Quick Pitch: RootMusic is all about making musicians' professional lives better, be it through building software or building community.
Genius Idea: RootMusic's debut product is called BandPage, and it makes MySpace-like band page features possible inside a Facebook fan page.
At present, Facebook fan pages are laid out in such a way that you can't share your music with your fans while letting them continue to browse for information. You can deploy a music player tab, but as soon as your fans click on the Photos tab to see pictures of your band, the music stops.
RootMusic's BandPage adds its own interface for displaying band info, tour dates and photos without putting a stop to the music (a feature that puts the program ahead of MySpace, which only allows one to listen to music while on the playlist page). You can share the photos that are already present on your fan page without uploading new ones.
At the bottom of the band page, your fans can post to your page's wall or look at a stream of tweets related to your band. At the top, they can play your songs, read your bio and access your contact information. In the middle, there's a list of your upcoming live shows along with their locations and door charges.
BandPage is free, and login is handled by Facebook Connect, so you don't have to create a new account with RootMusic to make all this happen. For some examples of BandPage in action, check out the fan pages for OONA, Con Brio and Dear Wolfgang.
Sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark
BizSpark is a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.