Band hook-up websites re-visited

[Happy Jack]

I've been plenty busy this last couple of years, but I've been keeping an eye out on Gumtree for interesting side-projects.

Several recent mentions of Join-My-Band and MusoFinder have had me re-visiting such sites today (stored for ages in my Favourites folder) and I've been shocked at just how poor they all are.

The search facilities are usually a joke, and the filters either ludicrously complicated - and always returning zero results as a consequence - or completely non-existent.

Hmmmm.

There is another possibility of course, which is that I am being totally incompetent, or perhaps that you need to be a paid-up subscription member to see any of the good stuff.

So, what's really out there guys?

Are any of these muso-websites actually worth putting a bit of effort into?

[Rumple]

Funnily enough I've just been looking at bandmix.co.uk and having slightly similar thoughts, I was looking for for a keyboard player or guitarist who who just plays for a bit of fun but there is no way to filter out all the professionals. people who want paying gigs, the wrong age group or want to make it big! I gave up and went and made a nice cup of tea

[JTUK]

I'd use specific FB groups and then be pretty explicit in the detail.
FB is a good networking tool, but there is also no substitute for people
knowing that you are out there looking. It helps if you get out and about
and chat to people.
I tend to have a band aim or goal... like a groove band, and then pick out the
guys that can do that sort of thing. If Prog is your thing then find guys
who gravitate to wards that....whihc tends to be most of them, IME

I wouldn't use those websites mentioned until I had tracked down a list
of names and I wanted to see their work...and then I'd be into Youtube territory
anyway.

[Happy Jack]

Sad to relate, but I don't do Facebook at all. Not even a little bit.

Please don't hate me.

[JTUK]

I use it as a music thing. Not interested in most peoples status and a lot of them come across as 'needy'...I feel,
but as a promo and network tool, I find FB useful.

In fact, I'd say you get more mileage out of FB than you do band websites.......... and if I could only have
the one, I'd go for FB.
Both need a degree of admin, of course.

[JTUK]

Most of the deps we have used..we've tracked down in part via FB...and booked them via FB once we have contact
so I've found it more than useful.

It is just part of today's social/networking media....but yes, also full of people and agendas you want nothing to do with
but you can screen/legislate for a lot of them with privacy settings.

[Russ]

I coded up a much better musician search website a few years ago. Far better than Joinmyband, Bandmix, etc. No bugger used it though, so I took it down.
I also think, reluctantly, that people would rather use something they already know for music networking - ie, Facebook. I kinda miss the days where you just answered ads in Loot.

If you do want to go outside FB, StarNow is fairly good and seems to get some reasonably high-profile gigs, but you have to pay to use it, which most people won't do.

Edited October 6, 2014 by Russ