Why Nobody is building an E-commerce for Entertainers?
It’s a question that I am often asked:
“Why is there no ecommerce marketplace for performance artists and entertainers?”
Well, I can give you two fundamental reasons why I believe that this is the case.
How eCommerce Works
It’s really quite simple, but first, we need to understand the core principle of every eCommerce platform that exists on this planet. People are looking for real-time availability and a great price. Without them, every platform is walking dead with no legs.
Our modern society demands everything to be quicker, easier and clearer. We do not want to spend time searching for prices or engaging in lengthy email threads to get the information that we need.
You know this from your own everyday life. Think about what you see around you in terms of e-commerce apps.
Uber? If yes, Uber is nothing but an app connecting passengers who want to get a lift, to available drivers willing to lend their services for a price.
Amazon? Jeff Bezos built Amazon to satisfy buyer’s needs for commodities. It simply connects the buyer willing to pay a price with a seller that has the available stock.
Yatra? Think of Yatra without displaying the availability and price of a flight ticket or a hotel room. It’s simply connecting people to the service that they need.
Red Bus? Imagine calling a Red Bus executive to know the availability and price of a seat on the buses travelling from Delhi to Katra.
Yatra without the price or Red Bus where you need to call a number is unimaginable. It’s beyond the question, right? Then, what is so different with performance services and entertainment?
The answer is absolutely NOTHING! The endless struggle of a talent buyer to confirm the availability and judge the price of a performer is what is stopping this industry from blossoming under the spectrum of technology.
The Entertainment Industry
How many times have you thought that it would be great to get some entertainment for an event, but been unable to find easy information on how to hire someone?
If you work in the events industry, this is probably in the dozens. Even if you’ve only planned your own wedding, you’ve probably experienced this.
Sometimes, hiring an artist can involve lots of time doing research, sending emails and trying to find availability and prices. You may need to negotiate with an agent or have a meeting. That’s before you’ve even booked anything or made arrangements!
Finding a great singer or band, listening to their music and deciding that you want to book them isn’t enough. You may then be faced with the disappointing truth that they are not available on the day of your event or that they are way out of your budget. They may not even be in your city when you want to book them. They may not even offer the services that you are looking for.
Over the last few years, the professions that seemed right and pursuable have evolved.
We have started to embrace the superiority of machines vs humans. The time is not far off when people in the performance industry will be called tech-illiterates, because our peanut-sized brain kept telling us that an artist needs to entertain and keep away from the nuisances of technology. It has seemed as if to have integrity as an artist, you must be struggling to get bookings through old-fashioned communication channels.
Artists don’t have to starve for their integrity
How often are we sold the idea of a starving artist living from pay check to pay check as if this is some kind of glamorous, worthy lifestyle?
Why does it have to be this way? Artists and performers deserve just as much recognition, and payment, for their work as anyone else. They are often credible business people as well as creative souls, but they are stuck using traditional marketing methods whilst the rest of the service industry moves on to using technology.
Why booking agents are not the best solution
As an artist, you are also encouraged to work with booking agents as a way to get more exposure for your work. This can work really well for some and there will be performers out there that can tell you about how using a booking agent has filled their calendar. The trouble is that a booking agent can be costly for both the artist and the customer. They will also be working on behalf of many different artists, instead of focusing purely on your work.
For the customer, working with an agent can mean costly fees, extensive negotiation, and discussion of artists that are not right for their tastes. This only creates stress before the big day and prevents you from really enjoy working with an artist that you love.
There’s also the problem of time. If you are planning a last-minute event, or have a performer drop out, you do not have time to enter into research and negotiations to find someone new. You could potentially have people turn up expecting entertainment and being left disappointed. Likewise, if you are a performer that has a gig cancelled or simply wants to increase their bookings, there is no way for you to quickly sign up to perform and let people know that you are available.
There is a better way
But now, it’s time for this to change. By matching available performers and artists to those in need of entertainment through an e-commerce platform, you could enable same-day bookings and even easy payment options. Deposits and advanced payments offer protection for artists and security for the event organisers. Connecting artists directly to customers can remove costly booking agent fees and leaves no room for confusion over requirements. It also allows artists to make quick changes to their availability and the work that they offer, as well as their prices, with ease.
If you’re working in the events industry, you’ll often want to book programmes of events many months in advance. Seeing quickly and easily which performers are available for which dates allows you to plan a calendar of events with minimal discussion or time wasted. That leaves you with more time to focus on the other elements of event planning such as promotion, logistics, and technical preparations.
We also live in an age of reviews. We choose restaurants, products and even drivers based on the reviews that they get, so imagine being able to easily do this with performers.
With many of using discovering our favourite new artists through social media and the internet, it seems unfathomable that we can’t use an app to book them. Imagine finding someone perfect for your party on Instagram and then being completely unable to find contact details for them or any indication of price. You just want to know whether they’re available on your chosen date and get them signed up.
The Solution
So, no brownie points for guessing my two fundamental reasons: it’s the lack of an Artist’s Calendar and their Quote.
Just as Uber matches a passenger to an available driver, there should be a system that matches a customer to an available performance artist and lets them know the price. The day we solve this problem, expect Elon Musk to book entertainment for millionaires on their way to Mars!
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Originally published at www.starclinch.com
