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Band management software?

abarson

abarson

Nov 6, 2003
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Santa Cruz
#1
I'm looking for suggestions for simple software that provides a calendar so that all band members can enter when they are available and others can see it, as well as tracking gigs. Being able to share songs or song lists is valuable as well. Instant messaging to all band members is a must.

Google Groups is okay for emailing band members but nothing else. Slack might work but seems a bit cumbersome. A couple of band members are lividly against anything FB related.

What's available?
 
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#3
So, are all band members always at computers?

As many times as this question comes up, I don't think anyone has ever come up with anything better than a Google calendar and texting for instant communications.

I'm guessing there's instant messaging on phones. But why not just use text and any number of email calendars? Is there something else we don't know about your situation?
 
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#4
abarson said:
I'm looking for suggestions for simple software that provides a calendar so that all band members can enter when they are available and others can see it, as well as tracking gigs. Being able to share songs or song lists is valuable as well. Instant messaging to all band members is a must.

Google Groups is okay for emailing band members but nothing else. Slack might work but seems a bit cumbersome. A couple of band members are lividly against anything FB related.

What's available?
Click to expand...

The Band App does this. I've got it on Android and one band that I'm in uses it.

I think that at the core, it's a decent app and provides good functionality. Unfortunately (perhaps since I'm new to this band), it seems that you really get out of it what you put into it in terms of organization.

The Band App supports live chat and IM, and you can create individual rooms/threads to organize stuff. (One thing I don't like about our band is that we have eight different chat threads - it's overengineered for the way that we currently use it.) It also supports uploading audio although the sharing settings can be a little wonky with new members. Finally, the calendaring seems pretty robust, which is the best part.

One thing that I don't like is that it supports multiple bands - so you, as a user, can join multiple bands, and the default dashboard when you open the app is like a feed aggregator with notifications and other stuff. It may be useful to some but it feels a little social-media-y for me, and if you're only part of one band as I am it just gets in the way. I wish I could turn that off and go directly into the "band space" instead of starting with the aggregate feed view.

It might be worth trying out, though. I think that overall, it's a pretty good app, and I think most of the idiosyncrasies that I don't like is due to the fact that the configuration for the band I'm in is a little overengineered and the band itself has 11 people.
 
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#7
Discord has a number of features, and even more if you're willing to pay a bit. A band would be well within the limits, and if you have a Google Drive+Google Calender and link to them, you could probably cobble together what you're looking for. It was originally designed for gamers, but can be used in other situations. I've had pretty good luck leveraging it to organize groups in the past.
 
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#9
aggrokragg said:
Discord has a number of features, and even more if you're willing to pay a bit. A band would be well within the limits, and if you have a Google Drive+Google Calender and link to them, you could probably cobble together what you're looking for. It was originally designed for gamers, but can be used in other situations. I've had pretty good luck leveraging it to organize groups in the past.
Click to expand...


This
 
#11
I have tried to use google calendar in the past and some knuckleheads never use it. We also used google hangouts before it went away as it was good for group texts, but it turned into a slag fest and contributed to breaking up that particular band.

So the solution is to get band mates who are mature enough. No software will help you with that. Best of luck though.
 
#12
Don't have a good suggestion for a scheduler type app, but Google drive works great for posting practice recordings, song sheets, and set lists. Just create a folder and share it with band members. Google drive is easy, I normally convert the practice recordings to MP3 and post it so everyone can review it.

Band lab has a similar function where you can create songs in progress and download and add tracks, we never really got into using that much. There is an online mixer but it was a bit clunky. It does give you the capability to share music private or publicly.
 
#15
Bandhelper is awesome. I've been using it forever (since it was Setlist Maker) and it does wonders for us.

BH was originally only for iOS and Android, but has now grown to support PC and Mac versions, as well as a website, so you can really access it on just about anything, and everyone can keep their stuff synced up however they want.

Since it's originally based off an app that was primarily designed for setlists, obviously that works super good and is very well fleshed out. It stores all of our songs, charts, lyrics, documents, even mp3 files to reference tracks.

It also has a calendar that ties into the sets you create, and has options to tie in things like finances and travel and stuff like that. I personally do not use these features, but I know they're there.

I am unsure of if it has any internal messaging capabilities. I do not think so - we just use group texts. Someone else mentioned Discord - I'm a huge fan of that if you don't like texting.

I do use its MIDI implementation pretty heavily though. It supports basic bluetooth page turners and stuff like that, but it also can be used to trigger other software, and also be triggered by external apps too. My bands run clicks and tracks through Ableton, which is super intensive and hairy to work with, but with BH, I can make a new setlist 5 minutes before the show, sync up everybody via wifi, and Ableton will follow the list in real time automatically. I can even call audibles and skip tracks and everything works.

The learning curve is a bit steep, and it is subscription based, so those are some downsides. Arlo, the owner/designer/programmer, is fantastic and is quite consistent and speedy with answering questions however.

Big ups to Bandhelper!
 
#16
juggahnaught said:
One thing that I don't like is that it supports multiple bands - so you, as a user, can join multiple bands, and the default dashboard when you open the app is like a feed aggregator with notifications and other stuff. It may be useful to some but it feels a little social-media-y for me, and if you're only part of one band as I am it just gets in the way. I wish I could turn that off and go directly into the "band space" instead of starting with the aggregate feed view.
Click to expand...
I am part of three different groups on Band, on the Home which is how it always is in when I go into it, it has them three all separate from each other.
Only when hitting FEED does it do the Social Media style thing blending all three.

Try ending on Home, maybe it will keep it that way for you. I am not sure if there is a special setting on my part. It always starts at Home, three separate groups.
 
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