Tag Archive for: Artists

GigTown and Switchfoot to Host Private Concert for Local Music Appreciation Day at the Music Box on Monday, April 25

On Monday, April 25, GigTown, a free mobile app that allows you to discover local musicians, follow musicians’ upcoming shows and instantaneously book artists for gigs, is throwing a free private concert to celebrate Local Music Appreciation Day and thank those who have supported GigTown since its launch in San Diego last year. Teaming up with Grammy Award-winning rock band, Switchfoot, GigTown is inviting local musicians to attend the party, listen to live music and mingle with fellow artists at the Music Box.

“The local artist community has a multitude of great talent and there’s no better way to celebrate the artistry that lives here than with an awesome party where the music community can connect and come together under one roof,” said Andy Altman, Co-Founder, CEO and Grand Poobah of GigTown. “We are appreciative of the immense encouragement we’ve received thus far and this is simply our way of thanking local musicians for supporting GigTown and each other with an evening of fun, dancing and some of San Diego’s finest craft beer.”

Switchfoot began its highly successful music career in San Diego during the 1990s and is excited for the opportunity to engage and stimulate the city’s local music scene. “We are so grateful to be a part of the San Diego music scene – there is no other place with such an eclectic and supportive music community,” said Switchfoot drummer and co-founder, Chad Butler.

The lineup at San Diego’s inaugural Local Music Appreciation Day also includes singer-songwriters Ryan Hiller and Tyson Motsenbocker. Local GigTown artists over the age of 21 are invited and allowed to bring one guest. Artists will need to fill out a form to get on the list for admission as it will be on a first come, first serve basis. Doors open at 7 p.m.

GigTown is the ultimate hub where local music lives and helps to put local music in the palm of your hands. Features of the app include discovering upcoming shows in your area, finding music venues you never knew existed, listening to original songs, and checking in to shows – for each check in, GigTown tips artists five dollars. For venue managers, GigTown makes it simple to post a gig and find talent in as little as one hour.

“GigTown is a unique platform that allows musicians, venues and consumers to each have a win-win-win opportunity – it’s todays one-stop shop for local music,” said Altman. “We are grateful to have experienced an influx of downloads and sign-ups within the first year of business and look forward to continuing to host Local Music Appreciation Day in San Diego and in our other markets.”

For more information on GigTown’s Local Music Appreciation Day, please visit gigtown.com/appreciatesd.

To download and sign up for Gigtown on iOS and Android devices, please visit the App Store and Google Play. For more information on GigTown, please visit www.gigtown.com.

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About GigTown:
GigTown is an all-in-one, local music app that allows users to discover local musicians, post a gig to book live music, listen to original songs by your local musicians and more – it truly is a revolutionary platform that supports all avenues of the local music scene. The San Diego-based music technology startup launched in January 2015 by Andy and Steve Altman (former President and Vice Chairman of Qualcomm). The free app, currently available in San Diego, Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, Austin and New York City, is customized to meet the personalized needs of artists, consumers and venues around town. Easily downloadable and available on iOS and Android devices, GigTown is equipped with unique features and is a place for people to plug-in to local music, anywhere and anytime. The GigTown team has plans to launch in new cities as it continues to grow and is passionate about creating the most optimal music platform for local communities across the nation.

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PIZICATO.com, Fan-Powered Digital Donation Platform for Musicians, Launches Free Mobile App for iOS

SAN DIEGO (May 13, 2015) – Today, PIZICATO, the digital donation platform for musicians powered by fans, launched a mobile app for iOS. This app and technology is the first of its kind and unites the musician and fan through digital and social platforms, allowing users to directly impact the musician’s career path and quality of life. Music fans can now donate to any artist or band when they are most inspired to, whether it is at a concert or when they hear a new song for the first time. This innovative new app acts as a digital donation jar, empowering anyone to take a stand on sustaining the music industry instantly from the palm of their hand.

Currently, the app is equipped with a user-friendly search tool for fans to identify their favorite musician or band. Once a musician or band signs up they receive a unique QR code to freely use on their promotional and marketing materials. The QR code feature takes users to the musician’s PIZICATO profile page to make it even easier to donate and support. The app also has a flashlight to use when in dim venues or at night festivals and concerts. The platform works by using Facebook’s application programming interface (API) to connect the fan to the musician’s Facebook Page. This allows the fan to donate directly to the artist, band, or musician of their choice via PayPal. The donations are all tax-free to the artist, and the artist receives 82 percent of the donations made. The rest goes back to PIZICATO.com to cover PayPal fees and operational costs to ensure continued donating, thereby creating a more sustainable music industry.

“Being a lifelong music fan, I love how easy it has become to listen to my favorite music and discover new artists through online streaming sites; however, I am disappointed with how these changes have impacted the way artists are compensated. The launch of this app is a very important component to our business model because it enables fans to give back to music with a press of a button while they are in the moment at live shows,” explained Jeff Storm, longtime entrepreneur and co-founder of PIZICATO. “Music is such a personal, visceral experience and some of it resonates so deeply that I’d like to personally say thank you to the artists and share how they’ve impacted my life. We believe PIZICATO.com and our new app are effective ways to make a difference,” stated Jeano Erforth, co-founder of PIZICATO.

The digital platform and app are currently only optimized for donating to musicians and bands. Profile support is not yet available in the app, but musicians and fans can create an account at www.PIZICATO.com. The minimum donation is four dollars and artists are able to send a personalized note to their fans after receiving the donation, allowing for a deeper sense of community and connection.

