Six8 is the latest player in the sharing economy, allowing people to create their own live music experiences by allowing them to easily book musicians.
Founders Saurabh Das and Keith Sue hope Six8 will remove barriers stifling the live music scene, and make it more accessible for everyone.
Saurabh says Six8 has seen 800 artists Australia wide join up, ensuring a steady stream of bookings every week.
“There’s been a lot of blood sweat and tears into the game. At the moment we haven’t had to go for investment,” he says.
“We’ve been pretty lucky so far. It’s been fully funded by us as the directors, we’re the sole investors and the sole owners of the company at the moment."
At the moment, Six8 is free for artists to join and the app is free to download for users.
“From the artist side, it’s really about giving them a platform to advertise themselves properly. So people can jump on to Six8 and really discover artists that are in the area as well,” Keith says.
Murray James is a high school music teacher who plays live gigs on the weekend. He's signed up to Six8 and has seen a boost in potential gigs.
“Since being on Six8, business has pretty much doubled for me,” Murray says.
The company charges a 10 per cent booking fee to keep the business running, but hopes to lower that to five per cent as the business grows.
Murray James is an artist on the Six8 platform. Source: Supplied
Six8 is mainly being used in Sydney and other major cities in Australia, but has future plans to expand off-shore.
Keith said the app wants to empower people to use live music the way they want to.
“The reason I wanted to be international is that I want someone from here in Sydney or in Melbourne to make themselves available in Berlin next week and be able to travel there a get gig,” Keith says.
While it aims to empower local artists, users also benefit.
"We had a guy that brought singer in for his 20th anniversary," says Keith.
“It was his partner’s favourite song, he asked the musician to go and learn it. And that’s the type of thing we’re excited about,” says Saurabh.
So far the founders have cash flow but their earnings are being affected by seasonal trends.
“Over Christmas and New Year’s there was a flurry of events and lots of things going on and then a lull after that," Saurabh says.
But the founders are upbeat about their prospects moving forward.
“We’ve made basically nothing so far. We’ve really just started so it’s the beginning of the journey for us," says Saurabh.
