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Music has always filled our home and our lives. Though I had worked in recording studios in Manhattan early in my career, it was only after my son formed his college band and started to tour that we realized how hard it is to make a living in music today.

 

Back then bands played out hoping they would be one of the few lucky ones that got signed to a label. The label then paid them to record and to tour so they could drive record sales.

 

Now both recording and listening to recorded music are effectively free. Even the biggest bands make most of their revenue from playing live. Of course the big ones are managed, and promoted. They are also able to book large venues and charge ticket prices high enough to pay all the middlemen. But if those big bands represent less than one percent of the musicians playing today, how is everyone else doing it?

 

As with all modern content, music is now incredibly fragmented. Fewer people are listening to those biggest bands and almost no one listens to signed acts exclusively. From Youtube stars singing in their showers, to high-school acapella groups that bring the house down, The American Top 40 no longer reflects what is popular.

 

Now that every recording ever made is just a click away, simply hearing a faithful reproduction isn't enough. Live performances have become the most valuable music experience. 

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Next Big Band has one purpose: to bring live music to the fans who love it most, through a new definition of venues, that makes it easy and equitable for everyone.

 

Every musician has fans and on any given day, some of those fans will come to a show. They're even willing to pay something for it.

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With NBB, anyplace with space for performers to play, and room for an audience to listen, is an NBB Venue, eligible to host live music events. As with AirBNB and Uber, NBB looks at these non-traditional and smaller performance spaces as sell-able inventory. The venue decides when they want to host events, and what kind of acts they want to play. They can let NBB sell tickets to the act's fans, and in return receive a percentage of the ticket revenue. Alternatively, venues can use NBB's intelligent audience pairing to find qualified acts and pay them through NBB to play private shows. 

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But the fans are the real winners. They get more live music in their lives. They don't have to wrestle with brokers or pay exorbitant ticket prices for seats miles from the stage. In fact, their relationship with music becomes less about screens and headphones and more about the music and how their favorite musicians make it. They get live music in places that are convenient and comfortable, with intimate, accessible performances they can feel as much as they hear. And they get to share it with other fans who love it as much as they do.

 

We're Next Big Band. We love live music and we think you do too.

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David U. Simon

Founder & CEO Next Big Band