Gigulate is a new UK startup which aims to match music news, blogs and gig listings against each other. The result is a useful, Techmeme-like site which allows you to drill down by artist and see their latest upcoming gigs. Right now they are in beta mode and the site is working with a fraction of its main data, I’m told. We have 500 invites for TechCrunch readers here.
Business model-wise this is a site which will act as an affiliate partner for ticketing sites including Ticketmaster, WeGotTickets, Seetickets – all of which account for the majority of tickets sold in the UK. As a media site advertising is of course another avenue, though hopefully not just the Adsense currently on the Beta site. Gigulate is wisely steering clear of the recorded music world, which remains in disarray.
Right now it’s an editorial product with no crowdsourcing element. Though whether that would add anything is a moot point. Techmeme does ok, right? An API is also in the works.
The parralels with SongKick are obvious, but where SongKick is based on your music colllection, Gigulate is based more on what news you want to consume about artists.
There is no other music news aggregator operating in this way in the UK. There are obvious comparisons to be made with site’s like Google News’ Entertainment section, Cloudspeakers, and Daylife. Sonicliving has similarities but is closer to Songkick. Recently launched Rivmixx is not an aggregator but an editorial portal.
Team-wise Gigulate consist of first-time-round entrepreneurs John Martin, Duncan Amey and Ben Perreau – more here.