What happens when you combine a passion for web development, a passion for music, and a city with a vibrant scene but no great way to find out what’s going on? If you’re startup founder Jesse Rosenfield, you get a BuenosAiresMusic: a clear, informative website that aims to be the one-stop spot for music lovers in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
And, if Jesse has his way, in cities all over the world.
Who is Jesse Rosenfield?
Jesse is an American web developer who quit his life in the US about three years ago and moved down to Buenos Aires with limited Spanish and a couple of freelancing jobs. He’s also a serious drummer and wanted to dive right into the music scene in a city known for its love of art but what he found was that there was no easy way to find out where and who and what was going on when.
Why does Buenos Aire need this site?
There was a government website, a couple of calendars scattered here and there, but what Jesse really wanted was a site that would gives artists, musicians, and teachers a way to showcase and promote their events in a way that would be highly visible to, for example, a foreigner who just got to the city and didn’t know what to do or where to look. When he couldn’t find that, he did what any good startup entrepreneur does: he created it himself.
Beautiful, searchable.
The first thing you notice about BuenosAiresMusic is big slideshow of upcoming events. Click on the little dots on the lower righthand corner and you can scroll through two other events. These are the hotspots because they’re front and center and they’re the only ones on the landing page with images. This is where you want your band to be.
Jesse is offering the space free for next few months, while the site is gaining a user base, so it’s a great opportunity for the not-so-well-known to showcase themselves. And it’s not just bands and concerts, the idea of the site is to encompass group classes and workshops as well, whether it be dance, percussion, or improvisation.
Directly below the images is seven day calendar. Click on the number and the events of that day pop up right below. From there, you can filter by neighborhood or type of music, making your search as general or customized as you like.
If you’ve never heard of the band or venue that pops up, click on their name and you’re brought right to a detailed artist profile. I’ve personally never been the one who’s up on all the latest cool bands, so I think this aspect of the site is particularly awesome. Even more awesome is that any artist can submit their profile, for free, and have it be included in this excellent database. An artist or venue profile will have all of their respective upcoming events as well, so if you land on a profile directly from google, you have a super complete overview of who the band is, what they sound like, and where they’re playing.
Making it mobile.
Another cool thing about the site? It’s responsive—built to give you all of your information in a beautiful format in four sizes—so you can access it on your smart phone, iPad, or iPod from anywhere with internet access. Say you’re wandering around a neighborhood and want to see if there’s anything cool going on. Pull up BuenosAiresMusic and everything is right there at your fingertips, complete with a map guiding you to where you want to go.
Taking it global.
I asked Jesse if he has big plans for this passion project that he’s clearly put a lot of time and effort into. He told me that, for now, he wants to work out the kinks in Buenos Aires but that it’s a totally duplicatable site and could easily be replicated in any city across the world.
I hope he does. This site is a great example of everything a startup should be: it fills a need, has a beautiful and clear design, and can be taken to the global market. Keep it up, Jesse. We’re expecting big things from you.
Photo Credits
Jesse Rosenfield | BuenosAiresMusic
