What sort of features would you look for in a local music website?

March 27, 2005 10:22 PM

What sort of features would you look for in a local music web site? The standard reviews and show listings are pretty common sense, but can you all think of any other features that would be appealing for a local music community website?
posted by jackofsaxons to computers & internet (12 comments total)

A directory of venues with maps/directions or links to maps/directions!
posted by brad! at 10:48 PM on March 27, 2005

A forum is also pretty standard, and maybe a monthly mix of local music available for download?
posted by gtmcknight at 11:09 PM on March 27, 2005

Band genealogies/family trees. Short biogs of local acts. Classifieds. Gallery of photos from recent gigs.

My friend Petra has a great site for her local scene in Hamilton, New Zealand, which might provide some inspiration.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 11:18 PM on March 27, 2005

Venue profiles -
How old to get in? Can I smoke? Is there outdoor seating? Indoor seating? Is food served? Is there any free parking nearby? Is it near a cab stand/bus stop/train station? Last sanitation rating? Where's the nearest ATM? Hours?
posted by trondant at 11:23 PM on March 27, 2005

MP3s. I'm only going to see a band I haven't heard of if I can hear their music. My local weekly hosts MP3s for local bands. Also, let me post my own reviews, and suggest stuff based on what I like.

Also, I know some people will be interested in booking information.
posted by revgeorge at 5:38 AM on March 28, 2005

Reminders: I'd like to be able to register at a local-music site and say "please send me an e-mail when the following bands have an upcoming gig." A lot of bands already maintain their own e-mail lists, so this might not be entirely necessary. Upcoming.org publishes an iCal calendar, which is also pretty slick, but squeezing that much data into a little calendar box isn't ideal.

Suggestions: I like checking out new bands...when they don't suck. Something sort of like AllConsuming for bands would be cool, or some sort of "agent-based" feature like Amazon uses--"if you like X, you might like Y."
posted by adamrice at 6:41 AM on March 28, 2005

I echo the above statement regarding venue profiles. Taking trondant's list, and adding a few:

How old to get in?
Can I smoke?
Is there outdoor seating?
Indoor seating?
Is food served?
Is there any free parking nearby?
Is it near a cab stand/bus stop/train station?
Last sanitation rating?
Where's the nearest ATM?
Hours?
How hardcore is security? Are there pat-downs and bag searches?
Are cameras permitted?
Is there a dress code? (or even 'this is what people here usually wear, so showing up in Dockers and a polo shirt might get you looked at funny')
Average age of crowd?
Scene? (Emo, punk, goth, alternative, queer, clubby, upmarket, country, biker, etc)
Drink prices?
Washrooms? (Number and cleanliness)

Here is how Now magazine in Toronto does their club profiles. I'm not always a fan (concrete numbers for drinks would be nice, for example), but the basic format is good.

Depending on how much you can afford to pay your programmers, using Amazon's model (people who liked this band also liked...) could be a great resource. Making it user-tweakable could be good as well (If you like X, check out A, B, C.. with an option to indicate if you did or didn't like A, B, or C.)
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 6:52 AM on March 28, 2005

I like the venue profile idea for sure. Especially the parking thing, free or not, I'd like to know what the parking scenario looks like. Other people would probably love info on getting there on public transit.

Another thing I'd like to see is listings that include expected set times. I rarely see opening acts because I can't stand to stand for four hours or so, and I want to know when the headlining set is going to start.
posted by jacquilynne at 8:43 AM on March 28, 2005

On a related note:

Five Mistakes Band & Label Sites make
posted by jacobsee at 8:57 AM on March 28, 2005

[I added the first part of the question to your main post, hope that's okay]
posted by jessamyn at 9:17 AM on March 28, 2005

I'd look for building upon the work of del.icio.us, Flickr, Upcoming.org, and any other site I like that has an API and is open with their data...

Oh, and MP3's too.
posted by raster at 10:56 AM on March 28, 2005

Upcoming shows via RSS would be the killer feature for me.
posted by mendel at 8:22 AM on March 29, 2005