Hellbound Glory Helps Shooter Jennings Launch Gigstan App
The music portion of SXSW in Austin doesn’t officially start until later this week, but the marriage of music and technology that’s at the heart of the annual gathering was certainly alive Saturday night (3-11) as Shooter Jennings and underground country legends Hellbound Glory were in town at the inaugural event launching the new concert booking app Gigstan at Austin’s legendary Saxon Pub. The app was successfully used to sell out the event.
Gigstan is an app that connects fans, artists, and venues to crowdfund music events. Fans pre-purchase tickets to live events, helping to bring their favorite artists to their town. Then local venues bid on the shows that come with guaranteed ticket sales, ensuring success for both the venue and the artists. Once all of the show details are confirmed and finalized, tickets are sent out to fans. If the crowdfunding campaign for a show is unsuccessful, then fans receive full refunds.
One issue in the current model of touring for up-and-coming artists is it’s often based on nothing more than speculation. Venue owners may not know how popular an artist is locally, and the artist may not want to take the risk traveling to a certain location if they’re not sure there will be enough fans to justify the trip. With touring costs and others concerns, Gigstan is potentially a way for artists and venues to sync up and ensure successful shows for everyone.
Singer and songwriter Leroy Virgil and lap steel player Chuck Bradley of Hellbound Glory flew in from Reno, Nevada to play their first gig in Texas in multiple years. Hungry Hellbound Glory fans were more than happy to pony up $20 in advance to make the show happen, with multiple fans traveling from around the region to attend the show.
Leroy Virgil sang songs from the band’s recently released album The Immortal Hellbound Glory: Nobody Knows You in stripped down form. He also pulled out some old classics like “The Ballad of Scumbag Country,” which is the band’s de facto theme song, and had everyone singing along. Leroy also hushed the crowd at the Saxon Pub with an excellent rendition of “Bar Room Beauty.”
For long time fans, Leroy Virgil of Hellbound Glory embodies the criminally overlooked and under-appreciated songwriter that in a more equitable system would have been a big star. Over the years, Hellbound Glory has gone from a big sound honky-tonk band opening arena shows, to just Leroy Virgil sitting on a bass drum playing it backwards with his boot heel, singing his sad songs of heartbreak and bad decisions.
Leroy Virgil may be the epitome of the poetically overlooked country singer who never “made it” in the conventional sense, often playing excellent country songs to half-empty barrooms. But in this instance, the barroom was full of folks who were beyond appreciative he was there, and were buying vinyl records and limited-edition posters for him to sign after the show.
Gigstan appears to still be in its preliminary stages, but the idea behind it is big. If artists that enjoy strong support in certain markets can fly in or route tours more smartly using a crowdfunding tool, and instead of complaining that no cool bands ever come to their town, groups of fans can band together and compel their favorite artists to play their town with guaranteed money, it could change the touring landscape for gigging artists and the venues that serve them.
March 12, 2023 @ 8:42 pm
That’s awesome, I can’t imagine trying to run a profitable touring band even with a somewhat popular group, let alone just starting out and trying to build an audience from scratch. This seems like a really useful tool! Also always happy when PNW natives are keeping this thing of ours going with the great music! Thanks for introducing me to the music of Leroy Virgil.
March 13, 2023 @ 7:45 am
Ian you are right that it is very challenging for up and coming artists to build audiences. That is a big part of what we are hoping to help with and help artists connect directly to the audiences they already have.
March 12, 2023 @ 9:25 pm
I love it, love it, love it and these two, too! This kind of thing has been happening for years on social media without the monetary commitment or the venues involvement. Quite a few times, I’ve sent artists a list of regional venues with occupancy sizes and like artists that have played them and tried to link them up with venues. And the artists we are talking about, don’t require a huge monetary commitment.
It may have some kinks to work out, but I can see this working.
March 13, 2023 @ 7:48 am
Thanks for the enthusiasm hoptowntiger94! You are exactly right that grassroots versions of this have been working through the system for a while now with super fans like yourself working hard for your favorite bands. We are just hoping to make it easier for supporters like you to have better tools.
