How do musicians find bandmates? Typically, the same way any of us try and find a new employee or colleague to add to the team – social media, Craigslist, and word of mouth. Despite the ever-expanding options of how to connect, the list is surprisingly short. It’s especially shocking given how the digital market is trying to warm up to music. While there have been a few attempts at such a solution, the first comprehensive and cohesive product is Giggem, a music industry professional network launching today.
To put it simply, Giggem is a LinkedIn but geared exclusively for the music industry. If you’re a musician, hobbyist, or might want to get your foot in the door, Giggem has all the hallmark bells and whistles that you’ll need to show off your skills and find bandmates. And of course because the platform encompasses the music industry as whole, bands, managers, labels, and even songwriters can join as well. Each type of profile is customized specifically for the type of account you sign up for. For the sake of simplicity we’re going to dive into the musician and band profiles.
The design of the social network in many respects has been modeled off of LinkedIn, so it’s clean-cut and easy to use immediately.
A musician’s Giggem “resume” acts as the profile page, including links to samples of their music and experiences – musicians can upload albums, music videos, tracks, photos, and add information like how long they’ve been playing music. And since most musicians play in more than one group at a time, one user can have access to multiple profile types.
But this just scratches the surface. What Giggem really wants to do is act like a Match.com for musicians. “We want to offer musicians a way to congregate online to find the best matches to improve their music career,” Giggem founder Emir Turan explains. Giggem facilitates everything there is to get a band off the ground – kind of like building a startup, says Turan. So bands looking for an extra bandmate or a manager, or labels looking for the next hottest act, can all benefit from the help of Giggem’s matchmaking algorithm.
When you sign up to Giggem, you’ll be prompted to enter in a section called “Now Seeking,” which hooks you up with the types of music industry professionals that you want to connect with. For instance, a band may be looking for a “bass guitarist, acoustic bass player, label, and manager.” When this happens, Giggem’s algorithm is triggered, says Turan, and sends a notification to nearby musicians, labels, and managers that fit the scope of the type of person the band is looking for and taking into consideration music genres. These notifications are an instant opportunity to compel the community to connect with one another and develop relationships.
The algorithm works by matching the most relevant parties based on an analysis what each user has entered into their profile, including years of experience, genre, musical interest, and whether they’re a hobbyist or on the career track. Giggem takes this information and weighs it against an important criterion – location. Obviously, the relationship can start digitally, but has to extend into real life at some point.
Musicians may be wondering how they can filter potential matches based on personality fit, which is admittedly important since meeting the experience level and genre criteria doesn’t mean that the candidate is the top pick. For now this is something that’s really up to the bands to vet and not a feature Giggem offers – with the exception of matching based on music interests.
If you’re the more aggressive type, Giggem does also offer the option to filter and dig through profile types to find other users to connect with and message via a results page. You can find this page by clicking on the “Suggestions For You” box, where you’ll discover the users that Giggem’s algorithm has identified as people you might be interested in connecting with.
If you’re signing up for Giggem, here’s a word of advice: Fill out your profile carefully. How other people find you and the opportunities you can get out of Giggem may depend on how you present yourself and the words you choose.
If LinkedIn’s success is anything to go by, and the numerous musicians and music industry professionals that have taken up residence on the platform, Giggem has a good chance of carving out a much needed demand that a professional social network like LinkedIn couldn’t fulfill.
