About

How many times have you found out about a show or a release too late? Even when everyone involved put the work in?

The fans, the artists, the promoters, and the venues all deserve better than the current state of online music discovery. Social media helped explode scenes, now you have to pay to be seen. LiveNation and Ticketmaster constrict independent venues and shutter amazing spaces for art and expression. Fans have trouble finding artists and the spaces they play in, even on sites built specifically for that.

Handbill FM is a local, scene-focused discovery platform for everyone to connect, the way a veteran of the music industry wished it had been built from the start.

Artists get a crisp, clean landing page that automatically organizes content and puts their shows and links front-and-center. Promoters and venues can set up events with ticket links and drop artists right in. Fans can find you by location, genre, and do not have to google your name to get to your links, it is all right there.

Promoters get a unified place to put their events that tags the artists they work with, shows the areas they book in, and provides a larger platform to connect with fans that may have not seen what they do yet.

Venues get a dynamic calendar, clear space for venue information, and a list of the genres they host to attract the fans and the artists that they need to stay open.

Events showcase everyone involved. You can see each artist, the venue, the promoter, event details, buy tickets, and drop right into Google Maps if you would like. When changes happen, like lineup, time, venue, postponement, or cancellation, it is clearly marked so there is no confusion, and followers of the event get a notification so they do not get left high and dry because they did not get a heads up from Facebook.

This goes beyond the current popular sites by looking inward: it is focused on local, talented, hard-working individuals that make things happen independently. This is a living, evolving place where fans can find the art they love, who is making it, and where to experience it.

I'm Connor, the founder of Handbill FM. I am a musician that has worn many hats in the past 2 decades: artist, show promoter, event manager, sound tech, producer, and music industry degree holder. I actively play in projects, mix music, and coordinate events. Music and arts is my lifeblood. Handbill is not built by software engineers looking at trends. It is built by a solo dev that has more experience in music than in programming languages.

There are some very simple rules for being listed on Handbill FM.

No LiveNation or Ticketmaster

We're fighting the good fight to keep artists visible and venues full of people without merch-cuts and monopolistic practices. Keep it independent.

No AI visuals or music

A bio or social captions are not the focus. Hell, the only way this project is even manageable or doable is letting AI crunch enough data that 1 person can keep it maintained. But you have local artists putting in hard work making flyers and music, and there is no room for an algorithm to push that out.

No credible SA allegations or other similar records

Music and art need to be a safe space. There is a zero-tolerance policy towards artists that use their status in a predatory way.

Love the scene you're in

This is not mandatory, but I think it's true of every one of us. Show up, show love, and support your local art!