March 13, 2023 @ 9:56 am
If I can every be any assistance in the SW Pennsylvania, West Virginia, E .Kentucky, W. Maryland part of Appalachia, I would gladly volunteer my services for the cause.
March 12, 2023 @ 10:22 pm
Supporting and helping HBG is the only worthwhile thing Shooter has done in his career.
March 13, 2023 @ 11:08 am
Could you qualify your comment?
March 13, 2023 @ 8:28 pm
Shooters music sucks but he does a good job producing and supporting HBG.
March 13, 2023 @ 6:59 am
It’s generally a cool idea, but I see a few issues:
1.) How does it calibrate for individual conditions? For example, Billy Strings is on my bucket list to one day go and see in concert. He just played two stadium shows five miles from my house, but the shows were in the middle of the week, and I have three small kids. I would certainly type into a website with a deposit, “yes, I want The Wilder Blue to come to my town badly, but only on a Friday or Saturday night with a one hour’s drive of my house; otherwise, I can’t commit.”
2.) Don’t apps like Bandsintown already provide this information? I track these bands, and they have my zip code, so I presume “regional desire” for a band is already pretty well known and established, no?
March 13, 2023 @ 8:01 am
Jake,
These are great questions. Our mission is to give fans the ability to bring shows to their area by showing artists and venues the financial commitment of ticket sales prior to booking. There will be a bit of trust in the early part of the campaign where the super fans are buying tickets before there’s a defined venue nor a defined date/time.
1: Schedule conflicts as you described would not be something we could solve however we are going to likely provide a way for you to transfer tickets to your friends who are using the app.
2. Bandsintown only provide general follow information which is not an actual purchase so it really isn’t a concrete number of tickets. That is why in current models we have all these mechanics of “guarantees”, “deposits”, etc. because we never really know how many tickets are going to sell. What we are going to offer is an actual number of tickets sold, not just a general number of people who follow you.
Starr, GigStan CEO
March 13, 2023 @ 2:48 pm
Jake’s observations are very helpful.
As he points out in #2, this may be solving a problem that doesn’t really exist.
And #1 is a flaw in the model that makes it all but useless for me and, I assume, many others with jobs, families, or other obligations. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve bought a ticket to a gig and not attended, and don’t regret that I’ve supported the artist by buying the ticket. But the money trees in my backyard aren’t yielding quite enough these days to make a regular practice of intentionally buying tickets to shows I may not be able to attend. I’d prefer to support artists by buying a t-shirt or album from their website–plus a ticket if they come to town when I can attend the show. How far in advance of the potential gig are the date, time, and venue finalized?
FWIW, a Shooter Jennings-promoted show of Hellbound Glory in Austin doesn’t seem like a very relevant test of the model anyway. Wouldn’t that show have found a home and an audience with or without Gigstan? Frankly, I wish HBG would come East, where Iive. Even with Gigstan, however, they’re not going to sell out Madison Square Garden, so they’ll need to set up a run of shows to afford to travel out here. So this isn’t a problem Gigstan can solve.
I’m glad you’re being inventive, but I don’t understand the benefits of this approach well enough to be super-enthusiastic. Supportive, sure–but also unconvinced.
March 13, 2023 @ 4:15 pm
That’s an interesting point about travel costs. Also, where I live now, and even bigger Metro areas where I’ve lived, there aren’t that many venues that are appropriately sized given the performer. Your market for number of venues that are going to be bidding is almost always going to be very small.
March 13, 2023 @ 4:27 pm
A couple things:
First, I don’t understand how someone could say BandsInTown could somehow replace or suffice for what the app is trying to do. Potential concert attendees vs. people who’ve committed to attending a concert are two entirely separate things. One cool thing about the app is that it creates ownership in fans for bringing an artist to their town.
“FWIW, a Shooter Jennings-promoted show of Hellbound Glory in Austin doesn’t seem like a very relevant test of the model anyway. Wouldn’t that show have found a home and an audience with or without Gigstan?”
