CeolConnect: The new Irish startup fixing Live Music Booking

CeolConnect, an Irish technology start-up founded by three recent university graduates, is looking to change the music booking game for artists and venues with their new app.

Launching July 23, the platform allows venues to find, book and pay verified musicians through a system that the founders describe as a "LinkedIn meets Booking.com for venues and musicians."

The idea took root when one of the founders – a musician who performed several nights a week to put himself through college – grew frustrated with the realities of the industry.

"I've played in different bars and venues around Ireland," says co-founder Eoghan Matthews. "There are problems with the whole booking process: venues book musicians up to and over a year in advance to get the best acts in. Out of 200 nights of music a year, around 40 of them cancel. So it’s a booking problem, and it’s hard to know quality ahead of time. To get the best quality musicians, you book them quite early, and if they cancel on you a week out, you go in blind if you let someone new come in.

"So, what we’ve done is created Ceol Connect. A musician can create a profile - essentially a LinkedIn profile or a portfolio for the musician - that shows all the venues you’ve played in in the past. In the future, we’ll have media, so you can have videos of yourself playing. After five gigs, you’ll have a rating, so venues can see an anonymous rating for the musician and think: 'Oh, he's 5 stars, he's played in all these bars.' It takes the guessing game out of it.

"For musicians, it's a constant battle for time off, because venues booking so far in advance means cancelling looks bad on you. Having the security to get a gig covered, and to get more gigs because venues know your rating and where you’ve played, helps a lot."

Ireland is home to approximately 6,700 pubs, with around 73% hosting live music on a regular basis. Yet despite this enormous market, the vast majority of bookings, Matthews explains, are managed informally via text message, social media, phone calls and spreadsheets with payments handled by cash or manual bank transfer, without any structured system for vetting, reviewing or rescheduling artists.

CeolConnect replaces this system with one structured platform, handling booking, communication, and payment.

For venues, the platform provides access to a vetted directory of Irish musicians, tools to manage recurring bookings and live entertainment schedules, and streamlined payments that reduce reliance on agency commissions. Subscription plans range from €159 to €499 per month, with pay-as-you-go options also available.

For musicians, CeolConnect is free to join. They can create a profile, upload media and performance samples, manage their availability through a structured gig calendar, and receive payment through a transparent, reliable process. A built-in review system helps artists build their reputation and become more bookable over time, all without an agent taking a cut.

Both venues and musicians will be able to filter gigs by genre, helping avoid situations where the country singer ends up at the rock and roll bar, and vice versa.

"Musicians really like it—we have close to 500 musicians signed up, and over 150 venues," Matthews says. "They all see the problem and like the solution."

For more information on Ceol Connect, visit their website here.

 

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