BandSurfing soft launched in March, a brainchild of former musician Javier Romero. (He used to be in a band called Mistletoe that included musicians who now play with The Thermals and Minus the Bear.)
"A few years ago I was trying to book a tour for my band and noticed how difficult it had gotten," Romero says. "I was used to the process being fairly easy, but with the saturation of bands and venues using MySpace or email as a primary booking tool, things came to a near standstill."
In essence, Romero discovered bookers were getting spammed. In response to this issue, the budding web developer and coder started bootstrapping to create BandSurfing.
Getting started with BandSurfing takes mere moments (I created my own profile for my ever-evolving fictional band, Velvet Baby Lane). Bands enter bios, pictures, tracks, genres, desired perks and check off which requirements they meet (over 21, signed, have an album, etc.), and venues enter similar stats, as well as what perks they can provide and what they require from a band. The site also features a reviews section, so users can rate bands and venues.
Bands and venues can then surf through applicable acts/locations and message any that strike their fancy.
The site operates on a freemium model. Bands can make three booking submissions per month for free, and then there's tiered pricing for more submissions.
Bands and venues: What do you think of this service?