Western Europe is dancing again and Amsterdam-based live music platform Gigstarter is serving as the leading marketplace for live music with a total of 16 million euro worth in booking requests. After a summer of caught-up weddings and postponed festivals in 2022, the music market stabilises again in 2023 and Gigstarter books a new record with 40 thousand unique bookers on the platform. "This could well be a tipping point for independents" - says Paul de Kuyper, founder of Gigstarter.
As pink makes its comeback with the rebirth of Barbie and the rainbow flag decorates Amsterdam again, the Gigstarter team has something to celebrate in the former Handelsblad building in the centre of Amsterdam. After several tough years of lockdowns, masks and downtime, the music train is starting to run again and the Gigstarter team can celebrate a nice milestone: 40 thousand unique booking requests via its platform since 2012. With an average booking value of 400 euros, this adds up to a market creation of over 16 million euros.
Live: from Amsterdam to Barcelona
The influence of Gigstarter on local events has spread across Europe, bringing original music to a variety of festivals, private parties, weddings and all kinds of events. Let's take a look at a small selection of these 40.000 bookings: Various jazz artists from our platform were part of the yearly Red Light Jazz festival in Amsterdam. The festival shows the cultural side of the Amsterdam Red Light District to visitors and tourists by emphasising the strong connection the neighourhood has (and has had) with jazz music. Also our remarkable Artist of The Year 2021, Julie Huard, performed at multiple occasions such as the Amsterdam Wine festival and Bevrijdingsfestival. Furthermore we provided some interesting live music entertainment in the warmer countries of Europe such as Spain. Magda Garre rocked the stage at the Barcelona Jazz Festival back in 2021; and the trio of Scarlett performed in Metz, France, during the Fête de la musique.
Gigstarter artists performing all across Europe
Rockin' since 2012: Europe's leading open live music marketplace
We are proud of how far we have come, together with our eclectic community of amazing artists. Last month we highlighted some of our artists that reached over 100 bookings. Not only is Gigstarter expanding, our artist offer is also growing rapidly. Last year in May we hit 1000 booking requests in a single month. In 2021 we had quite some celebrations: we expanded to Portugal; reached 10.000 artists; partnered up with The Green Branch, to promote sustainability in live music event organisation; and we hosted a venue as a part of Amsterdam Dance Event.
"Considering that over 8 thousand of the calls and unique applications have taken place in the last 12 months - which is 20% of the total since 2012 - we can conclude that traction is picking up again while the established music market is stabilising." - explains Paul de Kuyper - "This might well be the start of a tipping point, or paradigm shift if you wish, for independent artists and bookers, to become bigger than the old music market. An economy previously dominated by event promotors and large entertainment firms. Gigstarter will play a central role in emancipating live music entertainment from old industry dogmas. Comparable to what Youtube and Instagram or Tiktok have done for other creators and broadcasters."
The founders of Gigstarter in Amsterdam, next to the HQ in the Netherlands
Mission: Making live music truly accessible
Gigstarter's mission is to make live music accessible to everyone. The platform does so by providing an openly accessible overview of the available artists in your country, state or province. Artists themselves make and manage their own profile, the content and they are the ones answering to calls or direct requests on their profiles. All content is user generated and event organisers (whether professional or private) leave a review after hosting their event. The platform uncovers an otherwise invisible 'under the radar' market so that anyone can book live music for any type of occasion, from a wedding or festival, to a garden concert or new years eve party. Artists on the platform vary from rock bands and house DJs to classical ensembles and singer songwriters. Gigstarter creates gig opportunities that otherwise would never have come into existence.
"After reaching over 40.000 bookings on Gigstarter; and being operational in 9 European countries, we've reached a moment to be proud of" - explains Paul de Kuyper - "we're very thankful to the many thousands of artists and bookers that trust in the open marketplace that Gigstarter provides and we're looking forward to our next milestone in order to make live music even more accessible. Say 100k gigs? Or launching or platform in a new market? who knows..." Check out prior booker's reviews for insights in their live music experiences. Looking for gigs yourself? Get an artist profile on Gigstarter via the link below or visit www.gigstarter.com to get to one of the local live music portals in the UK and western europe.
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