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Band Communication

Bemo

Bemo

Feb 17, 2019
74
251
Lincoln, NE
#1
I'm in a bit of a quandary. My LS has an android and my drummer isn't on FB and I'm finding it hard to communicate with them all at once. For some reason group texts from my iPhone don't go out consistently when there is a non-iPhone number in the group list. I can't reach my drummer on FB Messenger because he doesn't have an account.

Has anyone else been in this particular boat? I find it hard to believe I'm the first. How did you fix it? My wife suggested WhatsApp, but I've read some bad press about security with that. Any other suggestions?
 
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#3
Same trouble since YEARS with a band; communication was bad and everybody (6 members) was never at the same information level with emails, textos, etc . Our keyboardist was completely against whatsapp. Then three weeks ago, he finally turned his mind -fed up with waiting replies when he was submitted reharsals dates- and he created one. You know what ? We have more communicate during the last three weeks than the last three years.. Go figure !
 
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#5
Bemo said:
I'm in a bit of a quandary. My LS has an android and my drummer isn't on FB and I'm finding it hard to communicate with them all at once. For some reason group texts from my iPhone don't go out consistently when there is a non-iPhone number in the group list. I can't reach my drummer on FB Messenger because he doesn't have an account.

Has anyone else been in this particular boat? I find it hard to believe I'm the first. How did you fix it? My wife suggested WhatsApp, but I've read some bad press about security with that. Any other suggestions?
Click to expand...
I'm pretty sure there is a fix for the iPhone group thing. I know my mom and sister had this issue at one point and they both use iPhones. As I am a an Android guy, I don't know the details, but they can't be that hard to find if my 80+ yo mother can figure it out.
 
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#6
People's aversion to technology really bugs the crap out of me. It's a big problem when you're trying to nail down a date and you have to run people down separately, wait forever for them to get back to you, etc, all while a venue is holding a slot for you that won't be held forever. It's a big enough problem that I might be inclined to try to replace someone who wouldn't come on board with whatever technology others agreed on.

The only thing that bugs me more than this (as many know) is a BL who wants to use a "band calendar." Unless you are a full-time, working band where that is also everyone's work calendar, it never works. Nobody wants to duplicate all of their commitments on separate calendars every time they make a plan to do something. If your bandleader is booking based on what people are putting on that calendar, someone's going to get double booked. Better to just ask people.
 
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#7
Bemo said:
I'm in a bit of a quandary. My LS has an android and my drummer isn't on FB and I'm finding it hard to communicate with them all at once. For some reason group texts from my iPhone don't go out consistently when there is a non-iPhone number in the group list. I can't reach my drummer on FB Messenger because he doesn't have an account.

Has anyone else been in this particular boat? I find it hard to believe I'm the first. How did you fix it? My wife suggested WhatsApp, but I've read some bad press about security with that. Any other suggestions?
Click to expand...
Fun fact, Facebook acquired WhatsApp in 2014ish. So if you'll use FB Messenger, why have reservations about WhatsApp?
I've been using WhatsApp with my bands since 2011. We are all often on different continents when we aren't together, so it's a way for us to communicate without running up massive phone bills.
 
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#8
AGCurry said:
Assuming everyone actually reads them, emails seem to work. And gosh, how did we communicate before emails and mobile phones? I'm so old!
Click to expand...
One of my bands primarily uses emails. The problem with those is that most people nowadays have gotten out of the habit of checking their emails more than once or twice a day; especially if they aren't online most of the time otherwise where they'll see notifications. This results in the BL sending out emails and then having to chase down that one guy via phone who never reads them. Not the end of the world I guess, but being able to write one sentence and send it off in a text is a little less time consuming.
 
#9
mrcbass said:
I'm pretty sure there is a fix for the iPhone group thing. I know my mom and sister had this issue at one point and they both use iPhones. As I am a an Android guy, I don't know the details, but they can't be that hard to find if my 80+ yo mother can figure it out.
Click to expand...

Make sure SMS messaging is turned on on your iPhone. Google it and you can see step by step instructions.
 
