By DEVON SHERIDAN
Any ardent live music fan understands the frustrating dichotomy of the show-going process, and nowhere is it more apparent than in New York City, where the constant stream of quality shows and concerts can be both a blessing and a curse. Throughout the five boroughs on any given night, venues host lineups filled with talented acts of every genre. Shows are in such abundance, however, that staying informed on the city’s best live musical offerings can be an almost impossible task. When it comes to real world problems, facing an overload of concert entertainment is a fantastic one to have, but nevertheless, few things are more frustrating than missing out, or worse, not even knowing about a great show.
But those days may be coming to an end for students in the general vicinity, as a group of Fordham students have recently banded together to fight against live-music ignorance. The project, NYC Show Guide, is the brain-child of Tom Greco, GSB ’13. Greco is all too aware of the show-goers’ plight and had it in mind when he began NYC Show Guide early this semester. He cites personal experience as inspiration for the start-up.
“My first two years at Fordham, I missed a lot of good shows that I didn’t know about and I don’t want that to have to be the case for people,” Greco said. “I think that young adults, especially in college, [will] find the site extremely beneficial.”
Since the idea first formed in the beginning of the summer, Greco has bought a URL, www.nycshowguide.com, and hired a graphic designer to help with the website’s layout. The result is a pristine, easy-to-use guide.
“It was my frustration when I would miss shows or not be able to get a ticket because I wasn’t informed,” Greco said. “I try to keep it updated as soon as I know the show’s tickets will be going on sale so people have the chance to get to see really cool artists.”
NYC Show Guide bypasses the process of rooting through weeks of venue schedules or band tour dates. The process is simple: Greco and his small team weed through numerous ticketing websites, local music blogs and even band Twitter accounts, then they consolidate all the information into simplified concert announcements. Each post comes complete with links to ticket sales websites. The site also announces when shows are about to sell out, and at times when shows do sell out, the Show Guide staff have frequently posted links to last-minute raffles for free tickets. In this way, NYC Show Guide aims to serve both those in need of the quick concert fix and those hoping to pencil in some important concert dates down the road.
Keeping with recent trends, Greco has turned to social media outlets as a means to disseminate both the NYC Show Guide name and the product it has to offer. NYC Show Guide’s Facebook page is in essence a less-pretty version of the actual website, and mirrors the site in terms of content and is also contantly updated. The site’s main focus, posting upcoming concert dates, comprises much of the content, but the team occasionally couples those posts with related songs or recent album releases.
It does not take long to notice that NYC Show Guide is impressively helpful and informative (and often entertaining). The site also reflects the invested enthusiasm of everyone involved in the project, including Molly Jordan, GSB ’15, whom Greco enlisted as help to stay on top of the endless barrage of NYC-centric shows.
“I’m a huge fan of music and I’ve always loved going to as many shows as I could in the city,” Jordan said. “There’s nothing better than experiencing your favorite music live and seeing the personality of the artists. I was happy to get involved when Tom asked me for some help, it’s a great way to let others know of the amazing opportunities New York City has to offer and, at the same time, I get to listen and chat about nifty bands.”
If one is looking for even quicker and simpler up-to-date concert news, NYC Show Guide also employs an active Twitter account, which is linked to NYC Show Guide’s website. Greco and Jordan are both in charge of running NYC Show Guide’s Twitter and use it to announce any updates to the site. This is especially helpful when impromptu shows are announced: One simply sets his or her Twitter account to send a notification when the Show Guide tweets an announcement, and boom, ignorance (and possible subsequent stress and regret) relieved.
While the website has been under construction for a week now, both the Facebook page and the Twitter account are fully operational and Greco hopes to have the website, revamped to handle more content, up and running by the time this article prints. For now, Greco and Jordan are busy balancing content maintenance and actively spreading the NYC Show Guide name.
“We’re still working towards building it up today, so, hopefully, it can turn into something big,” Greco said.
Like NYC Show Guide’s Facebook page and follow NYC Show Guide: @NYCShow Guide