From Listing to Booked: How the getNgigs Venue Workflow Works

Most venues are running their booking operation the same way they have for years. Leads come in through a general email inbox. Someone keeps a spreadsheet of artists they have worked with before. Open dates get filled by whoever follows up at the right moment. There is no system. There is just habit and luck and whoever happens to be in the room when the conversation happens.

getNgigs is built on the premise that venues deserve better than that. This is a complete walkthrough of how the platform works for venues, from the moment you create an account through to posting open calls, managing pitches, and keeping your programming calendar current.

Phase 1: Creating Your Account

You sign up at getngigs.com/register using an email and password, a Google account, or a magic link. If you go the email route, you will receive a verification link before you can move forward with a venue claim. Google and magic-link signups skip that step and verify automatically.

One tip worth noting: if you sign up with a domain email that matches your venue's website, say [email protected], verification happens nearly instantly. It signals to the platform that you are who you say you are, and it signals the same thing to artists who look at your profile later.

Phase 2: Claiming or Adding Your Venue

Once your account is verified, you connect it to a venue. There are two paths depending on whether your venue is already in the directory.

Claiming an Existing Listing

Search the directory or go directly to getngigs.com/venues/claim and submit a claim form with your name, role or title, a domain email, and phone number. The getNgigs team reviews the submission and either approves it, sending you a link to your dashboard, or rejects it with instructions to appeal. The platform caps claims at five per account in a rolling 24-hour window, and only one open claim per venue is allowed at a time.

Adding a New Venue

If your venue is not in the directory yet, go to getngigs.com/venues/onboard and fill in the required fields: your venue name exactly as it appears on the physical marquee, your full address for map placement and radius search, your maximum capacity, a booking contact email, and your website URL. Adding a cover image before you submit prevents your listing from dropping to the bottom of search results, so do not skip that step.

Phase 3: Building Your Venue Profile

Your public profile at getngigs.com/venues/your-slug is what artists see when they are deciding whether to pitch you. It is also what touring acts look at when they are routing through your market. Getting it right determines the quality of inquiries you receive.

Identity and Room Details

Beyond your name and address, the profile lets you write a description that captures the vibe and musical identity of your room. You also set capacity, age restrictions (All Ages, 18+, or 21+), and the genres you regularly book. These fields are not administrative checkboxes. They are the filters artists use to decide whether your room is a fit for their act before they spend time pitching you.

Booking Contact Information

Pro artists on the platform can see your dedicated booking email, contact name, and phone. You can also add a Booking Tips section: submission preferences, what format you want pitches in, how far in advance you book, and anything else that helps artists send you something useful instead of something generic. Venues that fill this out well get better pitches. It is that direct.

Media and Social Presence

A cover image of your stage, crowd, or exterior sets the visual tone for your listing. The platform lets you configure a focal point so the image crops correctly across different contexts. Active links to Instagram and Facebook do more than look complete: they signal to artists that your venue is real and regularly programmed, which matters when they are deciding where to spend a pitch.

Phase 4: Managing Your Team

Booking is rarely a one-person operation, and getNgigs accounts for that. Owners can invite team members via email and assign roles that match how your staff actually works.

Owners have full control over everything: profile fields, Gig Board posts, incoming pitches, and team membership. Managers can edit the profile, post to the Gig Board, and respond to pitches, but cannot add or remove team members. Editors can update the profile and manage the calendar but cannot post to the board or reply to pitches. Viewers get read-only access to the booking pipeline. You give each person exactly as much access as their role requires and nothing more.

Phase 5: Sourcing Talent

There are two ways to find artists on getNgigs, and most venues will use both depending on the situation.

Posting an Open Call to the Gig Board

When you have a specific slot to fill, you post it to the Gig Board as an open call. Navigate to New Post from your dashboard, fill in the title, description, event date, radius limit, pay structure, genres, and a contact email. The post runs for 14 days. Artists within your radius who match your genre filters can see it and respond directly.

If you fill the slot before the post expires, you mark it as FILLED and it closes out. No lingering posts, no confusion for artists about whether the opportunity is still live.

