OurStage: Pushing Bands Up the Long Tail

Sort of like a version of "hot or not" for music, OurStage lets bands enter their music in a monthly contest, judged by users of the site, which comes out of closed beta on Monday. The concept behind it is simple and powerful. Users are presented with two randomly-selected songs on a page; they listen to each one and decide which one is better (and by how much). Near the end of the month, when the top ten finalists have been selected, users text their picks for the winner to OurStage using a cellphone.

OurStage is addictive, and has the feel of something that could blow up after it launches on Monday, for a number of reasons: it's fun to use, gives people a way to listen more actively, and acts as a collaborative A&R department for indie musicians, effectively pushing the artists who deserve it up the long tail.

Winners in each of the 9 genres get a $100 check from OurStage, andthe grand prize winner across the genres gets $5,000 -- definitelyenough to tempt people to game the system. But when I met withOurStage CEO Ben Campbell last week, he said that the contests areessentially un-gameable, because you'd have to hit reload on yourbrowser an estimated 4900 times before you see the same song appear.

He also said OurStage does more for the winning artists than just send them a check:

"We've taken it to the next step to actually help launch the careers ofthe winners (free of charge) by establishing JV deals with all of themajor movers and shakers in the industry (Paste, GenArt, CMJ, NEMO,
Verge, PLUG, NoisePop, & many others, including management companies andlabels) to offer prizes beyond the $5K grand prize, beyond the$100/channel winner each month, beyond the exposure of being #1 asvoted by the fans... slots on stage to play at music festivals or to show at film festivals,
to open on tour with known acts, to have articles written on winningacts, to audition for real indie labels, etc. To our knowledge, thisis totally revolutionary - and very cool."

OurStage also has a video section that works in the same way that the audio section does, and the company plans to launch a photo category soon as well. Check it out on Monday... I have a feeling this one's going to be a big deal.

(Full disclosure: My brother's and cousin's band, Javelin, was a contestant on OurStage last month... they had a good run but didn't take home the prize.)

(And yes, for the time being, Listening Post is back -- the transition mentioned earlier is still happening, just not yet).