# Musiquay — Feature: Services Marketplace > Pure Craigslist, but structured. Not playing man in the middle. ## Overview The services marketplace is one of Musiquay's core platform pillars — alongside the scene graph and the event calendar. It turns Musiquay into the place where the scene not only listens and goes out, but also **works**. Every show needs a sound engineer. Every tour needs a road manager. Every release needs a mastering engineer, a designer for the artwork, a photographer for the press shots. Every venue needs techs. Every festival needs riggers, stage hands, caterers, security. The entire music industry runs on freelance and gig work — and right now, finding that work (or finding those workers) happens through word of mouth, Facebook groups, and cold DMs. Musiquay's marketplace structures this. Not by becoming an intermediary, but by making the connections visible and searchable on an open protocol. Pure matchmaking. Zero middleman. ## Philosophy: Craigslist, Not Uber This distinction matters and it defines every design decision. **What Musiquay does:** - Provides structured, searchable listings for services offered and services needed. - Makes people and opportunities discoverable through the scene graph. - Gets out of the way. **What Musiquay does NOT do:** - Take a cut of any transaction. Zero. Ever. - Handle escrow or payments between parties. - Mediate disputes. - Verify credentials or guarantee quality. - Insert itself between the people doing the work. People connect. People handle their business directly. Musiquay is the bulletin board, not the broker. The music scene has always run on trust, reputation, and personal networks. Musiquay digitizes and opens up those networks without replacing the human relationships at their core. ## NIP-99: Classified Listings Nostr already has a specification for classified listings — **NIP-99** — and it fits the marketplace model perfectly. Reuse first. **NIP-99 provides:** | Event Kind | Purpose | Musiquay Usage | |------------|---------|----------------| | **Kind 30402** | Active classified listing | Service offerings and hiring needs | | **Kind 30403** | Draft/inactive listing | Unpublished drafts or closed listings | **Key NIP-99 features already built in:** - **Addressable events** — listings have stable identifiers, can be updated or deleted by the author. - **Title and summary** — structured headline and description fields. - **Price** — structured price tag with currency and optional frequency: `["price", "500", "EUR", "day"]` for a day rate, or `["price", "2000", "EUR"]` for a flat fee. Supports any ISO 4217 currency plus `btc`/`sats`. - **Location** — free-text location plus geohash for geographic search. - **Categories** — `t` (hashtag) tags for role, skill, genre, event type. - **Images** — portfolio samples, gear photos, venue shots. - **Status** — active or filled/closed. - **Markdown content** — full description with rich formatting. NIP-99 was designed for exactly this kind of open, unmediated classified listing. Musiquay layers scene-specific structure and discovery on top of it. ## Two Sides of the Marketplace ### "Available for Hire" A freelancer, crew member, engineer, or creative posts their availability. **Examples:** - "Experienced FOH engineer available for weekend festivals in the Lisbon area. 10+ years mixing live rock/metal. Own console. Day rate negotiable." - "Freelance gig photographer available for shows in Porto. Fast turnaround, press-ready shots. Portfolio: [link to blossom-hosted gallery]." - "Tour manager available for European runs, March-May. 15 years experience with indie and punk acts. Full itinerary management, advancing, settlements." - "Album artwork and poster design. Specializing in screen-printed aesthetic. See portfolio for recent work with [tagged artists]." - "Mastering engineer with analog chain. Vinyl-ready masters. Credits include [tagged releases]." ### "Looking to Hire" A venue, label, artist, promoter, or production company posts a need. **Examples:** - "Need a sound engineer for a 3-night residency at [venue], second week of April. 500-cap room, in-house d&b rig. Must be comfortable with jazz, electronic, and loud rock on consecutive nights." - "Seeking road crew for a 3-week UK/EU tour. Load-in, load-out, merch. Van provided. Starting mid-June from London." - "Label looking for a designer for our 2026 catalog. 