We've made some updates

In the past few months we have made some updates to the 'bank-end' (!) of the website as follows:

• Fixed a problem where the zip/postcode radius of the alerts wasn't working
• Stripped out the system that automatically detected where users were from (this was interfering with search engines coming from the US and was damaging our search engine rankings which in turn means less users to the site)
• Test and implemented a new homepage that encourages users to register before searching (we hope this will mean more users joining the site = better for everyone)
• Have developed a system that checks for users with old inactive email address and takes them off the site until they re-activate - meaning active users stop being disappointed that no-one gets back to them.
• Fixed some bugs with the musician's search engine
• Have developed a new system for announcement that gets rid of some really annoying old announcements and allows everyone to know close any announcements we make.

We're now working on updates to profile pages and premium upgrade accounts.

All comments welcome!

We've updated the alerts system

We've updated the alert system. The system was tied to the tags used in wanted ads and so people were setting up alerts based on too many tags.

We've now separated these and created an 'alert keyword'. One keyword that matches the profile tags of new people registering on the site and sends you an email notification.

We've also gone back through the old alert tags and reduced them to one alert keyword, so you may notice some changes.

Check out your alerts here: http://www.musofinder.co.uk/users/alerts.php

We hope this will work better. Let us know if you've got any feedback (use the comments on this post)

Sleepercurve video now on YouTube...

Here it is. Enjoy!

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=mi7RsK__tQs

Competition winners Sleepercurve video preview

You may remember that last year that we ran a competition for bands that formed on MusoFinder. It was amazing to see just how many good bands had formed on our little site. Anyway, the winners won the chance to record a single and get a video made and that’s exactly what’s happened.

Sleepercurve's video launches this Monday on YouTube (that's the 14th April) and it's looking really good! Here are a few stills to wet the appetite:

21 Ways to find band members

At MusoFinder our basic goal is to help you find the right band members for your band. We’ve gone to great lengths to make the site as useful as possible but here are some of the other ways you can go about it (don’t say we never give you anything!)

1. Use MusoFinder (well doh!)
2. Put an ad in local music shops (a lot more work but worth it)
3. Advertise in magazines. Depends what sort of sound you’re going for (SOS, NME). Local mags and papers can also work, but it can get expensive!
4. Go to gigs and speak to the bands. It might seem like your poaching musos from another band but there are plenty ofmusos who like being involved in more than one music project.
5. Use classified services like GumTree etc
6. Get to know your local music scene. Once you are familiar with what’s going down in your local music scene lots of avenues will open up to you.
7. Get it touch with local promoters. Local promoters (people who put on gigs at your local venue) tend to know everyone, so they are a great resource when looking to form a band.
8. Send out a press release to your local newspaper or magazine. If you can find a unique (i.e. your last drummer broke his hand in a freak attack by a flamingo) then they may well cover your story.
9. Have an open audition. Book a room in a local rehearsal studio then get the word out like crazy that you’re having auditions.
10. Turn up to jams nights in your area.
11. Hang around rehearsal studios and talk to any bands you like the sound of. Most musos are really friendly (well most of the time anyway!)
12. Get in touch with local recording studios. These guys tend to use session musicians all the time, so they may well point you in the right direction.
13. Local college or uni. New people all the time.
14. Advertising on your own website and/or MySpace site.
15. It goes without saying that MySpace and Facebook are a good option. There are classified advertising boards on MySpace. You can also just post loads of message on other people’s comment walls.
16. Send an email around to all your muso friends. Between everyone and all their contacts, you’d be surprised at how many people are in your circle of influence.
17. Make business cards or record your own music and use the CD-R as a business card to give out to people you meet.
18. Organise your own jam night and tell people about it using the above methods.
19. Book a night with a local 'Open mic night' and play some of your solo stuff, you may find people coming up to you afterwards putting themselves forward to work with you on your music.
20. Try busking! It's free (in most places), you can make money and you can meet all kinds of people. Put a sign up saying you are looking to form a band, you never know who you might meet.
21. If you can’t find the muso you're looking for it’s worth thinking twice about waiting before just getting on and doing it yourself!

Any more suggestions? Use the comments below.

Beginnings...

When Stoo started MusoFinder in his bedroom back in 2003 I don't think he realised just how big it might get! (and how much work he would have to put in it). Now, almost 5 years later MusoFinder has almost 40,000 musicians and Stoo and I constantly complain that's not enough!!

Truth is we don't know what is going to happen next to this site. We never have. That's why we wanted to start this blog. To share our plans for the site and hopefully get your feedback on our thoughts and ideas. In return we thought we would get some interesting features together on how to form bands and influence people in the music industry - maybe even by some guest writers (oh that reminds me - if any of you are budding writers & fancy contributing, email me - nickatmusofinderdotcom).

Also we want to give you the limelight, so feel free to comment lots on the posts we plan to write. Why don't we start now with 'What has your overall experience been of MusoFinder over the past 5 years? (the good and the bad)'...