By Kye Poronsky

Last year, the best-kept underground secret emerged. The Web site www.bestofbands.com, created for the local underground, local band scene, went live. The site, created by Tyler Buhl and Phil Carrier, aims to get underground bands known. Buhl spawned the idea for the Web site while she was working at a major record label. She graduated from school with a degree in finance and started working in the financial department of the major record label. Carrier, her partner for the site, lived in Switzerland until Buhl was able to convince him to move to New York City permanently.

“I saw the pain the artists would go through,” Buhl reflected. “I saw so many hearts get broken. We provide more of a personal touch.”

Many of the bands that are part of the Web site were discovered at South by Southwest, a festival held in Austin, Texas, where local bands are showcased. Bands submit their own applications to play at the festival.

“There’s some really amazing artists on there,” Buhl said.

Bestofbands.com was created to help these bands and their fan relations. “[We] show them how to interact with fans,” Buhl said.

The Web site also supports the local band scene and gets the music out there. “We’ve paid submission fees,” Buhl said of bands entering competitions.

For example, Bestofbands.com is paying for eight of the twenty bands to play at Live Indie Rock Wars, a live indie rock festival. “We try very hard…to keep the cost minimal” Buhl said.

The site is supported by advertisers and sponsorships, but Buhl and Carrier have big dreams.

“We’re hoping it gets big enough to sustain itself,” Buhl expressed. “We’re a small company.” But their size doesn’t seem to be keeping them down.

However, one big issue the site does face is the Myspace and Facebook effect. Bestofbands.com decided to disable the “friending” aspect of social Web sites. “We took a risk by avoiding doing that,” Buhl said.

The fact that people cannot add bands or venues as friends makes the comments from people more constructive Buhl said. Still, Buhl has her reservations about the site becoming more of a Myspace- or Facebook-type site.

While the Web site has a section for bands and for venues, the fans are also a huge part. They can register and then create their own playlists from artists who they find on the Web site. Fans can also interact with other fans by viewing each other’s fan profiles.

There is also a calendar that fans can check for local shows or for shows of their favorite bands on the site. There are discussion boards and lists of venues by state.

And for those not with music industry terminology, there is even a section that defines certain terms that users might not be able to understand. There also is a list of resources and links to other music sites.

Once the site gets a talent license, they intend to connect bands and venues and start booking. Fortunately, the site is currently in the process of receiving one.

The original idea to start the site has been one that Buhl has had for a while; however, it only formed in 2006, and then went live in 2007.

On the Web site, there are bands from 71 different countries, which makes sense seeing as how Carrier is originally from Switzerland.

It seems the local music scene is going global.