8 releases, vinyl and digital. Consistent visual identity needed. Budget attached." - "Festival seeking riggers and stage hands for a 3-day outdoor event, August. Full camping and meals provided." - "Band seeking a producer for a full-length. Post-punk / shoegaze. Home studio preferred within driving distance of Lisbon. Budget flexible for the right fit." ## Structured Listings Unlike actual Craigslist, marketplace listings on Musiquay are **structured Nostr events** with standardized fields. This enables filtering, search, and integration with the scene graph. ### Listing Structure (NIP-99 Kind 30402) ```json { "kind": 30402, "pubkey": "", "content": "Full description in markdown. Detailed requirements, context, portfolio links, etc.", "tags": [ ["d", ""], ["title", "FOH Engineer Available — Weekend Festivals, Lisbon Area"], ["summary", "10+ years mixing live rock/metal. Own console. Weekend availability."], ["published_at", "1735851600"], ["location", "Lisbon, Portugal"], ["g", "eyckc"], ["price", "400", "EUR", "day"], ["t", "sound-engineer"], ["t", "foh"], ["t", "available"], ["t", "festival"], ["t", "rock"], ["t", "metal"], ["image", "https://blossom.musiquay.com/"], ["status", "active"] ] } ``` ### Tag Conventions Musiquay defines conventions for how `t` tags are used in marketplace listings to enable structured discovery: | Tag Category | Examples | Purpose | |--------------|----------|---------| | **Role/skill** | `sound-engineer`, `photographer`, `designer`, `roadie`, `tour-manager`, `producer`, `mastering`, `rigger` | What the person does or what's needed | | **Listing type** | `available`, `hiring` | Which side of the marketplace | | **Event type** | `festival`, `tour`, `studio`, `one-off`, `residency` | What kind of work | | **Genre** | `rock`, `electronic`, `jazz`, `punk`, `hip-hop` | Genre context (where relevant) | | **Commitment** | `freelance`, `full-time`, `contract`, `one-off` | Duration / commitment level | These are conventions, not rigid schema. The `t` tag system is flexible enough to evolve with how the community actually uses it. ## Categories Marketplace categories map directly to the scene participant types from the [scene graph](./ARCHITECTURE.md#identity-and-the-scene-graph): | Category | "Available" Examples | "Hiring" Examples | |----------|---------------------|-------------------| | **Sound Engineering** | FOH, monitor, studio, broadcast | Venues, festivals, artists needing engineers | | **Production** | Record producers, beat makers | Artists, labels seeking producers | | **Mix / Master** | Mixing engineers, mastering engineers | Artists, labels with recordings to finish | | **Live Tech** | Lighting, backline, staging, AV | Venues, festivals, production companies | | **Road Crew** | Roadies, tour managers, merch sellers | Touring artists and management | | **Rigging** | Stage riggers, truss specialists | Festivals, venues, production companies | | **Design** | Album art, posters, merch design, branding | Artists, labels, venues, festivals | | **Photography** | Gig, press, studio, portrait | Artists, labels, venues, publications | | **Film / Video** | Music videos, live recording, documentary | Artists, labels, festivals | | **Management** | Artist managers, booking agents | Artists seeking representation | | **Promotion** | PR, marketing, social media | Artists, labels seeking promotion | | **Spaces** | Studios, rehearsal rooms, venues for hire | Artists, bands needing space | | **Equipment** | Rental of PA, backline, lighting | Anyone needing gear | | **Other** | Anything the scene needs that doesn't fit above | Open-ended by design | Organizations and companies post too — production companies, rental houses, studios, rehearsal spaces, booking agencies. They're all just Nostr identities with profiles and listings. ## Reputation Through the Scene Graph Here's where the marketplace becomes something Craigslist never could: **your reputation is your history on the protocol.** There is no separate rating system. No star ratings. No "verified" badges issued by the platform. Instead: - **Your Nostr profile IS your professional identity.