Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Uber for bands

The Altmans come up against an idea “we couldn’t knock down” — GigTown.
The Altmans come up against an idea “we couldn’t knock down” — GigTown.

When Andy Altman came home from Coachella this year, he had a revelation.

“I’d been relying on Uber a lot,” he said. “At the same time, my dad mentioned, ‘If I wanted to hire a pianist over to play, what’s stopping me?’”

Andy’s dad just happens to be former Qualcomm president Steve Altman and the two tried to figure out if there was a way to make an Uber-style app that would make it easier for music fans to connect with local musical acts.

“We toss around ideas all the time,” Andy, 25, said. “This was the first time we couldn’t knock the idea down.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

Instead, a new app took flight: GigTown, an app now in beta testing in the San Diego area.

The app allows users to quickly find and book local musicians, ranging from solo guitarists to eight-piece bands at prices ranging from $60 to $4000 per hour and book them using a stored credit card.

GigTown takes a 17 percent commission on any gigs booked through the app and Stripe, the payment processor, takes an additional 3 percent.

Steve Altman, 53, retired from Qualcomm in January, but is excited about the possibilities of GigTown.

“This could change the music industry,” he said. “Less than one percent of musicians make a living, and local artists have a hard time creating a fan base. To become a fan of a group, you have to hear them live, then you have to like them so much that you will look them up on Facebook.

“But if you think it’s hard to discover local music, it’s even harder for the average person to book them,” he said.

The hyperlocal focus of GigTown could help bands play in places where there is currently no live music, Steve said.

“We can show a club or a restaurant that a group has 5000 fans living nearby and maybe they’ll book that group,” he said.

Andy said there are currently 40 bands registered on the website and hopes more local groups sign up before the app launches commercially in mid-January.

“We’ve got a good variety, but no bagpipe players yet,” he conceded. “We thought it would be easy to get musicians to sign up, but it takes a while to get them to send content.

“A lot of them wonder what they want to put as their hourly rate. We understand that a band will charge more for, say, a wedding rather than a backyard barbecue, and these are the things we’re working out with the app.”

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Reader Music Issue short takes

Obervatory's mosh pit, frenetic Rafael Payare, Lemonhead chaos, bleedforthescene, Coronado Tasting Room
Next Article

Best Sports Betting Sites - 10 Online Sportsbooks Ranked for 2024

Best Sports Betting Sites (2024) - Reviews of TOP Online Sportsbooks
The Altmans come up against an idea “we couldn’t knock down” — GigTown.
The Altmans come up against an idea “we couldn’t knock down” — GigTown.

When Andy Altman came home from Coachella this year, he had a revelation.

“I’d been relying on Uber a lot,” he said. “At the same time, my dad mentioned, ‘If I wanted to hire a pianist over to play, what’s stopping me?’”

Andy’s dad just happens to be former Qualcomm president Steve Altman and the two tried to figure out if there was a way to make an Uber-style app that would make it easier for music fans to connect with local musical acts.

“We toss around ideas all the time,” Andy, 25, said. “This was the first time we couldn’t knock the idea down.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

Instead, a new app took flight: GigTown, an app now in beta testing in the San Diego area.

The app allows users to quickly find and book local musicians, ranging from solo guitarists to eight-piece bands at prices ranging from $60 to $4000 per hour and book them using a stored credit card.

GigTown takes a 17 percent commission on any gigs booked through the app and Stripe, the payment processor, takes an additional 3 percent.

Steve Altman, 53, retired from Qualcomm in January, but is excited about the possibilities of GigTown.

“This could change the music industry,” he said. “Less than one percent of musicians make a living, and local artists have a hard time creating a fan base. To become a fan of a group, you have to hear them live, then you have to like them so much that you will look them up on Facebook.

“But if you think it’s hard to discover local music, it’s even harder for the average person to book them,” he said.

The hyperlocal focus of GigTown could help bands play in places where there is currently no live music, Steve said.

“We can show a club or a restaurant that a group has 5000 fans living nearby and maybe they’ll book that group,” he said.

Andy said there are currently 40 bands registered on the website and hopes more local groups sign up before the app launches commercially in mid-January.

“We’ve got a good variety, but no bagpipe players yet,” he conceded. “We thought it would be easy to get musicians to sign up, but it takes a while to get them to send content.

“A lot of them wonder what they want to put as their hourly rate. We understand that a band will charge more for, say, a wedding rather than a backyard barbecue, and these are the things we’re working out with the app.”

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Best Sports Betting Sites - 10 Online Sportsbooks Ranked for 2024

Best Sports Betting Sites (2024) - Reviews of TOP Online Sportsbooks
Next Article

SDSU pres gets highest pay raise in state over last 15 years

Union-Tribune still stiffing downtown San Diego landlord?
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.