I have been to numerous Hellbound Glory shows in Austin over the years. It has always been me, and maybe half a dozen other people who actually know who they are. If you talk the Hellbound Glory fans around the country, they’ll tell you similar things. On Saturday, it was sold out, and packed with Hellbound Glory fans. I saw someone in a .357 String Band T-shirt. First time I’ve seen that in a decade.
Was this because of the app, or because Shooter Jennings was helping to promote the show and the app? My guess is the latter. This thing is in its infant stages. But it was a very successful show, and it used the app on a test run.
The idea is not going to be right for every venue, every artist, and every fan. And one of the barriers to widespread success of the app is going to be the amount of buy-in from the public.
But having talked to frustrated fans who feel like nobody cool ever comes to their town, and artists that would love to play shows in certain markets but have no clue if they have a fan base there. This seems like a cool idea to marry the two. I definitely think this is an issue that the market currently doesn’t have a solution for. Whether Gigstan is that solution, we’ll have to see. But the problem definitely exists.
March 13, 2023 @ 5:09 pm
I wouldn’t pretend to know a fraction of 1% of what you and Shooter know about the industry, and my perspective obviously is completely dictated by my own experience.
With those disclaimers, it seems to me (1) the problem this app is trying to solve seems marginal, at best–are there truly lots of profitable shows not being held because artists don’t know that they have a significant, latent fanbase in a particular location?, (2) and a proposed solution that relies on “super-fans” to shell out money for shows they may not be able to attend seems like one that might generate more frustration and ill will than positive outcomes. How many times will even a “super-fan” (to use Starr’s term) pay for tickets they might not be able to use? Although worthwhile, I’d guess enthusiasm for participating in a Mickey Rooney-ish “hey kids, let’s put on a show” adventure will dim significantly after one failed attempt. And (3) as I suggested above, any location for which this could be helpful probably would be a fair distance from the artist’s hometown, because otherwise the artist will know that they do or don’t have enough fans to fill a venue–and if Gigstan helps them unearth a far-off location they wouldn’t otherwise have played, they’d probably have to have a larger tour into which they’d fit the Gigstan show.
Anyway, thanks for this interesting article and for discussing it further. I don’t mean to be a wet blanket. It’s interesting to learn more about the industry and I’m sure I’m missing something, including a lot of relevant knowledge. You’ve long made a persuasive case that fans have both a moral obligation to support the artists and a personal stake in doing so (i.e., the more we support them, the more great music we’ll hear). That has definitely prompted me to do more, more often, and anything that can help would be a positive development.
March 14, 2023 @ 6:28 am
“But having talked to frustrated fans who feel like nobody cool ever comes to their town, and artists that would love to play shows in certain markets but have no clue if they have a fan base there. This seems like a cool idea to marry the two. I definitely think this is an issue that the market currently doesn’t have a solution for. Whether Gigstan is that solution, we’ll have to see. But the problem definitely exists.”
I agree 100% with this statement. And I think the idea is very creative and I’m glad some capital is being thrown at trying to find a solution. I’m also impressed that the founder is active on this post answering people’s questions; that’s a positive sign. The goal here would seem to be to remove risk for both the artist and the venue. That’s obviously a great goal.
But the flaw that I see is that in this case the risk is being transferred to the consumer. And myself and I believe Matt are just pointing out that most people that I know are not going to be willing to take on that financial risk, except in very rare circumstances.
My intention in bringing up Bandsintown is that it’s just one example of a data mine that can be used to gauge the market. We also have Spotify, Facebook, Instagram, and any other number of things that essentially measure geographic and demographic interest in a band. I don’t know the granularity that any of those services provides to artists/venues. Maybe that’s the ultimate answer to the problem; a vertical search kind of tool that can geographically/demographically parse all of that data and present it in a way to the artists and the venues in a way that they can more easily take the temperature of an area when it comes to their likely success at selling tickets.
