JPF Home Page Forums General Messages General Message Forum Bandfinder

Hey everyone,

Don't take this as spam because it certainly isn't. I am one of the creators of a new website, Bandfinder . I wanted to introduce the website to this forum because I feel that this is one of the best places where TRUE musicians congregate.

I was frustrated with the difficult process of connecting with other like-minded musicians. We offer a free service that allows musicians to connect with each other and promote their music.

We are here to work for the millions of musicians out there who have not been able to find someone to share their music with. I would love to hear any suggestions on how to improve the website - our goal is to help musicians, not to profit!

Interesting stuff -- good luck on your project.

Thanks Kevin - if you get a chance, make an account and let me know what you like/don't like.

We are open for suggestions and are really just looking to make Bandfinder helpful for the average musician looking to find some musicians to jam with!

Hi Michael,

Looks like a nice thing you got going there.
GOOD LUCK with your project.

Calvin


http://www.soundclick.com/bands/0/calvinstewart

Michael,

We certainly know how to help musicians without asking them for money. = )

Brian

I wonder if a song-pitching element might be useful on the site, where bands/artists could find songwriters.

Hi Gary -

How do you see that feature working? There seems to be a lot of requests to make Bandfinder more functional for songwriters.

I think this is a great idea. I would love to see something like that implemented, but I don't know how exactly I would implement a song-pitching feature. Any ideas?

-Michael

Hi again, Michael:

Direct pitching would probably be a "mission impossible" for you. Many of us perform our own songs and a few actually have demos performed by "hired guns" in Nashville or other music centers around the country.

From my perspective, it would be nice for you to just have a "singer/songwriter" category available to those who think our songs might attract producers, publishers or artists. The rest of the equation would depend on how successful you and your site become in generating "listens" by people who actually count for something in the music biz.

I've tried several sites who claim they have lots of listeners who really are in the music business... but I seriously doubt it. Still, it can happen. Your decision on how to structure such a venture depends upon how you intend to gain a listening audience and how you plan to generate income for yourself... unless you happen to be one of Mitt Romney's kinfolks with unlimited resources... LOL! (Can you tell I favor Gingrich?)

In the end, if you allow just anybody to post a song on your site, your audience will shrink pretty fast 'cause nobody wants to hear poorly written and performed songs. As the "gatekeeper" you or one of your pals will spend lots of time performing the A&R role and that's a formidable task. Then there's the genre problem.

I'm sure I've only touched the tip of the iceberg involved in such a venture. When all is said and done, only you can determine if this direction would be good for business and for your team.

No matter what, I wish you success. It's a difficult thing to achieve these days with so much competition and so few honest outlets or venues.

Dave

No matter what your goals are for your music, to connect with others who have time/desire/similar taste and will practice with you? AWESOME!

It's supply and demand. It's just like connecting musicians to work with each other. I guess it's as simple as 'classified ads'.

Some people are songwriters, a 'song' defined as a lyric and the melody to which it is sung. Some are lyricists only, or poets, and want to hear their words set to music. Others are musicians, but not writers.

Some musicians are songwriters. Some write all the songs they need. Others need more songs from outside sources. Some songwriters aren't performing musicians. They need performing musicians to take their product to market.

Connect them. Connect supply with demand.