JamBase Offers Location-Targeted Music Widgets

I’m always interested and excited to learn about Web companies that have been around a long time, are run like real businesses and still a little under the radar: companies like DiscoverOurTown or Where2GetIt. JamBase is another one of those companies. Founded in 1998, the company is a decade old and dedicated to helping music fans find live music locally.

Over time the site has evolved from something of a directory to a content-based community, but in a very “organic” and not forced “Web 2.0″ sort of way. One of the interesting features recently added, along those lines, are widgets for Facebook and third party sites. But there’s a twist — they’re location aware.

As one example, go to this site and scroll down the right side. You’ll see this widget:

Depending on where you are, it will show you upcoming shows in your area.

This is IP-targeting based but it also shows broader possibilities for mobile banners to dynamically serve ads/listings/content depending on user-location. In a way this is nothing more than the same geotargeting that ad networks (e.g., AdSense, Adveritising.com) do routinely today but it’s packaged and presented in a more compelling way.