Jay Flanzbaum wants to change the way every indie band handles touring, promotion, booking, and the management of their careers. His creation is called OnlineGigs and it has the potential to shift the balance in favor of artists who want to do things for themselves.

For less than the cost of sushi for one, OnlineGigs.com will give you the tools to manage a band, book gigs, arrange tours, and oversee ongoing promotion to a continually-maintained database.

Sound too good to be true? Yeah, I thought so, too. Until I tried it. OnlineGigs is excellent. If you have a browser made during the past two years, you can access an astonishing amount of information in each of four categories:

* Booking
* Promotion
* Management
* Touring

Want to know the venues in the Southeastern part of Iowa? OnlineGigs not only has the names/addresses/phones/emails, they have the most recent booker’s name, preferred method of contact, club capacity, notes about gear and load-in, and more.

Want to contact the venue? OnlineGigs (OLG) lets you compose, send and save an email while also adding a “tickler” memo to remind yourself when to follow-up.

Want to book a gig? OLG has standard email forms AND contract forms that you can quickly modify to suit the situation, then save for future reference. And it automatically schedules reminders to you, the club and all members of your band so that everybody stays on track for the booking.

Want directions to the venue? OLG has it. Plus, it will generate directions from the club to nearby motels, towns, other venues, etc. so that tour planning is easier.

Want to promote your appearance? OLG has a huge list of media contacts organized by region (and any other way you might think of), as well as sample press releases that you can easily customize to fit your band. They can be sent using just a couple of mouse clicks, with reminders sent to you (or whoever) to ensure that follow-up emails, phone calls, etc. are made on time without you even having to think about it.

Like to keep track of people you’ve contacted? OLG does it. Print a tour itinerary? No problem. Monitor how the publicity is working? Yup. Schedule automatic emails or faxes weeks before each gig? Sure.

OnlineGigs is like taking everything in your head, all the scraps of paper from your desktop, all the business cards from your top drawer, and all the files in your laptop computer and combining it with Google as well as the world’s best (and easiest-to-use) spreadsheet program.

About now, you’re saying to yourself, “It can’t be that good.” Exactly what I said to myself. But then I used it. Sheesh, this thing will forever alter the way bands, managers, and publicists go about their business. Try it. You will believe.

[tags]G-Man, Scott G, Music Critics Must Die, OnlineGigs[/tags]