A Victoria-based startup, Gigpit, launched earlier this month which aims to connect music-lovers with local artists and bands they may not have known about previously.
In essence, Gigpit is all about music discovery, with a focus on the local music scene.
“We know there are hundreds of local artists in your backyard, and we want you to be able to discover them,” said Aidan Polglase, co-founder and developer of Gigpit.
“It’s really hard to discover them with algorithms and cluttered content all over the internet—we want to get people away from doomscrolling to find music.”
The website now has over 400 artist and band profiles on it and has around 40 venues listed that are able to put on shows.
The artists and bands are divided into three categories, or overarching genres, to make it easy to find something users will be in the mood to hear—heavy, mellow and lively.
How Gigpit got started
The concept began a year and a half ago as a “shower-thought”—that there should be a central place to find live music.
However, to expand upon this shower-thought of an easier way to discover local music, Polglase knew that Gigpit would have to be able to go above and beyond what is already out there.
He enlisted the help of his friend Josh Taylor, who was lead developer on the project, and together the two of them quickly assembled a team of like-minded people to start putting the project together.
They then secured the help of creative developer Mac Joyal, creative director Ellie Scott and developer Evan Dungate, who all worked incredibly hard on this passion project to get it to the finish line.
How Gigpit sets itself apart
Being that several of Gigpit’s co-founders are musicians themselves, the platform was created with musicians, promoters and venues in mind, to help serve as a tool that can be used to help flesh out shows and share concerts taking place in the city that may have gone unnoticed.
One way they have set themselves apart from other platforms is by implementing an easy-to-navigate website design and more modern tools for exploration.
“Going through it, everything is intuitive, everything looks good and we have all these amazing artist profiles that you can go through and actually listen to their music on the site,” Polglase told Victoria Buzz.
He noted that another big way they have set themselves apart is just the fact that they have no advertisements.
“We think that ads can destroy a platform, and typically don’t help anybody so we are staying away from that,” he continued.
The site also features a ‘Community Bulletin,’ which is meant to be a resource for local musicians who may just be starting out in the scene to learn more about hosting shows, the importance of stage energy, self-promotion and more.
The bulletin is also a space where Gigpit will feature a featured local artist every month, complete with an exclusive studio session and interview.
Their debut featured artist for their first month since launch has been Niloo.
When it comes to the featured artist initiative, Polglase says it was created and operates from a standpoint of community helping community.
“We’re trying to have an approach to marketing that’s all about mutual aid,” he explained.
“We want to promote ourselves by promoting others—I don’t want to promote ourselves by being annoying and in your feed all the time. I want us showing you how exciting the live music scene is so you’re excited to join it and Gigpit is one way to find that, and it’s an actual useful way to find it.”
Additionally he noted that it is incredibly important to Gigpit to feature any and all kinds of music in their featured artist program, whether it’s hip-hop, metal or a singer-songwriter.
Polglase says that their next featured band will be beloved locals, Neighbourly, whose session will be released on Gigpit’s website and YouTube page on July 1st.
How Gigpit seeks to grow
Polglase says that right now, they just want more people submitting their shows to the platform and more bands creating artist profiles.
The more there is to share, the more people there will be to share it with is their idea behind the first few months following the launch.
“We want to grow Gigpit through, A) being valuable, but B) just through actually engaging with the community and engaging with the community,” he explained.
“We’ve been reaching out to a lot of promoters and artists and asking, ‘what do you need, what do you want out of this platform.’”
When it comes to looking to the future, they are looking at hopefully expanding Gigpit into other local music scenes across Canada, whether it’s Nanaimo, Vancouver, cities in Alberta and beyond.
“It’s built in a way that we can kind of just unleash it, and it’s community-driven, so if people want to make artist profiles and they live in Edmonton or Calgary or wherever,” he said.
Check out Gigpit, find some new local music and engage with Victoria’s vast music scene!
You can follow them on Instagram and YouTube to stay in the loop and stay connected..