Using the Show Calendar

The live calendar on your public profile shows upcoming programming. That serves two purposes: it tells visiting artists how active your room is, and it lets you signal open dates without posting a formal Gig Board listing. Add a date, set the status to OPEN, and it broadcasts to artists looking at your profile that there is a slot available.

When an open date is ready to become a formal call for pitches, you can push it directly to the Gig Board with one click. The calendar and the board stay connected so you are not maintaining two separate things.

Phase 6: Managing Pitches

All incoming pitches, whether they are cold outreach to your profile or direct replies to a Gig Board post, route to both your designated booking email and the getNgigs Inbox. You do not have to choose one or the other. Both channels receive everything.

The Inbox groups pitches into threads chronologically: the initial pitch, your reply, follow-ups, all in one view. Unread badges keep the pipeline visible without requiring you to dig through your email. You can search and filter by artist name, genre, or date when you are trying to find a specific conversation.

Replying works directly in the thread. The artist receives your response both as an email and as an inbox notification on their end. The communication stays organized regardless of which side initiates it or which channel they respond through.

Keeping the Pipeline Clean

Threads can be labeled to reflect where each artist stands. Active means you are still deciding or waiting on a response. Archived means you passed, but you are keeping the history for reference. Blocked stops a spam account or a bad-faith submission from reaching your inbox again. These three labels are enough to run a real pipeline without the inbox becoming unmanageable.

Phase 7: Staying Verified

getNgigs uses a verification system to assure artists that the venues they are pitching are legitimate and actively managed. Once the platform confirms your venue's identity, a Verified badge appears on your profile and in search results.

Staying verified requires a one-click annual check-in. Once a year you receive an email asking you to confirm that your booking email, phone number, and capacity are still accurate. If you ignore it, the badge moves to Stale and eventually Expired. Regaining it requires logging back in and completing the re-verification. It is a low bar: one click a year. But artists notice the badge, and venues that let it lapse are at a disadvantage in search results.

What It Costs

Nothing. The platform is completely free for venues: no commissions on bookings, no paywalls on any profile fields, no limits on team members, calendar events, or Gig Board posts. The revenue model runs on the artist side, not the venue side. You get the full platform without a subscription or a percentage of any deal you make.

The Bigger Picture

What getNgigs is building for venues is not a booking service and it is not a talent agency. It is the infrastructure that makes your room findable by the right artists, your booking process manageable, and your programming calendar visible to the wider artist community.

The venues that use it most effectively treat it the way any well-run operation treats its core tools. They keep the profile current. They post open calls early enough to get quality pitches. They label their threads so the pipeline reflects reality. They keep the calendar updated so artists can see what is happening at the room.

The platform does not book artists for you. What it does is remove the structural obstacles between your room and the artists who are right for it, and replace the chaos of a general inbox with a process you can actually manage.

Claim your free getNgigs venue listing and start building your roster.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is getNgigs free for venues?

Yes, completely. There are no subscription fees, no commissions, and no gated features for venues. The full platform, including unlimited Gig Board posts, team members, and calendar events, is free. Revenue comes from the artist side of the platform, not from venues.

How do I get my venue into the getNgigs directory?

If your venue is already listed, go to getngigs.com/venues/claim and submit a claim form. If it is not listed yet, go to getngigs.com/venues/onboard and add it directly. Either way, once your claim is approved or your new listing is submitted, you have access to your venue dashboard and can start building your profile.

What is the difference between the Gig Board and the Show Calendar?

The Show Calendar lives on your public profile and shows your upcoming programming. The Gig Board is a platform-wide feed where venues post open-call opportunities for artists to respond to. The two connect: an open date on your calendar can be pushed directly to the Gig Board as a formal open call with one click.

Can more than one person manage our venue account?

Yes. Owners can invite team members and assign them one of four roles: Owner, Manager, Editor, or Viewer. Each role has a specific permission set, so you can give your staff access to what they need without opening up controls that should stay with ownership.

What happens if we do not complete the annual verification check-in?

The Verified badge on your profile moves from active to Stale and eventually to Expired. This affects your credibility with artists and your placement in search results. Re-verifying requires logging in and confirming your current contact and capacity information. The annual check-in itself takes about ten seconds.