Aaron's weekly dispatch
I missed Soundcheck last week.
Which, honestly, isn't good enough.
My excuse is the same one I seem to use far too often: life has been ridiculously busy.
The funny thing is, though, quite a lot of that is entirely my own doing. 😂
I've done a few private guitar lessons recently, and my teaching at Anstee Bridge has now come to an end. That's a real shame in some respects because I've loved being part of it, but at this particular point in my life, I think it's probably the right thing for me.
Over the last couple of years, I've learned something that I already knew logically but perhaps hadn't fully appreciated until I lived it:
There's a big difference between earning money with your time and creating something that can work without constantly requiring your time.
As a musician, most of my working life has involved physically being somewhere.
A gig. A lesson. A school. An event.
And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that — performing is still what I love doing — but there are only so many hours in a week.
The more of them I sell, the fewer I have left to create.
That realisation has been behind my slightly obsessive deep dive into AI and technology over the past couple of years.
It started with a simple question:
What are the repetitive things I do every week that a computer could do for me?
That question has led me down some fairly enormous rabbit holes.
LiftShot came from my frustration with how ridiculously long it takes to turn footage from a gig into useful social media clips.
Poster Poster came from the equally ridiculous process of constantly creating and posting promotional material for upcoming gigs.
Both started as tools I wanted for myself.
But eventually another question appeared:
If these things genuinely save me time, how do I get them in front of other musicians who have exactly the same problems?
Because building something useful is only half the battle.
People have to know it exists.
And after thinking about that for a very long time, I suddenly found myself returning to one of the very first things I built.
A musician profile connected to a calendar.
And that idea has now grown into something considerably bigger.
So… I'd like to introduce you to:
The name actually appeared almost accidentally.
I wrote down who the platform was for:
Fans. Artists. Venues. Events.
F. A. V. E.
Fave.
And because it's all about live music…
Fave.Rocks.
I couldn't really ignore that one. 😂
The idea behind it is incredibly simple.
Artists and venues create a free profile and connect a dedicated Google Calendar.
From that point onwards, whenever they add a gig to their calendar, it automatically appears on Fave.Rocks.
No logging into another website every week.
No maintaining another gig list.
Get a booking. Put it in your diary. Done.
Fans can then discover artists, venues and live music happening around them and "fave" the ones they want to follow.
But I didn't want the profiles to just be glorified gig listings.
Artists can add their music, videos, photos and information about themselves. They can embed YouTube videos, receive booking enquiries directly through their profile and essentially have a proper home for what they do.
Then there's something I've personally wanted at gigs for a long time.
Every artist gets their own QR code.
Scan it at a gig and you can see the artist's repertoire, request a song and, if you fancy it, leave them a tip.
The artist can upload the songs they know, but you can also request something completely different and take your chances. 😂
And importantly, the basic platform is free.
There are already services offering musicians QR request and tipping systems for a subscription. I wanted to approach it differently.
If an artist earns nothing through Fave.Rocks, Fave.Rocks earns nothing from them.
When money does change hands — through a tip or paid download, for example — the platform takes a small 5% cut.
That's it.
Then eventually comes the part that has me particularly excited.
LiftShot.
Poster Poster.
The profile.
The gig calendar.
Requests.
Tips.
Music.
Video.
Promotion.
They've all been separate ideas until now.
Fave.Rocks feels like the missing piece that gives all of them somewhere to live.
The longer-term idea is that an artist could have their own domain connected to their Fave.Rocks profile and use it as their actual website.
They play a gig.
Someone films it.
LiftShot turns the footage into usable clips without hours of editing.
Poster Poster uses those clips to promote upcoming gigs.
Their calendar keeps their website and Fave.Rocks listings updated automatically.
Fans discover them locally, follow them, request songs, tip them and find out where they're playing next.
The aim is essentially to build the boring infrastructure around being an independent musician so the musician can spend more time actually being a musician.
And somehow I've ended up building quite a lot of it. 😂
It's still very early.
There will be bugs.
There will undoubtedly be things I've completely overlooked.
There will probably be moments where somebody uses it in a way I hadn't even considered.
And that's exactly why I'm telling you about it now.
I need guinea pigs.
I'd genuinely love you to have a look around Fave.Rocks.
If you're a musician, create an artist profile.
If you're involved with a venue, create a venue profile.
If you're a fan of live music, sign up as a fan and start exploring.
Try things.
Break things.
Tell me what makes sense.
Tell me what doesn't.
Tell me what's missing.
Because right now, that feedback is probably more valuable to me than anything else.
I've spent the last couple of years building tools designed to give me more time.
It would be rather nice if, somewhere along the way, they ended up giving other people more time too.
Let's see where this goes.
Now, onto the gigs…
Catching Up On Last Week
Seeing as I skipped last week's email, a quick catch-up first. Wednesday was the open mic at Windsor & Eton Brewery in Windsor, Thursday was The Minnow in Weybridge, Friday was the Hare and Hounds in Claygate, Saturday was a private booking, and on Sunday I was at the Duke of Connaught in Windsor for their Sunday live music. A good week, and a busy one.
This Week
Thursday was a private booking, so I'll keep the details to myself, but it was a lovely evening.
Friday night was the Kew Gardens Hotel in Kew — a pub with rooms right in the heart of Kew Village, by the station. A really lovely Friday-night crowd and a great way to start the weekend.
Saturday was a two-gig day. The afternoon was a private booking, and from there it was straight on to The Bear in Walton-on-Thames for the evening. Two gigs in a day always makes for a long one, but The Bear is a proper traditional pub close to the river with a big beer garden, and it's always a good night in there.
And as I write this, I'm getting ready for a Sunday afternoon at the Blue Anchor in West Byfleet from 3pm. I was there a couple of weeks ago on a Saturday night and it was full of requests, so I'm looking forward to going back. If you're nearby, come down.
See you out there, Aaron