Booking sites and agencies
Bandsintown or GigTag: which page do your gigs need?
A residency or a bar gig has no ticket link and no on-sale date. What it needs is simple: the people in the room should be able to ask for a song, find out when you are back and book you for their own event. GigTag puts that behind one code on your mic stand. If Bandsintown was what you were looking at, here is the difference.
- No app for your audience
- Free to start
- One code that never changes
Why GigTag
Why residency acts pick GigTag over Bandsintown
Bandsintown is built around tour dates, followers and ticket sales. GigTag is built around the mic stand. For an act that plays residencies, bars and private events, one printed code handles song requests, the next date, links, booking enquiries and invoices, and works for everyone in the room.
- 1
Made for gigs without a ticket link
A weekly night in a hotel bar sits on your GigTag page as a residency, next to one-off gigs, on the free plan. Guests add it to their calendars from the table. Bandsintown's tools are shaped around announcing tours and selling tickets. GigTag is shaped around the gigs most working acts play every week.
- 2
It works for everyone in the room
Nobody has to follow you first. Anyone who points a phone camera at the tag gets your page in their browser, with no app or account. Bandsintown tells existing followers that a show is coming. GigTag starts with people who walked in not knowing your name.
- 3
Requests during the set
On Pro, the audience requests from your song list, or anything if you open requests, and you see each one in a live queue on your phone. It is part of how a covers set runs. A concert discovery service works before the show. This works during it.
- 4
Enquiries and invoices together
The guest who wants you for an anniversary sends a booking enquiry from your page, on the free plan. On Pro you follow up with an invoice in your own design that they pay online. GigTag takes no commission. Bandsintown is built to sell tickets to shows. This is for bookings that never have a ticket.
- 5
One code, no reprinting
The code on your tag is permanent. Change your dates, your links or your song list as often as you like and the same tag shows the current page. Rename the act and old links still work. Tour marketing moves with each announcement. The tag stays on the stand.
In short
Bandsintown and GigTag, in four lines
- Bandsintown is a concert discovery service: fans follow artists and hear when they play nearby.
- GigTag is built for residencies, bar gigs and private events, with weekly dates on the free plan.
- Anyone in the room can scan it, follower or not, to request, save a date or enquire.
- Our advice: if most of your gigs have no tickets, make GigTag your gig page and keep it on the stand.
Side by side
GigTag vs Bandsintown, topic by topic
Your dates
Gigs and weekly residencies on the free plan
Your next gig and weekly residencies are on your page. You add them from the website or the GigTag app, on the free plan.
BandsintownYou publish your tour dates once, and its site says they are then distributed and discovered across all the major platforms.
Reaching people
Everyone in the room, follower or not
The tag reaches whoever is in the room, followers or not. They scan it and your page opens in their browser.
BandsintownFans who follow you are told when you play nearby, and automated tour marketing goes to the right fans at the right times.
Tickets
Keep Bandsintown for ticketed tour dates
GigTag is made for gigs of any kind, ticketed or not. A weekly residency with no door sits on your page like any other date.
BandsintownIts site mentions more than 80 ticketing integrations and describes its tools in terms of selling out shows and tours faster.
Staying in touch
A permanent code people can scan again
People who scan can follow your socials, open your website and save your next gig. The permanent code lets them come back any time.
BandsintownBandsintown for Artists describes collecting fan contacts automatically, and offers ways for an artist to stay connected with their biggest fans.
Music and merch
Music links one scan from the stage
Your page carries your music links. GigTag is not a music store, so the links point to wherever your music is already available.
BandsintownIts site talks about amplifying your music and selling more merch to the fans who are most closely engaged with you.
The quick view
| GigTag | Bandsintown | |
|---|---|---|
| A QR code your audience scans | Yes, one that never changes | – |
| Song requests from the crowd | Yes, on Pro | – |
| Tips by card or Apple Pay | Yes, on Pro, into your own Ziina or Stripe. GigTag takes 0% | – |
| Booking enquiries | Yes, on the free plan | – |
| Your gigs and weekly residencies | Yes, on the free plan | – |
| Invoices for bookings | Yes, on Pro | – |
| A printed tag for your mic stand | Yes, in your own design | – |
| Works without an app for the audience | Yes, it opens in the browser | – |
A dash means we did not confirm it for Bandsintown, not that it is missing: see what Bandsintown offers above, or ask on its site.