I hope I’m wrong and this takes off and it’s yet another revenue stream for talented but struggling artists; I’m not intentionally micturating in anyone’s Muesli. I do seriously hope it works, and maybe there are other creative solutions to these issues that can be worked out.
March 14, 2023 @ 7:34 am
Look, I don’t have a dog in this race so to speak. But I don’t see this as a solution looking for a problem. This is definitely a problem, and the question is whether this is the right solution or not. I understand that some fans may not want to “risk” typing up $10-$20 on a concert that may not happen, but I think most wouldn’t see that as a “risk,” but an investment if it will get their favorite artist to town. And once the concert is announced, it’s not like others can’t then come in and buy tickets the day of. Touring for artists is very hard, especially in clubs as you’re coming up. I think this could be a better system than what we have right now, which is basically nothing for artists that don’t have a booking agent, or can’t find guarantee gigs even if they do.
March 13, 2023 @ 5:03 pm
Yeah, BandsIntown is a great way to follow artists and some of us use it because we don’t use Twitter or Facebook or instagram, but it doesn’t have the features of this new effort at all. I’m very excited to hear about this project.
March 13, 2023 @ 7:33 am
it seems like a cool and useful app, love HBG and Shooter the producer. Whish’em luck with that.
March 13, 2023 @ 7:54 am
Thanks Daniele! Support from fans like you will make this a success. We are super excited to really help change the way Live Music happens.
-Starr, GigStan CEO
March 13, 2023 @ 7:41 am
I would totally use this to get an event with Turnpike Troubadours headlining at Legend Valley Ohio ????
March 13, 2023 @ 7:50 am
Puncheon50 we are initially targeting smaller venues and artists (2000 seat venues or smaller) but in later years we can see expanding to bigger spaces like that when we are mega successful with support from fans like yourself.
March 13, 2023 @ 7:42 am
Thanks for the write up Trigger! We are on a mission to make a more equitable system for artists, venues, and fans. Support from sites like yours will definitely help make our mission happen. Everyone please tell your friends who have bands or venues to go to our site https://gigstan.com/ and sign up
March 14, 2023 @ 7:39 am
I don’t understand the Debbie Downers on this thread. The financial commitment from the fans is not a large one. We’re talking about bands with 5 to 50 dollar ticket prices. And if the show doesn’t get booked, you get your money refunded. I mean, maybe Gigstan could not charge your card until the show is actually booked and use the “sales” number to get a venue to commit before your money is taken so they don’t even have to worry about refunding it. And you could use this for a tour, not 1 off shows. The artist maps out their tour, fans buy tickets in those cities, Gigstan gets a venue, and bam, you have a show in that town and then the next. It’s not a complicated idea. You just need to think, how can we make this work, and not think, oh there’s no way this will work. The glass is half full, not half empty. As an artist, I would take full advantage of this if my first single on Spotify had more than 20 spins. Maybe one day.
March 14, 2023 @ 7:10 pm
Jesse David,
Thanks for pointing out one of our key features: if a show does not get booked by a venue everyone gets a refund for the tickets they bought!
March 16, 2023 @ 4:06 am
Jake used the phrase “micturating in someone’s muesli” in his last post. You have to give him some credit for that.
Seriously, I’m not trying to be a downer, just engaging in discussion and trying to learn. The big man himself (i.e., Trig) said above that he’s uncertain whether this will work. And as I said above, if there’s really a problem that needs to be solved, I hope this helps do that.
March 14, 2023 @ 9:44 am
I’ll volunteer my backyard for HBG to come play if everyone else pitches in
March 14, 2023 @ 11:42 am
I hope this works! Many are the times I have attended a local show and been totally embarrassed at the dismal turnout. Not only has the band has lost money on travel costs to come and play, it has got to be so disheartening for them to play to an audience of me and 5 others. How these venues are able to stay open with this business model is a mystery to me.
March 14, 2023 @ 7:08 pm
Linda,
That “empty room” issue is exactly one of problems we hope to fix by removing a lot of the uncertainty in the current model.