Hey all, I’m a guitarist playing in a few different projects and bands at once, and every band organizes itself completely differently. One keeps demos on Google Drive, the next has rehearsal dates in an Apple calendar, gear lists live in an old WhatsApp chat and promo photos are buried in someone’s OneDrive. Last month I subbed for a band and spent the evening before the gig digging through three chats for the current setlist and tabs, only to learn the wrong bridge from an outdated arrangement.

So I started building a tool where the song is the center, not the file. Each song gets one page with demos, lyrics, tabs and MIDI attached, so everyone always sees the current version. On top of that come built-in tools like a browser tab editor, a backing track generator and a rack/pedalboard planner, so you don’t need five apps. I’d also love per-member views (drummer gets click tracks, singer gets lyrics) and the option to share just one set with a sub.

Anyway, I wanted to put it out to the community: how does your band organize songs, files and dates right now, and what would be a must-have for you to actually switch? I’d especially love to hear from small bands and people juggling several projects. It’s in a small closed beta right now and runs in the browser on any device. If you’d like to try it with your band and tell me everything that’s wrong with it, just let me know in the comments and I’ll send you an invite!

tl:dr Building a free all-in-one tool for bands and musicians. What are your must-haves? Comment for a beta invite!

Bands and booking agents please feel free to contact us. We are looking to book a small tour at the end of Spring 2027

So I recently got approved for my dual citizenship between Canada and the UK. I will be touring in the UK this upcoming Feb 2027. I applied and was approved for ETA’s for my Canadian (non-dual citizen) bandmates. We are coming for a showcase that doesn’t pay - they have given me a formal invitation letter. The ETA application didn’t ask us to upload the letter or anything and it was pretty fast acceptance for both of them. Does this ETA cover the other shows they will be playing with me as side-guys for the month? Or will someone at the border be grilling us asking for individual letters from each bar with all our names on it? The thing is the bar has hired me - they are just my backing band. So typically their names wouldn’t be on any agreements with the venues.

I just want to make sure we have no issues when we come this Feb and I want to be fully prepared. Should I ask the venues to just send me a formal email or letter that does include their full legal names as my band members?

I also wanted to ask about merch. As a dual citizen will I have to claim if I’m bringing merch from Canada to UK to sell on tour? How does this process work?

Any help greatly appreciated!

I’m the founder, so obvious bias — but I’d rather hear from working buskers than anyone else. Here is my take on making social media, actually “social.”

Buskr is a free iPhone app. You go live, and you show up on a map that people nearby can see. In the app they can tip you (card or Apple Pay), request a song, boost songs on your setlist so the crowd steers the set, and follow you so they get a ping next time you’re out.

Setting up your performer account also gives you your own tip QR code. Anyone who scans it tips you from their browser with no app and no sign-up — that’s for the person who likes what they hear but isn’t downloading anything on the sidewalk. Either way the money lands in the same place. (A user can still tip inside the app if they have it).

The difference from Venmo / Cash App / PayPal: those just move money from someone who already decided to tip you. Buskr is built to get more people to tip in the first place — it brings people passing by or people who value the art of authentic entertainment to you and gives them something to do besides throwing in a buck and walking past.

Money, plainly: the tipper covers the card fee, so your tip arrives whole. Buskr keeps 9%, and nothing at all for your first 30 days. The rest goes to your own Stripe account — weekly payouts are free, instant payouts are optional for a fee.

It’s early and iPhone-only for now. If you try it, tell me what’s wrong with it — that’s genuinely the most useful thing you can do for me.

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/buskr-live-performers/id6747197354 · thebuskr.com

My boyfriend is so wonderful. We’ve been together for two years and things are moving along. We’ve had some ups and downs but overall it’s the best and healthiest relationship i’ve been in.

I’m also a musician, so I understand the commitment and love, although he’s further along on his musical journey. However, I’m getting closer to 30, and starting to be more of a realist about what this lifestyle may mean. He’s going to be out of town all summer, for example.

I love him and it would be devastating, but when I imagine family life, I imagine togetherness and a unit, not my partner missing out on big moments. I don’t want to grill my partner on all this, and the reality is there are still unknowns. His band is signed with a label and taking on bigger and bigger tours, so it looks like they will keep growing.

I’m not sure if I should cut my losses and let him go so I can find someone more aligned (I don’t feel psyched about the late twenties dating pool unfortunately but maybe I’m too pessimistic).

Any advice? Anyone have kids with a touring musician? How do you handle it?

Hey all, I'm a violinist and I perform solo with backing tracks. I like to use as little equipment as possible so I have everything going out of my tablet (Samsung S9+). I use MobileSheets, which supports backing tracks and it mostly works. So I have my sheet music and the accompanying track. However, I find that most sheet music software treats backing tracks as an afterthought.

So, I started working on an app specifically for this. One of the features I want is the ability to crossfade between songs in a set list or be able to fade out a song in the middle - this is especially relevant for playing processionals where clients want 4-5 songs for bridal party, ring bow, flower girls, groom, bride, grandma, cousins, etc.. right now, I have to fade out manually on my mixer, queue up the next song and start it - so there's an awkward break in the music. So my idea is to build the app with backing tracks as first class citizens. I also want to build a feature where you can record sheet music actions while a track plays.

At its simplest, it'll let you record when pages are flipped so that next time you play, it'll flip for you in the same place. But I also want to be able to record various visual cues - for example, highlight a repeat sign or a DS or the like at the right moment, or even highlight measures every 30 seconds or so to make sure you're in the right spot.