Bandsintown or GigTag
Where GigTag is different from Bandsintown
Before the show, and at it
Bandsintown works before the show: it gets the date in front of followers so they buy a ticket and turn up. GigTag works at the show. The tag on your mic stand carries a QR code, and anyone in the room can scan it to open your page in their browser. That includes the people who came with a friend and did not know your name when they walked in.
Residencies and walk-in gigs
A Tuesday residency in a hotel bar has no tickets and no on-sale date. GigTag is made for that kind of work. Your page shows the next gig and your weekly residencies, and a guest can add one to their calendar from their table. Bandsintown is built around tour dates and ticket sales. GigTag is built around the mic stand and whoever happens to be in the room.
Requests, enquiries and invoices
Once someone has scanned, the page does things a gig needs in the moment. On Pro, they request a song and it appears in a live queue on your phone. They can send a booking enquiry for their own event, which reaches you in the GigTag app or on the website. On Pro you can then invoice the client in your own design. These are jobs for a working act on the night.
A night with GigTag
A trio's weekly Sunday session at the local
Sunday afternoon in a neighbourhood pub, the weekly session your trio has held for a while now. No tickets, no door, people wander in with newspapers and dogs. The tag is on the mic stand as usual. A family at the big table scans it while the food arrives. Your page opens in the browser, with no app, and shows the residency as a weekly date alongside a one-off gig you have next Friday across town. They add the Friday to a calendar. You are on Pro, and a request from your song list appears in the live queue.
You play it after the next tune. Regulars know the routine by now: scan, pick a song, carry on with lunch. Towards the end a man asks whether you would play his parents' anniversary, and you point him to the booking enquiry form on the page he already has open. He sends it from his seat. You read it in the GigTag app that evening and, once the date and details are agreed, send an invoice in your own design for him to pay online. Next Sunday the same tag goes back on the stand.
About Bandsintown
What is Bandsintown?
Bandsintown is a concert discovery service. Fans follow the artists they like and are told when those artists play nearby. For the acts themselves there is Bandsintown for Artists, which its site says is used by more than 700,000 artists and teams. The idea is to publish your tour dates once and have them distributed across major platforms, so fans come across your shows in the places they already look.
An artist claims a page, adds events and connects ticketing. Its site mentions more than 80 ticketing integrations. From there, Bandsintown for Artists describes automated tour marketing that reaches the right fans at the right times, collecting fan contacts to grow your audience, and ways to share music and merch with your biggest fans. Its site also points artists to tutorials and playbooks.
- Where
- Worldwide
- Website
- bandsintown.com
How Bandsintown works
- 1
Claim your artist page. An artist or their team signs up to Bandsintown for Artists and claims the artist page that fans follow. Its site addresses artists and the teams around them alike.
- 2
Publish your dates. You add your events once. Its site says the dates are then distributed and discovered across all major platforms, so they do not need entering in each place.
- 3
Connect ticketing. Ticket links are attached through its integrations. Its site mentions more than 80 ticketing services that connect to the platform, which saves setting each one up by hand.
- 4
Let the marketing run. Automated tour marketing goes out to fans who follow you, timed around announcements and shows. Its site also describes collecting fan contacts as your audience grows.
Who Bandsintown is for
Artists on tour. Its site is written for acts with tour dates to announce and tickets to sell. The promises on the page are about faster ticket sales and fuller venues, and about fans finding out that a show is happening.
Managers and artist teams. Bandsintown for Artists talks to teams as much as to artists. Tutorials, playbooks and a help centre are there for the people who run tour announcements and campaigns on an artist's behalf, day to day.
Fans who want alerts. The other side of the service is the fan. Someone follows the artists they like and is told when those artists play nearby, which is the alert that Bandsintown for Artists is built to feed. Promoters, venues and festivals have their own sections too.
The verdict
GigTag or Bandsintown: which should you choose?
The bottom line
If your work is residencies, bar gigs and private events, choose GigTag. The strongest reason is fit: it is built for a live act and the room in front of it, and one scan covers requests, your next date, your links and a booking enquiry, with no app and a free plan to start on. Acts that tour and sell tickets are still well served by Bandsintown's follower alerts, and can list the same dates on both.
Yes, if you play ticketed shows as well as regular gigs. List the dates on Bandsintown so followers get the alert, and add the same dates to GigTag so anyone who scans your tag sees what is next. If nearly all your work is residencies, bar gigs and private bookings, GigTag on its own may cover what you need from a gig page.
