve often said, when I’ve been on panels at CMJ, SXSW etc, that if a band has to attend a seminar to understand how to get a gig or a record deal then they are wasting their time and my time and their money. Same goes for services like Sonicbids, a waste of money and if you feel you have to use this service you might want to consider a different career. It reminds me of those companies that promoised to get bands’ material in front of A&R folks for a fee. Well, I never even opened the packages then and I don’t click on links to Sonicbids artists today if they are sent to me unsolicited. Clearly CMJ couldn’t be bothered to listen to 600+ bands, who’d want to do that? It’s a crap shoot kids, that’s the long and short of it….
September 25th, 2007 at 7:59 ami was talking to someone who had been considering using sonicbids for a small regional festival, for ease of use and organization.
sonicbids takes 50% of the submission, although they are reeeally cagey about how they say it. but the bottom line, at least for smaller festivals, is it’s 50%. they recommended to my pal that they up the submission from 10 to 20, because of that.
they went against it, but then again, they have ~100 submissions a year, and that’s doable manually. I’d hate to even think about dealing with the number of submissions cmj must get.
(i would suspect that sonicbids takes a smaller percentage from cmj, just b/c it’s the nature of the business).
and, really, you know there are only so many spots available period, and that with anything that needs to draw a paying crowd, they are gonna pick mostly things that are already popular and out there, and fill in other spots with lesser knowns. you have to know going into any big festival that it’s loaded against you.
September 25th, 2007 at 8:09 amYeah, I stick to my opinion above…it’s like trying to be the cool kid on the block…if you have to try….
September 25th, 2007 at 9:23 am“I can’t believe for one minute that the folks at CMJ planned to book bands that submitted through Sonicbids, but I’m willing to be wrong.”
Good thing! Here’s the list of bands that were selected for CMJ through Sonicbids last year.
http://www.sonicbids.com/ItWorks/event_view.asp?event_id=503
September 25th, 2007 at 12:29 pmMaizie, that’s fabulous did they all get to play? And why are the most famous artists’ accounts all deactivated? The Black Angels, Architecture in Helsinki, Mute Math, Princess Superstar, Eleni Mandell, Dr Dog – were they all Sonicbids members at one time? I’m clicking away here but not getting any love from artists I want to hear….I suspect those artist were picked outside of the Sonicbids cattle call, yes?
http://www.sonicbids.com/ItWorks/event_view.asp?event_id=503
September 25th, 2007 at 1:39 pmMy band (Dutch Pink) was not selected. We did though receive plays and were put on the standby. It seems alot of posturing about nothing. Things only, in our experience, have worked out beneficially to ourselves when we were needed or asked to do something. This dart in the dark stuff, with or without paying forty five dollars or 35 which is what we paid as early submissions, is pretty useless in general. hoping a stranger will discover your unknown talents or that someone isn’t willing to profit off your dreams is naive. but all in all $45 is just a meager bar tab.
September 25th, 2007 at 2:30 pmYeh, Sonicbids does take 50% of the submission fees, I’ve seen my friends contract.
They say promoters would be flooded without the fees. Well then why not have a limited amount of submissions (say 3) with each month’s membership? So that is all BS. They just got 4.5 mil in VC money and from what I hear, everyone that works there thinks they are cool as ice.
I see this ship getting a little too big navigate the glaciers.
September 25th, 2007 at 2:38 pmDustin, I would say that having the Sonicbids access as just one more arrow in your quiver is useful as you navigate the rough passages of what’s left of the music biz. And if your $45 bar tab is meagre, as you say, then you’re probably doing ok out there right?
Mikey, where’d you get the news about the VC money?
September 25th, 2007 at 3:23 pmLooks like Sonicbids has posted a reply.
http://www.sonicbids.com/forum/topic_view.asp?topic_id=61815&page=1
Seems like an honest mistake, a horribly unfortunate one, but an honest one none-the-less. I consider it a non-issue at this point. The hit counter was screwed up, big whoop.
If you got rejected, it’s probably because they didn’t like you, so grow up.