Anyway, I can go on and on with things I can think of but wanted to put it out to the community - what are your must haves for sheet music software and especially as it relates to its handling of backing tracks.

Thanks all! Oh and I plan on making it available on both iOS and Android

Every band I know dreads the same chore: sending the venue a stage plot and tech rider. It usually means a janky Word doc, a screenshot of something drawn in a slide deck, or an input list in the body of an email.

So I built Stage Plot Flow for iPhone and iPad.

What it does

• Drag drums, amps, keys, mics, monitors and power onto your stage (or add custom gear). You get undo/redo, multi-select, snap to grid, resize and rotate.
• Set the stage size in feet or metres and choose which side the audience is on.
• Build your input list with mic or DI, stand type, 48V and bring-your-own for every channel. Channel numbers show on the plot, and it can auto-fill channels from the gear on your stage.
• Assign monitor mixes, saying who gets which wedge or in-ear mix and what they want in it.
• One tap makes a multi-page PDF with the stage plot, input list, monitor mixes and a rider page (load-in, soundcheck, set length, power, backline, hospitality). It comes in light or dark, with your band logo, or as a stage-only one-pager.
• You can also email it straight to the venue or export a PNG and a CSV of the input list.

Built for real gigs

• Templates for rock band, acoustic duo, singer-songwriter, jazz trio, brass band, worship band and DJ set
• Duplicate a plot for the next show with a new venue and date
• Save input lists as presets
• AirDrop a plot to a bandmate
• English, Spanish, German and French

No account, no ads, no tracking. Your plots stay on your device. It’s a one-time $4.99, with no subscription.

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/stage-plot-flow/id6821345828

I’m the solo dev, so I’d love feedback from people who actually send riders. What’s missing? Anything venues or sound engineers keep asking you for that I should add?

Slight rant/vent, apologies. I’m on a tour right now, hitting a mix of independent/Live Nation venues. Rooms around 300-1,000 capacity.

It’s remarkable how differently I’m treated by independent venues vs Live Nation affiliated ones. Staff is in a better mood, they’re far more accommodating, the security is friendlier, and the communication is better.

It’s weird that it’s one-to-one. Everyone at Mahall’s was a blessing to talk to, but the security at LiveNationVenue#63™️ is giving me the death glare as I’m breaking down stands and loading out.

Don’t even get me started on merch cuts.

I guess we get a bigger hospitality budget at LN venues? But when they charge me $9 for a diet coke at the bar, knowing I’m in the touring party, that extra budget doesn’t go far. Just sucks.

It’s not on the staff, they’re put in a shitty situation with shitty policies and I don’t blame them for being in a bad mood. But it’s a really stark contrast.

Has anyone else experienced this, or am I tweaking?

Quick question, obviously Carnet isn't needed for travel between mainland UK and NI but how likely is it to be asked whilst in ROI? Plan currently is to travel via Belfast outbound and return.

I’ve got quotes from Vans for Bands and Enterprise, Turo is the cheapest option (but doesn’t allow commercial use), the other two obviously allow commercial use but cost an arm and a leg. The vans for bands vehicles are too big for what we need. We are only 4 people with two guitar amps, 1 bass amp and drums. In Canada we tour in a dodge caravan and everything fits just fine.

Enterprise price is okay - roughly $2200 CAD for a two week tour but I’ve heard horror stories online of folks arriving to pickup the van they needed and they just didn’t have any in the lot. Is this true? We really want the Volkswagon Caddy but how can I make sure that’s what we actually get if I do go with Enterprise?

OR I take the risk - go with Turo, put a tarp down in the back where our gear will come in and out to make sure it stays clean and doesn’t wreck the vehicle and we just be extra careful! Plus Turo lets you add additional drivers for free.

If anyone has any experience or thoughts please share.

Hey everyone,

I just published something I've been working on for a little bit. It's a mutual aid board for independent touring.

It allows you to post a request for support, plan a multi-stop tour, and keep track of all of the contacts and offers of help you receive.

It works for all kinds of touring, and is pretty simple: If you are planning a tour: make a request for help, and list all of the cities you want to tour in (with firm dates or flexible dates). People can then offer support for what you're asking for or write-in custom ways that they can help.

Every offer of help you accept is then placed into a "Tour Itinerary" that lists the support type and also the contact information of that individual. You can also print or save this Tour Itinerary as a PDF for your own organization and safekeeping.

It's pretty simple and straightforward, but also unlocks a lot of bottlenecks of independent touring. You can accept multiple offers of support for the same thing, creating a list of backups (ie: primary venue, and backup venues). You can save contacts for future tours ... or share the link to your request to Instagram or a group chat, or this subreddit ... and non-members can still offer help.

For the Tour organizes all of the info for you, so you can focus on what you actually want to do: creating art and going on tour ....

Feel free to check out the platform! I'm pretty happy with the build and am going to be using it myself. It's also free to use.

Thanks and keep on creating!

TMing for the first time, going on a two week tour with two local bands.

What kind of social media content would you want to see if you were the bands?

Or

What content would pull you in as a viewer?

This performance was a few months ago when we opened for Conan (UK). Please give us your feedback. We are looking to tour the U.S. West Coast once we finish our album this winter - www.pastthelight.com

For context: My band is from Southeast Georgia. We’re an electronic dance/indie rock type gig. So… not really the favored taste in the area. Bands who haven’t been around as long as us but play stuff like metal core/hardcore/ the like are having gigs every weekend, but we’ve fought tooth and nail to only have two over the last year and a half or so. We have a social media presence, have published music, but no one will book us!

How should we go about getting more gigs in the area? As of right now, we’re lucky if we get a rejection email back from promoters.