NEW YORK CITY — In one of the world's biggest entertainment capitals, discovering up-and-coming bands can be a lot like finding a needle in a hay stack.
That's why two London-based entrepreneurs launched a new map, called Gigbloc, to make the task a little easier. Users can plug in a date, and the interactive map will pinpoint venues with shows playing that night. It also gives users a chance to listen to clips of the artists and buy tickets from inside the map.
"It's a bit laborious currently to listen to what's playing in lots of different venues across the city," said Richard Tolley, who created the map along with his partner Alex Jeffries.
"When I was in New York for a couple of weeks last year, not knowing which venues tended to put on the kind of music I like, immersing myself in the local music scene was quite challenging," Tolley continued.
The feeling of being lost in New York's music jungle eventually led to the creation of Gigbloc, which uses data from Soundcloud and Songkick to map out indie concerts and allows users to stream songs performed by the bands listed on the site.
Gigbloc originally launched in London a month ago, but started covering New York City last weekend, Tolley said.
The concerts listed on the site pop up seven days in advance, and currently only displays shows by bands that announce their schedule using Soundcloud and Songkick.
The application is made for "people who want to go to the kind of gigs you have to book weeks in advance," Tolley explained.
While the creators of Gigbloc don't discriminate on the type of music that appears on their site, they've included a playlist of their favorite songs for those looking for guidance.
In the future, Tolley and Jefferies hope to expand the number of concerts included in the map, and plans are in the making to launch iOS and Android apps.
But for now, the website has already gotten a positive response, Tolley said, adding that the New York launch went "much better than expected."