- Step 1
Announce on Bandsintown
Put your ticketed shows on Bandsintown so the fans who follow you get the alert and the ticket link in good time before the date.
- Step 2
List everything on GigTag
Add those shows to GigTag too, along with the residencies and bar gigs. Your page then shows the full picture of where you play next.
- Step 3
Tag on the stand
At each gig, the tag goes on the mic stand. People in the room scan it to request, follow and find the date after this one.
Choose GigTag if
You play residencies, bars and private events and want the people in the room to request songs, see your next gig and book you.
Start freeBandsintown may still suit you if
You sell tickets to your own shows and want followers told about every date, with tour marketing tied to ticket sales.
GigTag FreeYour page, your tag design, every gig and residency, a booking form. One act.
GigTag ProSong requests, tips, invoices, more than one act. AED 30, £11.99 or $15.99 a month.
GigTag Printed tagFrom AED 100 in the UAE, £24.99 in the UK or €28.99 in the EU, delivered free, with a large size for more; $32.99 elsewhere, plus postage from the UK. Or print your own, anywhere, for free.
Questions
Bandsintown and GigTag: what people ask
Something else? Ask us. A person reads every message.
Is GigTag better than Bandsintown for a covers band?
For a covers band playing pubs, hotels and private events, GigTag is the closer fit. It lists weekly residencies and one-off gigs, takes song requests on Pro, carries your links and has a booking enquiry form, all from a code on the mic stand that needs no app. Bandsintown is built for announcing tours to followers and selling tickets.
Why would I switch from Bandsintown to GigTag?
You may not need to switch so much as add. If most of your gigs have no tickets, GigTag gives them a proper home: residencies and dates on the free plan, requests on Pro, direct booking enquiries and a permanent code on your stand. If you also sell tickets to shows, keeping your dates on Bandsintown as well makes sense.
Is GigTag a Bandsintown alternative?
It depends what you use Bandsintown for. GigTag is not a concert discovery service. It is a permanent QR code on your mic stand that opens a page with your next gig, weekly residencies, links, song requests and a booking form. For acts playing regular local gigs, it does a different job from a tour listing.
Can fans see my upcoming gigs on GigTag without Bandsintown?
Yes. Your GigTag page shows your next gig and your weekly residencies, and a fan can add any of them to their phone calendar. You manage the dates from the website or the GigTag app. Every gig and residency is included in the free plan, whether or not the show is ticketed.
Can I use Bandsintown and GigTag together?
Yes. One tells people who already follow you that a show is coming. GigTag gives everyone at the show a way to follow your links, save your next date, request a song or enquire about a booking. Add your dates to both. One reaches fans at home, the other reaches the room.
I list dates on Bandsintown. Does my GigTag code change when I add them?
No. The code printed on your tag is permanent. You update gigs, links and songs on your page whenever you like, and the same code shows the latest version. If you rename the act, old links still work, so the tag on your stand stays good.
What is Bandsintown for Artists?
It is the artist side of Bandsintown. Its site describes publishing your tour dates once so they reach fans across major platforms, automated tour marketing, collecting fan contacts and connecting ticketing through more than 80 integrations. It says more than 700,000 artists and teams use it. See its site for how to claim your page.
How do fans hear about shows on Bandsintown?
Fans follow the artists they like, and Bandsintown tells them when those artists play nearby. On the artist side, its site describes automated tour marketing that reaches the right fans at the right times once your dates are published. GigTag is different in kind: it is scanned by people at the gig.
How do I promote a weekly residency?
Put it where your audience can keep it. On GigTag, a weekly residency sits on your page next to your one-off gigs, and anyone who scans the tag on your mic stand can add it to their phone calendar. Residencies are included in the free plan, and you can list as many as you play.
Do I need tickets on sale to list a gig on GigTag?
No. Any gig can go on your GigTag page: a pub session, a hotel residency, a private event you want people to know about, or a ticketed show. Fans see the next date when they scan and can add it to their calendar. Listing gigs and residencies costs nothing.
Looking for Bandsintown itself?
This page is GigTag's. Bandsintown's sign-in, prices, reviews and support are on its own site.
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Bandsintown is the name of its owner's product; GigTag is not connected with it. What is said about Bandsintown here comes from its own public website, checked on 7 October 2026. Products change: if something here is out of date, tell us and we will correct it.
For musicians
One code on your stand. Requests, tips and the next gig behind it.
No app for your audience, nothing to download. Free to start.