There are lots of places online for exploring live music. There are countless bootleg recordings and shaky cell phone videos floating around out there as well as engaging and fully legal audio and video recordings. Until now, however, there hasn't been a great place to go to capture the raw energy of a live show at a real underground venue. Enter Baeble Music, a new online community and music service launched by one of New York's most tireless champions of indie rock.

In just a few short weeks, Baeble has been getting tens of thousands of visitors hunting for footage of some of the most compelling live acts working today. Not even formally launched yet, Baeble already features live shows from the likes of Snowden, The Hold Steady, Silversun Pickups, Joan of Arc and many more. God knows what sort of stuff they'll be offering once things formally kick off in early 2007.

EMERGE recently sent our old friend and Baeble co-founder Rory Maher some questions about the site. Here's what this venue-owner turned web entrepreneur had to say:

1) Could you describe Baeble for our readers and explain what distinguishes it from other online resources for live music lovers?
Baeble Music hand-picks the hottest bands playing at the best venues in the country. We film their concerts, review their shows, compile their band profiles, and deliver the whole package to you within days of the gig. Whether you live in Manhattan, Tokyo, or Boise, the bands you love are coming to your town via Baeble Music. We differentiate our site from others by offering users the ability to write their own reviews, check out what videos other users are watching, and rank our videos. In addition, we offer customers the ability to buy the videos, whether it be on hi-def download on their desktop or portable media player or on DVD.

2) Baeble is a social network as well, could you explain how Baeble allows users to meet and communicate with one another around shared interest in music? Is there not already plenty of outlets for this sort of interaction?
Yes, there is no shortage of sites that offer a community around people's love for music and the number of these sites will grow exponentially in the next year or two. Our business is built around the video content we offer our users, not the community elements of the site. We use these community elements to tie the whole thing together by offering users a chance to participate rather than just watch from a distance. In addition, it will be used as a tool for discovery since you are able to go onto the site and check out people's pages, what they are watching, what their favorite videos are, then actually go to the page and see for yourself what they find so great about it. As the library grows and the community of users grows with it, we see Baeble becoming a destination to discover new music in addition to being a place to buy full videos of your favorite bands that aren't available anywhere else.


3) Content can be previewed gratis or purchased for download or DVD delivery. How polished are Baeble's DVDs? How is revenue shared with artists/labels/clubs providing content to the site?
All of our videos are broadcast quality so a DVD bought from Baeble looks just like any other live DVD you would buy in a store. We pay small fees to the venues for use of the space and share the proceeds of the sales with the labels/bands. The full videos are also as high quality as one can find on the web. We offer users the chance to see what it looks like on their screens via a link on the site.

4) What have been the principle hurdles in getting Baeble from idea to operational business?
The principal hurdles have mainly been technical. We are primarily music people who had to learn about streaming video online and the most efficient way to build a shopping gateway, etc. Luckily we had a team of talented web engineers to help with this. It also took us some time to refine the filming process in the clubs as they are usually very crowded and the lighting is rarely ideal for filming. Finally, seeing the license process through with indie labels/bands is very difficult as most are severely understaffed and often this includes 10-plus follow ups before getting all the proper paperwork done.

5) What are your ambitions for the site's growth and expansion? Where would you like Baeble to be in 12 months time?
We would like to reach one million unique visitors a month by the end of the year. In addition, we would like to expand into broadcasting, possibly by programming our own show, and also enter into events. We will be able to tie this all together with our video capabilities to form a company that is well-positioned to capitalize on the growing indie music and online video markets.

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