Boston: The Hidden Hub of Music and Technology

Sonicbids
Headquarters: Boston, MA
Year Launched: 2001
CEO: Panos Panay
Funding: backed by Edison Venture Fund

Sonicbids is a website that helps bands and people who book or license music connect with one another. Over 120,000 bands are registered with the site, as well as 10,000 music promoters responsible for scheduling musicians for venues as diverse as music festivals like South by Southwest, cruise ships, restaurants, museums, wineries, and video game soundtracks. Bands pay a fee to upload electronic press kits, which Sonicbids shares with promoters (who also pay a fee). “We’re not a matchmaker, in terms of proactively putting musicians and promoters together, but we provide a platform and a marketplace,” says CEO Panos Panay. “It’s up to them to make the connection.” Nearly a quarter of Sonicbids’ user base is outside the United States, according to Panay.

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Author: Wade Roush

Between 2007 and 2014, I was a staff editor for Xconomy in Boston and San Francisco. Since 2008 I've been writing a weekly opinion/review column called VOX: The Voice of Xperience. (From 2008 to 2013 the column was known as World Wide Wade.) I've been writing about science and technology professionally since 1994. Before joining Xconomy in 2007, I was a staff member at MIT’s Technology Review from 2001 to 2006, serving as senior editor, San Francisco bureau chief, and executive editor of TechnologyReview.com. Before that, I was the Boston bureau reporter for Science, managing editor of supercomputing publications at NASA Ames Research Center, and Web editor at e-book pioneer NuvoMedia. I have a B.A. in the history of science from Harvard College and a PhD in the history and social study of science and technology from MIT. I've published articles in Science, Technology Review, IEEE Spectrum, Encyclopaedia Brittanica, Technology and Culture, Alaska Airlines Magazine, and World Business, and I've been a guest of NPR, CNN, CNBC, NECN, WGBH and the PBS NewsHour. I'm a frequent conference participant and enjoy opportunities to moderate panel discussions and on-stage chats. My personal site: waderoush.com My social media coordinates: Twitter: @wroush Facebook: facebook.com/wade.roush LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/waderoush Google+ : google.com/+WadeRoush YouTube: youtube.com/wroush1967 Flickr: flickr.com/photos/wroush/ Pinterest: pinterest.com/waderoush/