Why We Built Scenebud: Our Story
When we tell people we're building a platform for independent live music, the first question is usually: "Why?" Fair question. The music tech space is crowded, the independent music industry is struggling, and building a startup is brutally hard work.
The answer is simple: we've lived the problem for 20 years, and we finally have the skills to fix it.
Two Sides Of The Same Problem
We're Rob and James, and between us we've spent four decades immersed in the UK's grassroots music scene. We've played in bands, promoted gigs, managed rehearsal spaces, worked as sound engineers, and built relationships with hundreds of independent artists and venues.
We've also both spent the last 10-15 years in tech startups, learning how to build products that people actually want to use. That combination—deep music industry experience plus technical know-how—is exactly what this problem needs.
Rob's Story: From Stage to Startup
I got my first instrument at 13 and was playing regular gigs by 15. Through my teens and twenties, I wore many hats in the music world—touring with bands, teaching music, DJing, producing, running club nights, and promoting gigs. I worked with hundreds of independent artists in venues ranging from small pubs and town halls to major spots like Glasgow's The Arches and SWG3.
From the outside it looked like success, but I realised making a proper living as a musician was nearly impossible so I had to get a 'real' job.
I've since worked at a number of startups and scaleups in tech which gave me a solid understanding of how to build and launch products. More importantly, I learned what makes startups fail—usually treating the customer as an afterthought and building without considering their needs.
The idea for Scenebud came from personal frustration. When I moved to a new city, I found myself scrolling endlessly through social media trying to find good gigs, checking individual venue websites one by one, or just missing great shows entirely.
Having worked from different angles of both the music and tech industries, I could see the problem clearly: streaming and algorithms actually made it harder for independent artists to be discovered, not easier. The existing platforms are terrible for discovery, with poor filtering and limited search functionality.
I'd been thinking about this problem for years, but in 2024 I finally started building Scenebud properly—a platform that actually helps people discover great live music and gives independent artists a fair shot at being found. Think "Bandcamp for live events."
James's Story: From Rehearsal Rooms to Engineering Teams
I've been playing in local bands since my teens, but my real education in how the music industry works came from managing Collective Rehearsal Rooms in Sheffield. Watching bands form, write, book tours, and iterate on their lineup in real time taught me more than any music business course could. I saw the entire lifecycle—from first rehearsal to album release—and understood the struggles independent artists face at every stage.
I also worked as an AV Engineer and Band Liaison at The Fez Club in Sheffield, handling the technical side while building relationships with artists. Over the years I worked with countless independent artists. The consistent theme was always the same: talented musicians struggling to get discovered and build sustainable careers.
I've seen bands I worked with in rehearsal rooms go on to tour, record albums, and build real followings—but I've also seen countless talented artists give up because the system doesn't support them.
On the tech side, I studied Electronic, Control & Systems Engineering, which gave me the technical foundation to build complex systems. For the last 15 years, I've worked at tech startups and scaleups, progressing from engineering roles to leading development teams.
A few years ago, I founded my own startup called Acorde. It failed, but that failure taught me everything about product validation—specifically, the importance of solving real problems for real users rather than building technology for its own sake. I've also worked at several B2B SaaS startups, half of which failed. Those experiences showed me what separates successful companies from ones that burn cash without finding product-market fit.
When Rob approached me about building Scenebud, I saw it immediately: this was the problem I'd been watching for years, and finally there was a viable technical solution. An intelligent discovery platform that could actually connect fans with the music they'd love, rather than just amplifying what's already popular.
The Problem We're Solving
Having been part of the grassroots music scene since the early noughties, we've watched the live music infrastructure deteriorate. Talented artists we worked with are now struggling to get gigs. Venues we played at have closed. Two independent venues shut down every week in the UK.
The advent of streaming and algorithmic discovery promised democratization, but instead made it harder for independent artists to break through. Meanwhile, fans spend hours trawling through venue websites, ticketing agencies, and social media feeds, yet still risk missing amazing gigs happening right around the corner.
The existing options aren't built for independent music:
- The incumbents like Ticketmaster charge venues 15-25% in total fees and is designed for mainstream events
- Challengers like Dice have too broad a focus and don't champion independent music
- Social media like Facebook events buries music under algorithm noise
- Aggregators like Songkick redirects you elsewhere and have messy, incomplete data
There's no platform that combines intelligent discovery with fair pricing specifically for the independent music ecosystem.
Why Now?
Grassroots live music is in real trouble. While technology alone won't solve the systemic issues—funding cuts, venue closures, cost-of-living impacts—it can help, especially with modern technical capabilities that weren't available a decade ago.
Independent music represents 36% of the UK market and is the fastest-growing segment. There are 810 grassroots venues staging 162,000 events annually worth £526M. This ecosystem is massive, valuable, and completely underserved by existing platforms.
Post-COVID, venues are looking for alternatives. Artists are frustrated with high fees. Fans want better discovery than algorithm-driven platforms offer. The timing is right for a platform built specifically for independent music.
Our Advantage
Most music tech founders fall into two camps: musicians who understand the problem but can't build the solution, or engineers who can build anything but don't understand music culture.
We've lived in both worlds for 20 years.
Between us, we understand the operational realities of rehearsal rooms, venues, touring, promotion, and gigging because we've done all of them. We know how bands actually work, what they need, and what gets in their way. We have networks spanning hundreds of venues, promoters, and artists across the UK.
We also have the engineering background, marketing experience, and hard-learned lessons from failed startups to build scalable technology products that solve real problems without burning cash.
That combination—deep music industry knowledge, technical expertise, commercial experience, and startup battle scars—is exactly what Scenebud needs.
What We're Building
Scenebud is an intelligent discovery platform with a focus on live, independent music. We connect fans with live music they'll love while helping independent artists and venues reach genuinely interested audiences.
We'll always be free to promote and discovery music, and will charge fair commissions because we believe in transparency and supporting the independent music community. We're solving the cold-start problem by pre-populating the platform with thousands of artist profiles, so fans get value immediately.
Most importantly, we're building rich discovery features with multiple data points—genres, labels, influences—so fans can find music they'll actually love, not just what's popular.
Think of it like Bandcamp, but for live events.
Why This Matters To Us
We're not building Scenebud because it's a lucrative market opportunity (though it is). We're building it because we're passionate about live music and we've spent 20 years watching talented artists get buried by broken discovery systems.
Every great artist started in a small venue. We want to ensure both artists and venues not only survive, but thrive.
This is personal.
Rob Smart is a drummer, dj, promoter, and GTM professional in tech, with two decades in the independent music scene.
James Charlesworth is a guitarist, songwriter, and engineering leader with experience managing rehearsal spaces and building startup products.
Together, they're building Scenebud to fix the broken discovery system in independent live music.
Interested in joining the independent music revolution? Sign up to Scenebud and claim your profile today.