Soncibids is a way for artists to quickly and easily compile all of the information a promoter or press person wants to see (music, bio, photos, calendar, stage requirements, etc...) so they can connect with the many opportunities that Sonicbids offers to their clients. All of this information is known as an EPK, or Electronic Press Kit. After the EPK is built, it is easily able to be sent out electronically to anyone in the Sonicbids network, or anywhere else.
Just from our own experience, we have seen that many large festivals want you to submit to play by using Sonicbids. Many of these promoters and festival directors are tired of sifting through paperwork and having to keep up with CDs and contact information for sometimes hundreds of artists. Now, all of the artist information they are sent is in a standard format. It is much quicker for them to take a quick read over the artist bio, see where the artist has been playing, read what others are saying about the band, listen to some of their songs, and even print off photos to use in the promotion of the gig.
Another big use of the EPK is for the college market. NACA (National Association for Campus Activities) and APCA (Association for the Promotion of Campus Activities) usually prefer that all submissions from artists be via Sonicbids. This makes it easier for the college bookers and event promoters to quickly see what the artist is all about, and decide whether they are a good fit for their event needs.
Sonicbids gives artists an opportunity to get their music in front of many industry experts, and several of the artists that we know have either been booked for a gig because of Sonicbids or have received placements in film and TV because of this service. It is a paid service, so be forewarned. It's important to know which opportunities that they offer that you as an artist are well suited for. To submit your work, it usually costs between $5.00-$30.00 per submission, so it can get expensive quickly. There are no guarantees, but there are opportunities to be had that without this service, would not be possible to smaller, independent folks unless they are well connected in the industry, or are extremely serious about networking. Since we are not an active member of the Sonicbids community yet, it was really great to see Alan log in to his account, and have it displayed on the over head screen. He walked us through each section, and now we are even more sure about becoming a member of Sonicbids.
The fee structure for Soncibids is difficult to find on their website, so we are just going to post it here on our blog. There are two levels of membership, Standard EPK and Supersonic EPK. The Standard Plan is $6.00 per month, or $50.00 per year if paid up front. The Supersonic Plan is $11.00 per month, or $100.00 per year if paid up front. As a Standard Sonicbids member, you are able to upload up to 25 MB of MP3 audio, 10 lyrics sheets, 10 press reviews, all of your Calendar dates, your Biography, Discography and more. As a Supersonic member, your audio space is boosted to 60 MB, and you'll be able to upload up to 30 lyric sheets, 5 more links from your EPK, 5 high-resolution photos, and most importantly, a Video. Also, Supersonic members have the benefit of some more tools such as the PDF Rider upload tool and our Dynamic Stage Plot. All in all, it's a pretty good deal.
On a personal note, it was very disappointing to not be able to present a new song to our group. This was the first meeting that we have attended in over a year where we didn't work on a new song during the month to perform for the group. I was too sick for the past 3 weeks to do much of anything. But, on the bright side, it was really great not to have any pressure on us and we were able to listen to all of the songs our fellow songwriters brought to have critiqued. There were some really great songs this month! We had several visitors at this meeting, and I hope they will all come back to see us.
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