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And a 1, 2, 3, StageIt!

Some of the artists that have performed on Stageit.com.

StageIt is the response from musician Evan Lowenstein (best known for his and his brother’s hit, Crazy for This Girl from the TV drama Dawson’s Creek, which landed No. 15 on the Billobard’s Hot 100) to the industry’s inability to catch up with the social media revolution.

How It Started

According to Entrepreneur, Lowenstein did some research with  found that fans who attended free shows and shared video online were critical to an artist’s success (e.g. about every new pop act from the early 2010’s: Lady Gage, Justin Bieber, Karmin, etc.). Armed with this knowledge, he launched StageIt at the 2011 South by Southwest music festival. Since its March 2011, about 800 artists have used the service including Indigo Girls, Jason Mraz, Glen Phillips (former singer of Toad the Wet Sprocket), Trey Songz, Metro Stations, and Jimmy Buffet. StageIt welcomes artists from all genres.

How It Works

Evan Lowenstein of Los Angeles-based pop group Evan and Jaron launched Stageit to help musicians reach fervent fans by staging live, online shows anytime and anywhere. Photo© Marc Royce, Entrpreneur.com.

StageIt is the closest thing to a pay-per-view version of Skype. The talent sets up a webcam and plays live for its fans for about 30 minutes. Most acts set a price between $3-5 per show, but there is a tip jar where listeners can chip in more money if they want. StageIt makes money by taking 40% of all monies collected (including tips, which account for about half of the startups’s revenue stream). There is a chat feature where artists can interact with their fans. While most shows just involve an artist with his or her guitar, some larger acts, such as Korn and Metro Station, involve more bells and whistles.

How It is Growing

The main source of growth for StageIt is the validation that Lowenstein is a successful artist himself and he understands the needs from his peers. While the average show draws about 2o people, Lowenstein is pursuing larger acts. Back in August 2011, StageIt hosted its largest concert hosted by the site: a benefit featuring Crosby, Stills & Nash, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne and others, which drew 11,000 paying listeners.

Also, on November 2011, entrepreneur and investor Sean Parker bought shares from the company after seeing a live demo of the service. Having Sean Parker on board is great because of his knowledge of disrupting the music industry through technology with Napster and his current involvement with Spotify.

Check out StageIt at http://stageit.com.

By Damian Davila. Damian is a blogger and online marketer living in Honolulu, Hawaii. Best known for his tech and Internet news blog, idaconcpts.com, he covers the latest trends in the industry. Read more of Damian’s posts at SexySocialMedia.com here. Follow Damian on Twitter at @idaconcpts.

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6 Replies

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  3. Hello my friend! I want to say that this article is awesome, nice written and include almost all vital info. I would like to see more posts like this.

  4. Thank you for sharing this info with us!

  5. I am going to look at stageit, thanks for sharing

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