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Graphic Design by: Alexis LaBlanc

As most show-goers in Duluth know, it’s fairly easy to access information about a music event in town, if you know where to look. It’s usually as easy as picking up one of our Reader newspapers, a Transistor Mag, or checking out one of the many sites online who offer local show info (our site, Transistor’s site, Facebook, etc.). So why would we need another site with show details? Well, Jake Nelson, a local music enthusiast and web developer found the missing aspect. How can we centralize information about all the bands and artists without digging through each Facebook, Google, Bandcamp, and Soundcloud? Cue the birth of The North Shore Scene (aka TheNorthShoreScene.com), your new one stop shop to find out about that band you’ve never heard of playing next weekend. Nelson has created a very user friendly database of a majority of the musical acts in town, so you can browse alphabetically, or by genre. 

“Man it would be really nice if something like a local database of artists existed,” said Nelson, he continued on to say, “at some point it occurred to me, or the switch just flipped, that perhaps I could potentially just do that (myself).”

“Seeing things like Ellipsis (Brittany Sanford - successful local show promoter), do similar, but not exactly the same thing, but the idea of one person doing something for the music scene, made me realize it was definitely possible, and helped that decision a lot.” explained Nelson.

Nelson started development and registered the domain in April of 2016, and launched the website late February, 2017. Knowing how many bands are in the Twin Ports, we were curious how far he’s gone with the idea. “There is about 150 - 175 or more bands and artists in the database now. The initial, or large part of what I spent the first year (of development) doing, was trying to get all those folks added to the list,” said Nelson. “So I knew when I launched it in February that the database didn’t have every band in town, but I’m hoping that as artists learn about it, that they’ll reach out to me so I can include them.” Nelson went on to explain, that he’d rather take the time to add an artist, or to make sure their next show is in the calendar than to leave anyone out. If anyone isn’t covered, it’s an e-mail away to change that. He intends to include everyone and every show he hears about that falls into the category of “local”. 

Nelson launched the site from a personally owned domain, but used Facebook, a major tool in show promotion these days, to get the word out about the new site. He asserted via his Facebook account that this site is not intending to replace or out-do other sites and outlets that provide calendars and shows, but rather to compliment pre-existing platforms by offering supplemental information about musical acts in one location.

“I think, I can imagine, and hope that people could pick up the Transistor or Reader, and get the general details of whats happening that weekend, but maybe they want to know more about something they read, like a band they’ve never heard of… I want to be a place where someone can dive into just what’s happening with local acts and learn more about them.”

“I think the information is available, it’s just spread across a lot of different places, and I wanted to have everything in one place, the band info, their samples, upcoming shows, and the fact that it is just local to Duluth.”

Nelson is actively updating the site multiple times a week, up to add new content, open to suggestions, and dreaming up new directions this platform could participate in the scene. Whether excited, skeptical, or maybe just curious, we suggest you check out the new site, and throw him an email if you have content to add.

Check out the site at TheNorthShoreScene.Com or contact Jake Nelson at thenorthshorescene@gmail.com.