the backscratchers

Music Pitch 4.5 Champions

thebackscratchersblog — Wed, 24 Apr 2020 12:15:22 -0400

Last night, we participated in the Music Pitch 4.5 competition organised by 2 Pears. The event is an industry showcase, featuring some of the latest music-tech startups in Europe. We were up against 8 other teams, including the brilliant companies Tourmanagement.com, who offer software to help artist managers organise tours and Spontly, which provides a tool to upload and collate comments and photos from events.

We pitched The Backscratchers and ended up winning both the Judge’s Vote and the Audience Vote (plus a bottle of champagne!). A big thanks to everyone who voted for us. Midweek champagne party, anyone?

New Week, New Features

thebackscratchersblog — Mon, 25 Mar 2020 07:49:58 -0400

Patrick, one of The Backscratchers co-founders, is a swell fella. So swell in fact that he didn’t winge or whine when I gave him the task of writing, recording and vocalising this little 1:30 intro video to The Backscratchers in a single evening. How much could he cram in into those 1:30 seconds? Well, you’ll just have to see in the video above. Patrick, I owe you a trip to the pub.

In addition to everything he mentions in the video, however, there are some cool new features and tweaks that we’ve released that you might want to check out! First up, you now have the ability to change the order that portfolios appear on your Portfolio page as well as the ability to choose the top 3 portfolio folders that appear on your Profile page. Simply head to your main Portfolio page and drag and drop the boxes into your preferred order. The first three portfolios will be the three that appear on your Profile.

Another new feature that we’ve added is the ability to choose the main skill associated with you. This skill will be the main one that shows up on your user snapshot on the User Search page (as in the photo above), but will also soon be added into our fancy schmancy matching algorithm that helps determine the best user match for each project. Make sure you choose one!

To set your main skill, just click on “Edit Profile” from your Dashboard or Profile page, click on the tab that says “Skills & Resources” and simply choose your desired skill in the “What would you like to show up as your main skill?” section.

We Are Pop Up x The Backscratchers

thebackscratchersblog — Fri, 22 Mar 2020 05:31:00 -0400

We here at The Backscratchers are big fans of We Are Pop Up, the London-based startup that connects those looking for short-term spaces with those that can host them. When we heard about what they were doing, we just knew that we had to partner up!

In addition to finding spaces for some of the most innovative pop-up restaurants, visual artists and fashion designers, they’re also the guys behind those cool new pop-ups that have been finding their way into Boxpark in Shoreditch.

As part of the latest Boxpark x We Are Pop Up competition, businesses not only have the chance to win three months of rent-free space at Boxpark and a fit-out valued at £25k, but they will also be given access to The Backscratchers community of retail designers, branding experts, marketing gurus and more who can help make their pop-ups a success. Entries to the competition must be submitted by March 28th. More details can be found here.

Next time you need help finding space for a short-term gig or pop-up, you know where to go!

Inside The Backscratchers

thebackscratchersblog — Wed, 20 Mar 2020 05:20:54 -0400

The time has come to show you a bit more of what you can do on The Backscratchers! First, innovative companies and creative freelancers are handpicked to join the website. They can either be invited to join by current members or can apply via the homepage. Joining is free and we favour applicants who are recommended to us and/or those who have interesting projects that they’re actively seeking collaborators for. We are currently in London and will expand across the UK this summer.

Once accepted, members sign up and create a profile. Profiles include their bio, availability, work and education history and examples of their past work. They also list the skills and resources they have to offer and the types of collaborations that they’re interested in.

This isn’t a passive portfolio website. Instead of just showing off past work, we have designed The Backscratchers to be the active network that members turn to when they actually want to create something new. Members can post projects they need help on, set a budget (paid, exchange or a mix of the two), choose a deadline and list the skills and resources that they’re seeking for it. Other members can then offer to work on the project. The project owner can view all of the pitches and easily accept or decline offers. All payments are transacted through the site with an 9% commission taken from the member accepting payment, which includes the GoCardless transaction fee.

Quality is very important to us, so we’ve built a recommendation feature into the platform where all members on a project can provide feedback on the experience of working together. The recommendation includes a short blurb about the work done, a link to the project in question and the opportunity to upload an example of the finished work. It’s an opportunity for both freelancers and companies to build their influence and reputation within the sector and to prove that they’ll do the work they say they’ll do.

