Musicpage seeks to simplify ‘business’ of music business

If David Codr’s forthcoming release is a hit, doing business in the music industry could soon be considerably simpler. Codr, from Omaha, is the founder of Musicpage, an online music “community,” that goes live tonight at 8 and aims to reduce the legwork necessary for processes across the music industry. “Basically, the foundation or the…

A sample profile page from musicpage.com provides a glimpse of the data the site will offer members of the online community. Screenshot courtesy of David Codr. 

If David Codr’s forthcoming release is a hit, doing business in the music industry could soon be considerably simpler.

Codr, from Omaha, is the founder of Musicpage, an online music “community,” that goes live tonight at 8 and aims to reduce the legwork necessary for processes across the music industry.

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“Basically, the foundation or the fundamental principle is to enable musicians and music pros to find and connect with each other,” Codr said. “Most musicians just hate doing the business side of the music business.”

Codr has worked in that business since he was a teenager and started the Music Phone Book, a hard copy industry directory, in 1999. Some 30,000 contacts from that directory will help populate Musicpage initially, but Codr said his latest project will soon exceed the size of the Phone Book and include more robust information.

Musicpage will allow users to create a profile page that includes contact information but will also include detailed performance specs and links to related profiles. Artist profiles will include links to the profiles for their management, booking agent, publicist, tour manager and record label. Venue profiles will include links to the talent buyer, sound tech and even outside contacts such as local reporters or press contacts.

Musicpage users can control who has access to specific portions of their profiles, much like on Facebook. But Codr is careful to distinguish between Musicpage, which he calls an “industry networking site,” and social networking sites.

“People are going to come to our site because they’re looking for a phone number for a venue or a sound man,” Codr (left) said, “or, you know, (because) your amp breaks while you’re on the road, you need an instrument repair shop or an instrument rental shop.”

The first tier of Musicpage profiles, which Codr said will includes entities like instrument stores, will be accessible for free and without a Musicpage membership. Profiles in the next tier will be free to access but require a Musicpage membership to view. Access to the final tier, which Codr said will consist of “really the high-end music industry contacts” like record labels, music venues and entertainment attorneys, will require a premium membership that costs $11 a month. Codr said that fee is designed more to make access to those contacts exclusive than it is to bring in revenue.

Musicpage also hopes to draw revenue from advertising, which Codr said will be tailored to individual users based on general information they submit when creating a profile.

“We realized … that it is really something that can deliver great advertising results for music industry people,” Codr said. “So we are not accepting advertising from anyone unless they are specifically targeting musicians and music pros.”

Codr has worked on Musicpage for more than four years and funded most of it himself, although he has received financial support from a minority partner and farmed out the development work.

Omaha will be the focal point of Musicpage’s efforts early on. Codr said he’ll use the city as a testing ground of sorts, to “get a nice cross-section of the Omaha music scene from all the different players – promoters, venues, artists, the whole nine yards — and get to see what they think about it kind of a smaller basis.” Codr hopes to expand the Musicpage team, which currently stands at six, and ramp up publicity efforts within 3-6 months.

This story is part of the AIM Archive

This story is part of the AIM Institute Archive on Silicon Prairie News. AIM gifted SPN to the Nebraska Journalism Trust in January 2023. Learn more about SPN’s origin »

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