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#11
We use group text for everything. Nothing in the universe could convince me into adding another app for band junk. I understand that some people love dicking around with shared calendars and google drives and Dropbox and whatnot, but I consider all that mandatory technology to be a burden and an imposition. Does this make me a bad band mate? Probably, but I don’t care.
 
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#14
LBS-bass said:
One of my bands primarily uses emails. The problem with those is that most people nowadays have gotten out of the habit of checking their emails more than once or twice a day; especially if they aren't online most of the time otherwise where they'll see notifications. This results in the BL sending out emails and then having to chase down that one guy via phone who never reads them. Not the end of the world I guess, but being able to write one sentence and send it off in a text is a little less time consuming.
Click to expand...
I've never met anyone under 60 who doesn't get their email pinging on their phone in real time... not sure about this thing about not checking emails more than once or twice a day. It's real time.
 
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#15
dkelley said:
I've never met anyone under 60 who doesn't get their email pinging on their phone in real time... not sure about this thing about not checking emails more than once or twice a day. It's real time.
Click to expand...
This guy is definitely not under 60. Old retired blues guitarist from the generation that's often tech-averse. But he's a decent guitarist in the genre so it is what it is. As long as the BL doesn't mind having to chase him down, I guess it's ok.
 
#16
LBS-bass said:
This guy is definitely not under 60. Old retired blues guitarist from the generation that's often tech-averse. But he's a decent guitarist in the genre so it is what it is. As long as the BL doesn't mind having to chase him down, I guess it's ok.
Click to expand...
gotcha, thanks.... I picked out one post that made a general statement that doesn't seem to apply around anyone I know (including my father in law in his 70s), but if someone is tech adverse that changes it for sure. Now I get why you said what you said :-)

Cheers LBS :)
 
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#17
I am curious how a text message from an a i-phone doesn't show on an android phone. Telephone numbers are not assigned upon the basis of whether the owner has a i-phone or an android. You could be a android owner switching to a i-phone and your cellphone number will be the same ( and vice versa). I use android and my step-daughter uses an i-phone and I get every text message she sends me. And she gets all of mine as well.
 
#18
somehow in the 80s we pulled together a working act with nothing but landlines :cool:

These days you need a shared calendar and an agreed-upon comms channel.

You can def group text with mixed iPhone and Android groups, but you need to make sure it's SMS/MMS (not iMessage). Apple always tries to stick you in a walled garden, but iPhones are fully capable of communicating with open standards.

Sometimes you have to put a little effort (or a lot) in tearing down the Apple walls, and if you're the one with an iPhone, that's on you. Most of the mobile world is on Android, so do a little googling to figure out how to do group SMS/MMS messaging on your iPhone. I do it with my daughter (iPhone) and son (android) every day from my android without issues.
 
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#19
I recommend Slack. It's very easy and convenient. You can have different channels (example: vocals, rhythm, lead, bookings), as well as direct messages. There are paid packages, but the baseline with 10k saved messages seems sufficient for my team.

Splash7 said:
I am curious how a text message from an a i-phone doesn't show on an android phone.
Click to expand...

The iPhone user has their group messaging or messaging settings set to use iMessage without SMS as a fallback, presumably. That's the only thing I can think of, and I remember some wonky group stuff happening when I used to use an iphone.
 
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#20
Bemo said:
I'm in a bit of a quandary. My LS has an android and my drummer isn't on FB and I'm finding it hard to communicate with them all at once. For some reason group texts from my iPhone don't go out consistently when there is a non-iPhone number in the group list. I can't reach my drummer on FB Messenger because he doesn't have an account.

Has anyone else been in this particular boat? I find it hard to believe I'm the first. How did you fix it? My wife suggested WhatsApp, but I've read some bad press about security with that. Any other suggestions?
Click to expand...
That's because you're not sending proper SMS texts and have it set to apple iMessenger or whatever the iHell its iCalled that only iWorks on iApple. iKnow, useless, right? You can go into your settings and set it to send/receive SMS.

iphone-not-sending-texts-to-android-1.png


Whatsapp was recently bought by facebook, so security is out the window. I deleted my account.

Signal is the way to go now (at least until some other unscrupulous corporation buys it and ruins it)
 
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