Hidden Gems: Meet Dawson Jones of Band Groupeez

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dawson Jones.

Hi Dawson, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My path into Band Groupeez wasn’t a straight line, but looking back it makes total sense. Before this, I spent time in the music industry organizing events alongside independent promoters, and I also did freelance marketing work on the side. So I was always sitting at that intersection of live music and getting people in front of an
audience.

I believe that no matter what you’re doing in life, you are always being prepared for your next step up. At the time, I didn’t know what the work I was doing was aligning me to. After getting involved with Band Groupeez, it became clear that the skills I learned in live entertainment and marketing were pushing me toward a larger purpose.

I already knew the founders, Brad and Paul, personally, and I was already helping them grow their lifestyle/media brand, SALTYmf, before jumping in. The app had already launched when I came on board, but the mission was exactly the kind of challenge I was searching for: independent artists and venues getting overlooked simply because they didn’t have the marketing muscle or the connections to get discovered. I’d been exposed to that frustration firsthand from the promoter side.

Once I joined, my role kind of expanded naturally into a few different lanes. I lead product development for the app, head up our marketing efforts, and handle our artist and venue relations. Day to day that means I’m bouncing between shaping what we build next on the platform, handling press and media, running our content and social, and staying hands-on with outreach to the artists and venues we want on Band Groupeez. It’s a lot of hats, but that’s kind of the nature of building something this ambitious, everyone ends up wearing more than one.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Honestly, no. I don’t think anyone building something in the music space would tell you it was. The idea behind Band Groupeez is simple, but getting there hasn’t been.

The biggest challenge has been earning trust. Independent artists and venue owners have been burned before by platforms that promised discovery and delivered noise, by algorithms that buried them unless they paid to play, by record labels, booking agencies, promoters…the list goes on and on. So when we show up and say we’re different, that we’re anti-algorithm, that we actually want to get them seen, that we actually care- that’s a claim everyone makes. We had to prove it, not just say it.

That’s actually why our other initiatives ended up mattering so much. Our Salty’s Live Music series gives artists an actual in-studio session to play their songs and tell their story, no strings attached, just a real spotlight. Our focus on being great curators and promotors means we’re not waiting for artists to come find us; we’re out scouring local scenes and small venues for talent that hasn’t been “found” yet, then pushing it out across our own channels. And our Local Legends blogs lets us highlight the promoters, venue owners, and local musicians who usually get lost in the hustle and bustle of live music events. None of that is a sales pitch. It’s just us showing up and doing the work before we ever ask for anything back.

That combination of real outreach plus genuine support is what has slowly turned skepticism into trust. It’s slower than chasing viral trends or growth hacking to scale up, but it’s the only way this actually works. The second artists or venues feel like they’re being sold to instead of supported, they check out. Building that trust, one artist and one venue at a time, has genuinely been the hardest, yet most rewarding component of this whole thing.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Band Groupeez is a global live music discovery platform built to connect fans, independent artists, and venues, all in one place, without an algorithm deciding who gets seen and who doesn’t. That last part is really the heart of what we do. Most platforms in this space are built around paid promotion or engagement-driven algorithms, which means the artists and venues with the biggest budgets or the loudest social presence win, regardless of talent. We built the opposite. Genre-based matching, hyper-local discovery, and a platform that’s free to join, because we believe the artist playing a Tuesday night set at a 100-cap venue deserves the same shot at being found as anyone else.

What we’re known for is being the anti-algorithm option in a space that’s dominated by tools demanding artists become full-time marketers or fork over cash to get seen. We give fans real-time, personalized recommendations for the shows, musicians, and venues nearby anywhere in the world. We give musicians a profile that actually showcases their music, their story, and their upcoming shows, and matches them with fans and venues looking to book without them needing to run their own ad campaigns. And we give venues a simple way to post events, reach real local fans, and book talent that fits their vibe, so they can become the town’s go-to spot for live music instead of another empty room.

What sets us apart, beyond the platform itself, is that we don’t just build the technology and walk away. We actively go out and find talent through initiatives like Salty’s Live Music, our in-studio session series, and our ongoing curation work scouring local scenes for artists or venues who haven’t been “found” yet. We also run Local Legends, an interview series that highlights the promoters, venue owners, and musicians who make local live music happen but rarely get the spotlight. That’s what I’m proudest of brand-wise: we didn’t build a tech company that happens to touch music, we built something rooted in actually showing up for the people in these communities.

Our motto is “Every Local Legend Deserves a Global Stage,” and we mean it. If there’s one thing I want readers to take away, it’s that Band Groupeez isn’t trying to replace the local music scene with an app. We’re trying to make sure that every music scene, small-town or big city, gets the same visibility as the heavily promoted arena shows and push people out to experience the live music happening right down the street.

In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
I think the next five to ten years are going to be a real correction toward authentic live experiences, and honestly, live music is positioned to benefit from that more than almost any other part of the music industry. We’re living through an explosion of AI-generated content and algorithm-fed feeds, and I think people are really getting fed up with that. If there’s one thing AI can’t fake, it’s a real person, in a real room, playing a real instrument in front of you. I think the next decade is going to see a growing hunger for exactly that kind of experience, and platforms that actually connect people to it, rather than just showing them more content, are going to win.

I also think we’re going to see independent artists continue to bypass the traditional gate-kept path entirely. The tools to record, distribute, and now get discovered without a label are only getting more accessible, and that’s going to keep shifting power away from the old system and toward artists who build direct relationships with their fans and the local scenes they play in. Venues are going to have to adapt too. The ones that lean into being a place people come to truly connect with one another, not just a room with a stage and a booking agent, are going to be the ones that thrive.

Lastly, I think the anti-algorithm approach we’ve built Band Groupeez around is only going to become more relevant, not less. Right now it might sound like a differentiator. In five or ten years, I think it’s going to be an expectation. People are going to want to know that what they’re being shown is real, local, and not just another paid placement.

Pricing:

• For Fans: Always Free
• For Musicians: Free Plan or Pro Plan ($9.99/mo.)
• For Venues: Free Plan or Pro Plan ($9.99/mo.)

Contact Info:

• Website: https://bandgroupeez.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bandgroupeez/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61573884908335
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRkd1cEGxDr0HnDAfjdneZR7w8u1qn7Re&si=tGAWtmHhCO79aN3f
• Other: https://saltymf.com