** Your bio, your roles, your links — all on your key. - **Your credits on releases** are queryable. "This mastering engineer has credits on 47 releases in the last two years." The data is right there in the scene graph — track events tagging them as mastering engineer. - **Your tagged photos from gigs** are visible. A photographer's portfolio isn't a separate upload — it's the body of photos they've published on the protocol, tagged to shows and artists. - **Your show history** is public. An FOH engineer who's tagged on 200+ show events has a different credibility profile than someone with 3. - **Your connections** tell a story. Who follows you? Which artists have you worked with? Which venues have tagged you on events? This is **earned reputation**, not manufactured reviews. It emerges from real activity on the protocol over time. It can't be faked by buying reviews, and it can't be taken away by a platform deciding to reset your ratings. ### Reputation Queries The scene graph enables queries that a traditional marketplace cannot: - "Show me FOH engineers who have worked shows at 300+ cap venues in Portugal." - "Show me designers who have done artwork for artists I follow." - "Show me photographers who have shot festivals in the last 6 months." - "Show me this tour manager's history — which artists, which circuits, how many dates." All of this is derived from existing events on the protocol. No special reputation system needed. ## Location-Based Discovery Like the event calendar, the marketplace is **location-aware** via NIP-99's geohash and location fields. - **Find local** — "sound engineers near me", "studios within 50km". - **Filter by region** — browse opportunities in a specific city or country. - **Touring/remote** — some listings aren't location-bound. A mastering engineer works remotely. A tour manager goes where the tour goes. Listings can indicate flexibility. - **Cross-reference with calendar** — a festival posting a hiring need has a calendar event for the festival itself. The marketplace listing and the event are both on the protocol, both tagged, both discoverable. A rigger sees the hiring post, checks the festival details, and decides if they're interested — all without leaving the network. ## Integration with Other Pillars ### Calendar Integration The marketplace and calendar feed each other naturally: - A festival posts an event on the calendar → also posts hiring needs on the marketplace for crew, engineers, photographers. - An artist announces tour dates → posts "seeking tour manager" or "need merch person for EU run." - A venue's upcoming calendar informs what skills they need → "heavy month of metal bookings, need an engineer comfortable with loud." ### Scene Graph Integration Every marketplace interaction reinforces the scene graph: - A photographer gets hired for a show → gets tagged on the event → the credit lives on their profile forever. - A sound engineer works a festival → gets tagged on multiple show events over the weekend → their festival experience is documented. - A designer creates album artwork → gets credited on the release event → their portfolio grows organically. The marketplace creates work. The work creates credits. The credits build reputation. The reputation generates more work. **The flywheel spins.** ### Payment Layer Musiquay does not process marketplace payments. Participants handle their own transactions — cash, bank transfer, Lightning, whatever they agree on. However, the Lightning infrastructure is available for those who want it: - A freelancer with a Lightning address on their profile can receive payments directly and instantly. - A sovereign participant with their own Lightning wallet needs zero platform involvement. - The payment is between the parties. Musiquay facilitates the connection, not the transaction. ## What the Marketplace Is Not Clarity on boundaries: - **Not a gig economy platform.** There is no algorithmic matching, no surge pricing, no rating system that determines who gets work. This is a bulletin board, not an algorithm. - **Not an escrow service.** Musiquay does not hold funds, guarantee delivery, or mediate disputes. People deal with each other directly. - **Not a talent agency.** Musiquay does not represent, manage, or take commissions from anyone. It provides visibility and discovery. - **Not a verification authority.** There are no "verified professional" badges sold by the platform. Reputation is earned through protocol-level activity, not purchased. - **Not a middleman.** Zero fees. Zero commission. Zero cut. The marketplace exists to connect the scene with itself, not to extract value from those connections. The music scene ran on trust and personal networks long before the internet. Musiquay makes those networks visible and searchable without replacing the human relationships that drive them. It's the bulletin board at the rehearsal space, scaled to the entire scene, running on an open protocol that nobody owns.