Website selling access to musicians is a stalker’s dream come true

BandPage Experience offers “memories,” for a price

By Kyle McGovern
SPIN

Heads-up for anyone hoping to meet George Clinton, get an exclusive  guitar lesson from Zakk Wylde, or watch a Stars concert from the side stage —  BandPage can make your wish come true, for a price.

As Billboard reported, BandPage launched ‘Experiences,’ a  new service that allows fans to buy music, concert tickets, lessons, face time,  and other unique “experiences” from some of their favorite artists. For $150,  users can guarantee five minutes and a photo with George Clinton. A 30-minute  guitar lesson with Black Label Society founder Zakk Wylde via Skype costs  $2,500. And two tickets for hat side stage view of a Stars’ show will set you  back $100.

“The whole point is to enable artists to create deeper connections with fans  through memories, not stuff,” JSider, founder and chief executive of BandPage,  told Billboard.  Albums and concerts only happen once or twice a year, Sider  added. “That’s like having a coffee shop that’s only open two days a year and  sells only three types of coffee. We wanted to give bands a place where they can  be open year-round and offer something outside of downloads, CDs, T-Shirts or  plain vanilla concert tickets.”

As of now, more than 50 musicians are participating in BandPage Experiences,  including all of the aforementioned artists, as well as WHY?, Branches, Wild  Child, MNDR, Nataly Dawn of Pomplamooose, and more. According to Hypebot, even  more acts will join Experiences in the coming weeks, with a full rollout  expected by summer.

Current offerings range from $15 (a personalized postcard from Lay Low or a  personalized mixtape from André Obin, among other items) to $12,000 (a Mark Fast  Designer Dress worn by Chrysta Bell in the “Swing with Me” music video).

As per Billboard, musicians earn 85 percent of the proceeds from Experiences,  and BandPage receives a 15 percent chunk. The company actually ends up pulling  in a little more than 10 percent after credit card fees and other transaction  costs.

For artists, selling handshakes and mixtapes isn’t any consolation for the  meager royalty rates offered by streaming services, but perhaps it’s a start. By  Amanda Palmer’s standards, anyway.