Members’ profiles are also added to the network and are easily searchable by skill, availability and location. Click the white arrows to browse through portfolios without leaving the page. Audio and video can be watched in the preview window. You can message members or click the green + button to add them to a list.

Lists are a tool we’ve created to allow members to easily save favourite users’ profiles to view later. Think of them as your own personally approved ‘blackbook’ of creative talent. Although lists are private, we’ll soon have the option to share lists with friends and colleagues. Members can create as many lists as they like, customize list titles and easily add and remove users as their needs change.

We have lots more features and resources coming in the next few months. Keep an eye out here for details. In the meantime, please enjoy putting together your first projects and keep in touch with your feedback!

See you soon,

The Backscratchers team

Bye Bye Beta

thebackscratchersblog — Mon, 11 Mar 2020 11:05:00 -0400

We’re very happy to announce that we’re launching out of private beta! We’ve been ticking away behind the scenes since late 2012: testing, reiterating and fine-tuning our solution to finding and connecting creative talent. The site is currently live in London and we’ll be expanding across the UK in summer 2013.

What we’ve come up with is a network that we truly feel we can stand behind. The Backscratchers is a handpicked, cross-disciplinary creative network, connecting innovative brands and companies with top tier freelancers for collaborations on short-term paid projects and skills exchanges. Think of it as combining the best aspects of portfolio and freelancing websites with the industry approval elements of LinkedIn.

In the few months we’ve been up, we’ve generated a community that includes freelancers and employees from places like i-D Magazine, Secret Cinema, Fallon, EMI and Stella McCartney. We’ve also had some amazing projects go through the platform, from the likes of immersive cinematic experience company Future Cinema, creative agency Capitalize, basketball star Carmelo Antony and more. Here’s a little taster of some of the things we’ve been up to:

Lineage Interactive commissioned two ﬁlmmakers to create a promo video for Carmelo Anthony, the New York Knicks and Team USA basketball legend. The video has since received 36,000 hits on YouTube.

Future Cinema commissioned four illustrations on an overnight turnaround for their sold out production of Grease, which attracted over 9,000 attendees over the course of one weekend.

We can’t wait to see what our community creates over the next few months. Keep tabs on what we’re up to on the various social networks: Facebook and Twitter. If you’re a freelancer interested in signing up, please apply here. If you’re an innovative company and would like to talk about how The Backscratchers could help your work, feel free to get in touch with us [email protected]">here.

Thank you and see you on the flip side!

Love,

(Jody x Leo x Patrick x Sian)

‘Often times the thing that turns a hunch into a real...

thebackscratchersblog — Mon, 04 Jun 2020 11:03:23 -0400

‘Often times the thing that turns a hunch into a real breakthrough is another hunch that’s lurking in somebody else’s mind.’

The Backscratcher’s basic philosophy, wrapped into one, brilliantly-presented video bundle.

Featured on PandoDaily

thebackscratchersblog — Mon, 04 Jun 2020 11:00:05 -0400

The Backscratchers’ own Jody Orsborn has been featured on PandoDaily in an article about Google Campus. Check out the piece and read about what life’s now like for a Los Angeles music blogger who has found herself across the pond and right in the heart of London’s tech scene. Thanks to writer Hamish McKenzie for including The Backscratchers in the piece.

'Springboarding' to launch at Google Campus

thebackscratchersblog — Mon, 04 Jun 2020 10:35:45 -0400

The Backscratchers were accepted into Springboard, a 13-week accelerator program operating out of Google Campus in London! 350 teams applied and 11 were chosen for the accelerator, which aims to give teams the support and guidance necessary to create and launch the best product possible. We’re halfway into the program and already we’ve:

Been interviewed by PandoDaily and featured in The Next Web
Received mentoring from over 120 entrepreneurs, VCs and Angel Investors including top dogs from Google, Passion Capital, BBH, Shazam and eHarmony
Spoken at The Barbican alongside Mixcloud and Punchdrunk and presented to students from The School of Communication Arts, Ravensbourne and Central St. Martins
Met some amazing people, like the Google CFO, Radiohead’s manager and BSkyB’s Creative Director

Plus! We’ve been working away on the actual site itself, bringing in an amazing web designer, adding new features and getting it ready for the launch. We can’t wait to show you what we’ve come up with.