''Gigwise'' is a British online music news site that features music

news News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different media: word of mouth, printing, postal systems, broadcasting, electronic communication, or through the testimony of observers and witnesses to event ...

, photos,

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records c ...

reviews,

music festival A music festival is a community event with performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock, blues, folk, jazz, classical music), nationality, locality of musicians, or ho ...

s, concert tickets and video content. Founded in June 2001, the site is based in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

History

Gigwise was launched in 2001 in

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

as a gig listings site. Over time, the site evolved into a music news site including reviews and interviews in its content. In 2006, the site relocated its main office to London. It was the UK's 20th most-visited music news website in Dec 2010 ranking above NME.COM in the comScore reports. Gigwise was acquired in 2016 by the team behind Second Screen and Techtonic. For the 20th Anniversary, Gigwise published its first ever print edition in July 2021 featuring Self Esteem on the front cover.

Editors

* Andy Day (2002–05) * Scott Colothan (2005–09) * Jason Gregory (2009–11) * Michael Baggs (2011–14) * Andy Morris (2014–15) * Andrew Trendell (2015–2016) * Cai Trefor (2016–19) * Shannon Cotton (2019–20) * Jessie Atkinson (2020–22) * Lucy Harbron (2022-)

Partnerships

Gigwise hosted the Indie Idle band competition for the Camden Crawl festival in 2007, 2008 and 2009. Gigwise also launched Snowbombing festival's King of the Mountain unsigned band competition in 2009. The winning band, I Am Austin, won €2000 and a headline slot at the festival. In April 2011, Gigwise launched a monthly club night at XOYO with Young Knives playing an album launch. Gigwise also had their own arena at the June 2011 Get Loaded In The Park in London. The acts appearing at the Gigwise Stage were

Yelle Yelle is a French band founded by lead singer and namesake Yelle (Julie Budet) and GrandMarnier (Jean-François Perrier). A third member, Tepr (Tanguy Destable), joined the band before the recording of their debut album. Yelle and GrandMarnier b ...

, O Children, Darwin Deez, Babeshadow, and

Alpines Alpines is a British duo based in Kingston upon Thames in South London, made up of Bob Matthews (guitar and production) and Catherine Pockson (pianist, singer and songwriter). Since forming in 2010, the band has toured and supported The Naked a ...

. In May 2011, Liverpool Sound City also hosted a Gigwise stage at the

O2 Academy Liverpool The O2 Academy Liverpool (formerly the L2 and Carling Academy Liverpool) is a music venue in Hotham Street, Liverpool, England, that is run by the Academy Music Group. The main building consists of performance areas. O2 Academy1 can hold 1,200 ...

with Scottish rockers The View headlining. In 2018, Gigwise collaborated with Romania's Electric Castle Festival, and in 2019, partnered with Mophie mobile to bring exclusive content from Isle of Wight Festival. In 2020, the site hosted a virtual stage at the first ever digital SXSW Festival.

Redesign and relaunch

In 2011, Giant Digital in-house designers and developers began a redesign of Gigwise with the objective to create a visually simplified appearance. The site redefined its usability to accompany a new generation of users. Web Designer Michael Pumo at Branch told

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...

the new design is "bold, unpretentious and straight-forward" and that improvements will increase usability on touch devices like the Apple iPad. As the site changed hands again in 2016, Gigwise was once again updated for desktop and mobile. Relaunched with its freshest look to date in 2021 - to coincide with the site's twentieth anniversary - the latest redesign reflects a diversification of Gigwise into genres of all kinds, away from the indie focus of old.

Giant Digital Ltd

Gigwise is one of six sister sites which were also launched as part of the Giant Digital network; Other sites include Entertainmentwise, Popdash, Taletela, Tellygossip, and in 2011 Muveez with Alex Winehouse, brother of Amy Winehouse, serving as Chief Editor. Gigwise hosted the "best song" award at the BT Digital Music Awards at the Camden Roundhouse, where the winner was

Jessie J Jessica Ellen Cornish (born 27 March 1988), known professionally as Jessie J, is an English singer. Born and raised in London, she began her career on stage, aged 11, with a role in the West End musical '' Whistle Down the Wind''. She studied ...

's " Price Tag" featuring B.o.B. In 2012 Gigwise became of the two only media partners for the Strummer Of Love festival held in

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lor ...

in aid of the late

Joe Strummer John Graham Mellor (21 August 1952 – 22 December 2002), known professionally as Joe Strummer, was a British singer, musician and songwriter. He was the co-founder, lyricist, rhythm guitarist and co-lead vocalist of punk rock band the Clash, f ...

with all the proceeds going to the

Strummerville The Joe Strummer Foundation is a non-profit organisation which promotes the development of new music. It was established in memory of punk rock singer and guitarist Joe Strummer shortly after his death in December 2002. Strummer's widow Lucin ...

charity which helps young people in music who would not normally get opportunities in music.

2013 Music Week Awards nomination

Gigwise was nominated in the 'Best Music Media Brand' category of the 2013

awards.

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.gigwise.com Online music magazines published in the United Kingdom Internet properties established in 2001