Is Foursquare the next move for music?

Posted on | May 5, 2010 | No Comments

Almost every time I see Jesse Kay, he asks me if I have signed up for Foursquare yet and every time I keep telling him no. It’s not that I’m a hater. I think Foursquare is a very catchy and slightly addictive concept. I try to avoid spending time on a social network unless I see that it ain’t going away anytime soon and, more importantly, that there’s a return on the time I invest in it (both socially and professionally).

For a while I found that the latter requirement was lacking because I found it to be a fairly narcissistic network of people who wanted to be check in to be seen. I’d see people waste their time to get the “I’m on a boat badge” or any number of seemingly idiotic and meaningless Foursquare accomplishments. However, after reading this article that Jesse sent me, I got thinking a little bit and signed up for it. You can view my bare account here.

What bands can gain from Foursquare is two-fold:

Sharing
- Where you go to eat
- What bars you go to
- Where you buy clothing
- Where you bought your guitar

Recommending
- Mention what other bands you’re going to see
- Hopefully other bands will recommend you

The latter being of more importance for the sake of this post. Similar to Headliner.fm that my buddy Bill runs, recommendations are a means of communal growth. If ?uestlove checked in to see _____ at the Mercury Lounge, I would at the very least listen to their music if not get off my ass and go to the show too. Or even if my friend Todd from ARMS (who is a completely unknown band when comparing them to The Roots) checked in at Piano’s to see _____, I would probably do the same because I like his music and value his tastes. Most fans of any band probably have similar sentiment towards the bands they follow.

Whether musicians realize it or not, if someones follows you on Twitter, Likes you on Facebook, goes to your show, or buys your T-shirt, they value your taste, so they would probably consider signing up for Foursquare to find out more about you and hear your recommendations. This would hopefully be beneficial because I’m sure within your network of like-minded bands, those bands would do the same for you.