September 26th, 2007 at 4:09 pm“mportant detail…..the ONLY way to apply to CMJ was via sonicbids. That is why the whole thing is a scam.”
No, there’s actually a paper application you can mail in. Still costs $45. If you do it online, you get a free Sonicbids membership, too.
September 26th, 2007 at 7:10 pm[...] party, Sonicbids, to apply for a slot at this year’s MusicFestNW. You’d think after the debacle with the CMJ conference where folks paid Sonicbids to enter the lottery and apparently no one from CMJ bothered to listen [...]
May 12th, 2008 at 8:22 pm[...] year’s MusicFestNW [this may have been the case last year too.] You’d think after the debacle with the CMJ conference where folks paid Sonicbids to enter the lottery and apparently no one from CMJ bothered to listen [...]
May 12th, 2008 at 8:30 pm[...] year’s MusicFestNW [this may have been the case last year too.] You’d think after the debacle with the CMJ conference where folks paid Sonicbids to enter the lottery and apparently no one from CMJ bothered to listen [...]
May 12th, 2008 at 9:21 pmSonicbids, SXSW and CMJ are all fucking with our heads and egos. They know musicians want status by playing in their festivals and want recognition. Guys, better stick to improving your craft and forget about the status of CMJ or SXSW, including sonicbids, they are nothing but a bunch of fucking B.U.L.L.S.H.I.T.S. and fucking us musicians in the A.S.S.E.S. whenever they can. Bunch of no good fer nothin’ ass lickers!
BTW, I play in a Punk band and I will never use Sonicbids or play at the god damn CMJ or SXSW.
July 13th, 2008 at 10:35 amSonicbids is a rip off. You create a fund of your hard earned money to use toward applying for “opportunities”. They allow “promoters” to set up accounts, and charge a price that is deducted from your money fund, for consideration toward the promoters “opportunities”.
The chances of actually getting an “opportunity” are slim, but the disturbing thing to me is that some of these promoters never even respond after taking your money. You click on the “Apply For Opportunity” button, and your money goes away, and Sonicbids is the middleman for this scheme. Think of it as a big swap meet we’ll call Sonicbids, and it’s full of booths of thieves and shady characters.
In trying to follow up with some of these absentee “promoters” and their “opportunities”, I was surprised to find websites with no contact info.
When I got in touch with Sonicbids about that, I got this kind of “Oh we don’t like that response”, but their in the business of bringing the wolves to the sheep.
If you just want to post an EPK then fine, but what’s wrong with your website and Myspace page? If you’re looking for gigs or opportunities, RUN THE OTHER WAY!! THESE PEOPLE ARE IN THE “TAKING YOUR MONEY BUSINESS”!
And dig this, cancel your subscription (and you get no warning of their auto-renewal) and they don’t prorate or refund the balance, and you forfeit your submission fund balance,
I can’t believe the FTC hasn’t busted this scheme!!
August 3rd, 2008 at 7:31 amI got a new name for Sonicbids…. ready? …. “SuckerBids”. Use it. For free. That’s S…U…C…K…E…R…B…I…D…S…
April 10th, 2009 at 3:58 pmThey Madoff with my cash.
I agree, Sonicbid is a waste of money. We did 15 or so submissions, and all what we’ve heard ws “You’Re not selected”, altough the listener’s counter haven’t even moved! We’Re no superstars, but we did tours trough UK two times and US one time, so I guess, if this would be a honest possibility, we should have been choosen for one or two submissions out of this 15. But: “Not selected”. I’m quite sure, this is a nice possibility for promoters and SB, to earn a bit additional money. It’s on the back of the musicians, but…the a…holes should shut up and pay, shouldn’t they? I’ll cancel our account immediately.
June 29th, 2009 at 12:58 amHi Guys -
From experience playing in festivals and doing our own gigs, I can say that the gigs that Baskervilles book ourselves are better 100% of the time. I remember reading an interview with Peter Buck from R.E.M., who said that they got to open for the Police at stadiums early in their career, but the club gigs were always better because people where there to see them. The same thing applies for festivals usually. A show on any other weekend, with a bit of press about you is going to be better than a gig where you are competing with bigger names and 1000 other bands.
