Bandsintown opens its music event listings to venues and festivals

You'll know just who's playing at your favorite club.

Nick Pickles/WireImage

Bandsintown is helpful if you want to find out when your favorite group is playing nearby, but it's not as authoritative as you might like when the venues themselves have had to resort to targeted campaigns to get the word out. Thankfully, it's about to get much better. The live music discovery service has announced that venues and festivals can set up their official pages, including an option for them to add and modify events. They won't have to wait to announce a new gig or make a last-minute change. And crucially, you could discover gigs you weren't aware of just by visiting the venue page.

It could be be a while before your frequent haunts are using this feature. Bandsintown says it has "over 500" venues signed up for the current beta phase, and its public launch isn't slated until December 15th. When it does roll out in earnest, however, you may spend less time checking out artist and venue websites (or getting lucky with searches) and more time planning that big night out.