Band Mule: A calendar app for bands Anyone using it?

[Phil Starr]

We are having problems agreeing on a calendar app for our band and one band member is suggesting this one. Anyone had experience with it, or tried anything similar?

[Burns-bass]

We found Google Calendar was the best thing for us as it worked across all platforms and was simple to set up

[mattpbass]

Google Sheets also works really well, it allows for a more bespoke grid of information. We have the whole year planned out with gigs, potential gigs, rehearsals, meetings, and each gig has all of the info anyone needs; location, deps, fee splits etc. 

[warwickhunt]

Another Google calendar advocate but one band that I am in insists on using 'Timetree' app.  It does the job with no issues but Google is just convenient for across devices.

[pete.young]

Yes, I've used it. It's OK but not brilliant. Wheres The Gig was much easier to use but they started charging silly money for it.

 

It does some things that Google Calendar does not. The Availability screen shows at a glance when people are available or not for  a gig, provided that people fill it in and stand by it.

 

It does set list management and you can build up a library of songs that you can then drag into set lists. It has limited multi-band support but this may have improved since I last used it.

 

If someone suggests BAND, run away. We 'use' it in the blues band, and it's worse than useless.

Edited Friday at 08:37 by pete.young
BAND comment added

[Rexel Matador]

I used BandMule in my last band - the functionality is fine but it crashed on me all the time.

[Greg Edwards69]

We've used bandhelper and a shared google account for ages. I upgraded our bandhelper account to a higher tier a while ago that includes a scheduler. It does things that google calendar can't do such as availability checking, which is easier than messaging people on a group chat to check availability, but so far it's been met with resistance.

 

If you can get everyone on board, it's well worth the investment. Even only the lower tier without scheduling it's very useful for repertoire, set list and lyric management, along with midi features and attaching mp3s of songs for people to learn.

Edited Friday at 15:08 by Greg Edwards69

[Happy Jack]

I'm using Timetree but most of the musos I play with are technophobes so actually it's only me using it.

 

I've had problems with shared Google calendars, because of course you have to log out of your own Google account in order to access them.

 

At least, that's how it used to work.

[Phil Starr]

I do hate google with a vengeance, I hate that it invades everything you do after any engagement with it at all and i don't consent to it using and sharing my data. I've used Timetree and it is such a poor piece of software. Really clunky and counter intuitive to use. I mean it works but finding out how to do anything complicated on it is a nightmare.  Ive also used Doodle to gather in availabllity data and liked the simplicity, it's got a lot more sophisticated recently and moved to a paid model but I've recently discovered Rallly which does look and behave just like the older versions of Doodle. You send out a survey with a list of dates/times and people fill in their availability. It's great for booking rehearsals and identifying dates the band are available for gigs.  The bit it doesn't do is generate an actual calendar the band can see.

[Phil Starr]

15 hours ago, Rexel Matador said:

I used BandMule in my last band - the functionality is fine but it crashed on me all the time.

 

That's interesting, how long ago was that? I got the strong impression from the information I gleaned that it is still pretty much a beta version/under development. I wouldn't want to use something that crashes too often because the band won't use something they don't have faith in.

[pete.young]

2 hours ago, Phil Starr said:

II've recently discovered Rallly which does look and behave just like the older versions of Doodle. 

 

Thanks for that Phil, it looks really useful.

 

I've not had any problems with BandMule crashing, ether on my current Pixel 6a or the Redmi Note 9 that preceded it.

[chris667]

14 hours ago, Phil Starr said:

I do hate google with a vengeance, I hate that it invades everything you do after any engagement with it at all and i don't consent to it using and sharing my data. I've used Timetree and it is such a poor piece of software. Really clunky and counter intuitive to use. I mean it works but finding out how to do anything complicated on it is a nightmare.  Ive also used Doodle to gather in availabllity data and liked the simplicity, it's got a lot more sophisticated recently and moved to a paid model but I've recently discovered Rallly which does look and behave just like the older versions of Doodle. You send out a survey with a list of dates/times and people fill in their availability. It's great for booking rehearsals and identifying dates the band are available for gigs.  The bit it doesn't do is generate an actual calendar the band can see.

Well, Google vs Meta is a bit like choosing between Charles Manson and Fred West as babysitters, but Whatsapp can do polls which is useful when you have to offer a choice of dates to a group.

 

Nextcloud could do all of this, but you either need to pay someone to host it or host it yourself. I really do like my Nextcloud and it's much more reliable than it used to be.

 

I'd choose Nextcloud if any of my bands were up for using it.

[Pat2019]

I use Band Mule for two bands and it has been fine overall. I had one issue setting up the second band and sent them an email. They replied promptly for a free app and sorted the problem out with no hassles.

The main problem is the same as any other method( getting people to keep it updated). With both bands I sat down with everyone, got them to download and install it and then showed them how to use it. Every one feels the same pain with the alternatives of WhatsApp and message trails and this has taken a lot of that pain away but it does depend on the number of adults in the band so I guess I’ve been lucky🫣

Edited 4 hours ago by Pat2019