Rob
July 9th, 2009 at 9:23 amWe’re all gonna be famous!
We didn’t go into this business to make money, it’s all for the love of music.
Back when I was CEO of a multinational corporation I used to say “don’t pay me — I’m just doing it because I love this business.” I didn’t pay any of my employees either we all just worked for the glory of it.
Then along came those other companies who were all like “we have families to feed” and I said “you guys don’t get it — you’ve all sold out,” but somehow they managed to keep their businesses afloat even though they were just in it for the money.
Couldn’t they all see that as a CEO the craft was the important thing?
The government was all up in my business like “you have to pay us taxes if you want to stay in business” and I explained to them “no way, dudes, we don’t pay to play.” It seems like I couldn’t even organize a hostile takeover without someone wanting to get paid for it.
It was crazy, everyone in the business wanted to get paid. All the time I was like “guys, can’t you see that there are more important things in business than financial success?”
So I’m still a struggling CEO, but I know that if I can just find the right gig then everything will work out. I’m putting a new company together and we’re all about the D.I.Y. we’re gonna freecycle our whole manufacturing facility.
In the meantime SonicBids keeps taking our money, I’m like “why is it everytime we give you some cash, you just take it — what’s your problem?” and then we give them some more money.
Why is it that in business every time you give some someone money they take it? Why can’t they be like “I’m sorry you really don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of success with your current business model so we’re giving you this money back so you can use it to buy a clue”?
On top of it all people are always rejecting our anonymous submissions without any productive feedback. I’m like “hey, if I’m gonna take the time to submit something to you anonymously on the internet, the least you can do is go out of the way to send me a carefully thought out reply, after all, I thought we were friends!”
They just can’t recognize real talent when they see it.
November 15th, 2009 at 12:18 pmSxSW make a million just off band submission!
November 20th, 2009 at 12:49 pmall the services that have you pay to submit are a TOTAL SCAM!!!!!! most of the money being made in the music bizness these days is from the artists themselves!!! watch out for the BULLSHIT!! there are way too many bands out there want to be noticed and will pay if they think it will get them discovered. recently joined sonicbids, just to see what it has to offer (i mean scam). and A LOT of the submission “opportunities” are absolutely LAME.
December 16th, 2009 at 6:14 pmThey include amateur music bloggers (not even serious music writers) in their “promoter” section..and will charge you $5- to $10- to submit to MAYBE be reviewed by some other guy on the other end of the computer who may not even exist by the time you submit..
A REAL SHAME!!!! what does it say about music today when the money being made from music is off the artist him/her themselves..
SAD STATE OF AFFAIRS.. how to fight back??? warn other musicians, and don’t fall into the desperate trap they lay for you to lure you in with “offers”. they ain’t thinkin of you, just their own pocketbooks.
The rationale they offer for charging to apply to shows: “Think of it like quality control for both you and the promoter.”
June 10th, 2010 at 9:50 amWhich they intend to mean bands will only apply for gigs that suit them.
But when applying to a festival costs $20-30, it means that this website is working for the ends of only those upper-middle class kids whose parents will drop some extra money for them. And THAT means that only those who have the cash are granted access to the hidden and exclusive world of successful music.
fucking oligarchy.
Remember that with writing and playing music, it is that you enjoy doing it that matters the most. It is not whether you “make it” or not. Too many bands out there become desperate to make it and forget that they need a back up plan for when reality almost inevitably hits. So write and play you music and, if you, by chance, become a rich and famous musician someday, it will simply be the tip of the iceberg, as opposed to sporting a “make it or nothing” attitude that could leave you homeless as well as very miserable for failing to live up to the unreasonable expectations that you unwittingly set for yourself.
June 12th, 2010 at 11:12 amA lot of musicians have illusion of grandeur but they have no work ethic and/or talent. It’s all about creating a buzz these days and some of us are very very suggestive, sadly. Somebody’s gotta plug these ripe tomatoes and make a buck!
June 16th, 2010 at 12:32 pmIs sonicbids still good for finding regular gigs and connecting with other original bands?
August 26th, 2010 at 4:30 am