Parlour Is Australia's New Start-Up Connecting Musicians with 'Stages'

Australian musicians, wish you could play for more people, more often? People with houses — or rooms or sheds or backyards — wish you could see more music, more often, and closer to home?

Bingo. A new online start-up platform by the name of Parlour Gigs is making your wishes come true. That’s the both of you. And indie acts like Thelma Plum, Grand Salvo and Caitlin Harnett are already taking advantage of it.

Here’s how it works. (Hint, if you use Airbnb already, you’ll have some idea). Musicians, jump on the site, hit the 'I want to play' button and fill out the form. People with houses, jump on the site, hit the 'I want to host' button and fill out a form. If the Parlour folks are happy with your superior form-filling skills (i.e. you sound pretty talented or your place looks music-friendly), they’ll hook the two of you up. Tickets are then sold to the general public via the Parlour website.

The man behind the initiative is Matt Walters, a singer-songwriter from Melbourne. "[Parlour's] not dissimilar to the Airbnb model; cutting out the middlemen and allowing people to negotiate and stage gigs where they like,” he told Tone Deaf. "From being signed to a major label, to touring with some incredible international artists, I've certainly experienced all the ups and downs the music business has to offer.

"But for some time now, I’ve felt a change coming on. Of course, with the traditional music model well and truly behind us, there is more emphasis than ever on playing live... For most musicians — especially those up and coming — it's hardly worth it. The experience of playing a great show can be a reward unto itself, but at the end of the day artists, like all working people, need to get paid for their work."

Get started on Parlour over here.

Via Tone Deaf.

Images: Parlour.