I’ve been spending some time looking around TalentDatabase.com, which launched earlier this year. The website is a free talent search engine and artist directory, similar to a global Yellow Pages for talent and creativity.

TalentDatase.com was founded by Jimi Beach, an entrepreneurial artist from Orlando, Florida and also a fellow musician, who played in the surf rock band Lo Presher.

At first, there’s a lot to take in on TalentDatabase.com – there’s so much information available on the site. The good thing, though, is that it’s set up nicely and navigation is clear and to the point. I’m actually quite surprised with the number of talent “Channels” (categories) that are available for people to create profiles in.

At the time of this writing, the Channels are:

Art, Body, Comedy, Communication, Computer, Crafts, Dance, Design, DJ, Fashion, Film, Food, Gaming, Magic, Modeling, Music, Photography, Sports, Theater, Unique and Writing.

From what I’ve checked out in the Art, Fashion and Music Channels, there are indeed profiles created by some very talented individuals. It’s funny to see Magic listed, only because I’m not familiar with seeing Magic included on other social networking sites, but for any magicians out there, this would be the place for you!

TalentDatabase.com also includes directories, featured listings, most popular within Channels, the ability to add links to users websites in profiles and to get contacted directly. Musicians can add music, artists can add art etc. There are newsfeeds by genre and relevance which allows users to stay on top of breaking news and ahead of the trends affecting their industry. I’m a news junkie, so this is a handy feature.

The search options are great. Talent can be searched for by location, interests, specialties, tags and popularity. A person’s popularity or “POPfactor” is determined by how active they are on the site. The more you network, the higher your ranking. By connecting with other members, adding portfolios, being acknowledged, bookmarked or viewed by other members, among other things, improves a person’s POPfactor. The benefit to being more popular is that you end up with a higher position in the search rankings, which helps to increase exposure by user profiles getting found easier.

This isn’t “just another social networking site”. The free opportunities available to musicians, artists and more, along with the look and feel of the database, and the art that’s prominent throughout, helps for it to stand out as a quality website with a positive community environment.

For more information and to sign up, go to TalentDatabase.com

By: Jenny May – Band Weblogs