Gig calendars scattered across login screens and dog-eared post-it notes. There’s a packet of brand new highlighter pens around here somewhere but inevitably the biro always wins.
Staying on top of which gigs to go to has become a ‘buy ticket immediately, then forget about it until a few days before‘ affair. If the universe is a carefully constructed balance between chaos and order, then being organised in so many different online calendars (that you’re not exactly sure which one is most relevant tomorrow) must be part of the grand design. At least that’s what my signed copy of an unread Richard Dawkins second-hand book might be muttering as it roles its imaginary eyes from the bookshelf.
The variety and quality of live music in Glasgow is one of the main reasons why I live here. Dublin is still punch drunk on recession and it would take something special to go back. If you can look beyond Glasgow’s usual music industry/scene nonsense, there’s plenty of inspiring gigs on offer. That is if I can keep track of all the ones I’m interested in.
Having sorted out my Facebook newsfeed so that by default it only contains posts from friends, I created a separate newsfeed just for Scottish indie music.
Summoning up all my originality, this particular newsfeed was deemed worthy of the ingenious name, Scottish indie music. Especially as I exclude all the bands that are gash and/or think their excrement doesn’t create an unpleasant odour. If you’re feeling creative you can type that word into Google and get a copy of the voice saying it. Then you can sample it to your heart’s content. Maybe some bright spark has already done such a thing on the audio equivalent of tumblr’s GIF culture.
Gigs and calendars
Facebook Calendar, Google Calendar, Outlook Calendar, End of the World Apocalypse Calendar, I manage them all on my Nokia Lumia phone these days. Being on the GigsinScotland mailing list is handy too so that whenever there’s a Bon Jovi or Robbie Williams stadium show coming up I can schedule a ‘get the hell out of town’ activity. That kind of service should be covered by my council tax. It’s surely a human rights violation otherwise.
I expect that you expect some commentary on online booking fees. Well they’re a bloody joke aren’t they? There are bigger promoters who are having a laugh with online booking fees but as long as they can get away with it, they’ll keep doing it. At least in the future, mainstream music industry bookings can be handled by more advanced software. Plug in a band’s social media and other sales metrics, what their fee is, what your costs are, and let the software do the rest. I’m sure it can find suitably bland support acts too.
That’s the thing about a handful of really important promoters. If they got hit by a bus tomorrow, the world would still continue to turn. Some other overlord would fill in the sexy boxes.