For more information on how to sign up or to learn more, please visit: www.PIZICATO.com
or download the free app now in the App Store.

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About PIZICATO
pizzicato 1 |ˌpitsəˈkädō|
adverb [ no obj. ]
(Often as a direction) plucking the strings of a violin or other stringed instrument with one’s finger.

PIZICATO is a new digital platform and app, available for iOS, which allows fans to donate directly to musicians. Join the PIZICATO revolution and pull your own music strings. For more information on PIZICATO, please visit www.PIZICATO. Become a Facebook fan at Facebook.com/WeArePIZICATO, join our circle on Google+ or follow PIZICATO on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Spotify at @WeArePIZICATO.

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Fans Empowered to Support Musicians Directly with PIZICATO

PizicatoSAN DIEGO (Feb. 20, 2015) – Digital donation platform, PIZICATO, launched today and is transforming the way fans can support their favorite musicians. This technology allows the fans to have a direct impact on how an artist is compensated, effectively plucking their own strings, disrupting the status quo and changing the model of the current music industry. From small town garage bands to superstars, it’s time for the fans to take back the power and revolutionize the way musicians are supported now and into the future. With PIZICATO, fans can pull the strings and ensure the artists they love have what they need to succeed.

“Being a lifelong music fan, I am very excited about how easy it has become to listen to my favorite music and discover new artists through online streaming sites. However, I am disappointed with how these changes have impacted the way artists are compensated,” explained Jeff Storm, longtime entrepreneur and co-founder of PIZICATO. “Music is such a personal, visceral experience and some of it resonates so deeply that I’d like to personally say thank you to the artists and share how they’ve impacted my life. We believe PIZICATO is a new way to make a difference.”

Inspired by a popular stringed instrument playing technique in which the artist plucks the string to sound the note rather than bow the string as one would traditionally, with PIZICATO, the fans hold the strings to the music industry. By directly compensating artists without the middleman, listeners have the power to disrupt the long tones of a broken industry in need of change. PIZICATO users are now able to directly support the performers they love at PIZICATO.com—allowing them to create the new industry model. Using Facebook’s application programming interface (API), PIZICATO connects the fan to the artists’ Facebook Page and allows the fan to donate directly to the artist, band, or musician they love via PayPal. These donations are all tax-free to the artist, and the artist receives 82% of the donations made. The rest goes back to PIZICATO.com to cover PayPal fees and operations by ensuring more donations come in to do even more good.

There has been a true paradigm shift in the way fans access music and the way artists are compensated. Based off the current industry model, musicians and bands are no longer receiving what they deserve. Today, artists have transitioned away from relying financially on record sales or song royalties as a viable source of income. Many artists are turning to other career paths to sustain themselves, leaving less time for them to create the music fans eagerly expect. PIZICATO believes it should be just as easy to support musicians, as it is to listen to music. PIZICATO has arrived to bridge this gap.

“It has never been a better time to be a music fan. Music streaming, video uploads, online music stores are available, but these advances also create a certain digital devaluation of the artists’ talent. Music needs to be more sustainable and we believe that PIZICATO is that solution,” said Jeano Erforth, Storm’s business partner, fellow successful entrepreneur and PIZICATO co-founder. “Through PIZICATO, artists can begin making ends meet again, collect enough donations to produce an entirely fan-funded album or even a full tour schedule. The PIZICATO revolution is the solution so that musicians can continue being musicians instead of taking day jobs. It’s the new way fans can directly influence and contribute to the music they love. PIZICATO is going to change everything.”

Get more information on the PIZICATO founders, details on signups and other important facts by visiting www.PIZICATO.com

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About PIZICATO
pizzicato 1 |ˌpitsəˈkädō|
adverb [ no obj. ]
(Often as a direction) plucking the strings of a violin or other stringed instrument with one’s finger: Violinists should play four 2-octave major scales; two should be played arco, two should be played pizzicato.

PIZICATO is a dynamic digital platform shaking up the way fans interact, support and connect with musical artists and performers. Created as an online donation platform, PIZICATO provides a solution for fans to support artists and their music directly, now and into the future. Through PIZICATO.com, fans are able to send electronic donations to the artist, allowing them to effectively hold the strings to change in the music industry. Join the PIZICATO revolution and make music happen.

The idea for a life-altering digital donation platform was dreamed up by entrepreneurs Jeff Storm and Jeano Erforth in December 2013, after realizing some of their favorite musical artists will never get adequately compensated for the music they have created. If the artists are unable to sustain themselves with the money they need to continue making music, it’s possible that these artists may have to take a day job instead of creating music for listeners. For Storm and Erforth, it was unacceptable that the music they love is more accessible than ever before, yet the artists are receiving exponentially smaller and smaller cuts for their work. In the end, it was all backwards and the entrepreneurial-minded, music-loving duo knew they had to create a solution to revolutionize this modern-day archetype of what the music industry had become. After further extensive research about the reality of royalties in the music industry, they learned just how far a dollar really goes for a musician and fourteen months later PIZICATO was born.

For more information on PIZICATO, please visit www.PIZICATO.com. Become a Facebook fan at Facebook.com/WeArePIZICATO, join our circle on Google+ or follow PIZICATO on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Spotify at @WeArePIZICATO.

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