The digital age of music has sparked the creation of countless social media websites. But, few if any, have focused on the most lucrative areas of the music business... concerts.

"As record labels struggle to find a new bottom line, we're left with corporate branded creativity, misdirected talent and in many cases bad taste," said Ken Ashley, Founder, Artist Rise Inc.

"Our goal is to build a community that heightens the experience of live music, not digital music, to develop unique site culture and provide cutting edge features that help young bands gain exposure and book shows."

The Artist Rise homepage serves as a "living" industry resource by featuring content contributed by members. Members can easily submit news, events, reviews and rants for publication via a one-click system.

The goal is to post fresh content daily and build an intelligent, interactive community. Members have access to unique features including: custom profiles, multi-media, messaging, contact befriending, calendar scheduling for shows and a booking system to exchange performance offers.

"Every band should join Artist Rise solely for the booking system," said Chongyang Luo, who leads the project development at Artist Rise Inc. "Even if a band has no representation, AR provides a means to receive performance offers.

They can be as simple as house party gigs or complex as tour support bookings. Within a few clicks, the offer arrives in the band's AR profile inbox and is copied in an e-mail for the band, their manager or agent to review. It's simple, effective, and free."

The websites design provides an alternative to the commonly advertisement ridden and cluttered pages of other communities by presenting a distinct professional style. No banner advertising appears in member's profile pages or even on the homepage.

"MySpace became a default resource for the music business since it enabled bands to reach fans and industry to quickly evaluate new acts.

But in reality, it's part of the Fox News Corporation umbrella and doesn't provide any business solutions," said Johnny V, a Los Angeles based music manager. "Artist Rise not only encourages bands to play live but provides the tools to do so. That's what the business should be about."

Artist Rise Inc. has initiated marketing efforts in New York and Los Angeles but membership is open to the globe.

"Artist Rise is one big grassroots experiment", said Ken Ashley. "We have no corporate funding and only volunteers working on top of their day jobs. I invite anyone who loves live music to share in our vision, submit interesting content through the homepage and spread the word to bands. Together we'll ensure live music is the future of music."

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