Built for bands, musicians and music performing organizations, ArtistData is a site that enables you to enter upcoming performance information once and then sync it to many different social networking sites that are musician friendly or oriented. I have to say that I was impressed with the simplicity of the system, based on their demo video. With a few minutes and clicks, performance listings were updated on the sample band's MySpace, PureVolume, Eventful, and Virb profiles. Also, the show details were sent out to other sites such as JamBase, Last.fm, Mojam, Pollstar, and ShowClix.
A real treat is the site's ability to notify local newspapers and media about your performance directly from ArtistData. I would assume that ArtistData keeps art & music PR contact emails for major newspapers and publishers. I wasn't able to see how comprehensive their listings are, but, if you know of a publication that exists in the area you will be performing that is not on the list, you can notify ArtistData and they'll do what it takes to get it added for next time. I wonder, though, if this replaces the need to send out press releases or to cozy up to your local papers' inside sources.
All in all, ArtistData seems like a very expedient way to get your performance information out there. It would be especially useful if you, your band, or your organization already use more than 1 of the social networking tools listed above. And, it seems like ArtistData intends to expand its offerings and resources as time goes on. Sites such as Amie Street, BETA Records, Buzznet, FameCast, and Hooka/indie911 are on tap to be added to those sent performance info.
Oh, it's free, by the way (at least for now).
I am really interested to see if, in the near future, a similar technology is developed for visual, graphic, and illustrative artists to help them manage their profiles, exhibition information, and work sample images across the plethora of social networking sites that cater to them.
Props to Mashable! for tipping me off to ArtistData.