GigTrak Feature Requests
Thursday, 17 September 2009
I recently took over the management and development of GigTrak.com – a great booking resource for small to midsized musicians in the US.
My intention is to rapidly and constantly add new features to the site – things that we all need as musicians. I know what I need (and I’ll share full upgrade plans as soon as they are ready), but I need to know what you need as well. Can you take a second right now to make a comment on this post with your feature requests? Be as detailed as you want, and don’t be afraid to dream. What would the ultimate management tool be for you that would help you book gigs, keep everything organized, get radio play, make sure all of your online profiles were up to date, etc..?
I want to turn GigTrak into the only booking and music career management tool that any musician ever needs – help me figure out what the community wants.
Look forward to hearing your thoughts – just scroll down and “Leave a Reply”
No. 1 — September 20th, 2009 at 10:41 am
Hi,
I have been involved with Gig Track since the beginning.
I would like to see some iphone integration or syncing with Gig track. I am a performer who also manages and books different bands for both the public and private sector. Thus I manage both my touring schedule as well as several other band’s schedules as well. I would like to have my current clients and calendar at my fingertips and on my iphone with me at all times. I know I can access the GigTrack site but this kind of functionality would allow me to sync with my computer as well giving me a digital representation of my information as well – also, there are times when the Internet is not available
It seems timely, given the iPhone’s dominant market position, to have an “app” to address this request. What do you think?
Thanks,
Keith
No. 2 — September 20th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
Hi, I helped beta test it for quite a while a few years back. Initially it seemed it might be a good solution. One roadblock was just getting the neo-luddite band mates to agree to use it!
That still seems to be a problem believe it or not. However, the last time I used gigtrak was perhaps two years back, I stopped simply because the user interface was slow and in some areas, very non-intuitive. Then about that time I started using Google Calendar. That syncs with the iPhone and Outlook, so it’s quite flexible. I can also use google docs, and maps and it’s free. The current gigtrack interface looks much improved however.
With the advent of myspace, facebook etc. for music, and google calendar – I tend to have enough tools for planning and marketing but it’s not well integrated admittedly. If you could get some iPhone integration, provide a social net style ‘dashboard’ interface and features vs. pull down menues, and then provide a solution to the chore of seeking out and booking venues around the country and the world – that could be a big differentiator.
Also, given I use calendars in many ways (iPhone, web, Outlook) a flawless sync between them is critical. Web and iPhone access to the calendar is a given for me anymore. Would be nice to have ONE calendar, with multiple access methods, and multiple views such that, I can book the band or studio, clients can see if we’re booked or free, public can see where we’re playing, and all our private free/busy time is securely managed. (google messes up sometimes in this feature).
I’ll explore gigtrack again and come back with some more comments once I learn what’s changed, perhaps you’ve solved most of my needs? I really belive in hosted applications – it’s a good model for managing business chores.
I suppose my ‘lifetime’ Gigtrak membership for beta testing will expire now so will likely continue to use Google.
Chris
No. 3 — September 21st, 2009 at 10:12 am
Check out http://www.wheresthegig.com – they have some great features on their calendar that were missing when we tried gigtrack a while back.
Like the gig alert that you can send out to band members, so they don’t have to log in to see the dates – it shows up in there email or as an SMS.
Also, you can export calendars to Google, SonicBids, MySpace, etc….
No. 4 — November 17th, 2009 at 9:13 pm
hi,
i haven’t used gigtrack yet, and i’m looking forward to giving it a try.
right now, i mostly rely on my music website, reverbnation, facebook and ping.fm for organizing my music life and sharing it with my friends and fans. i am looking for a site that helps me find and book festivals/clubs nationwide in an organized way, charts my progress and lets me interface with fans about those dates and the process itself. customizable calendar/update widgets for my social networking sites and homepage would be key. ideally, gigtrack’s back end would be a great tool for booking, and it would also provide a slick way for me to let fans know where and when i’m playing, and how my tour planning process is coming along.
No. 5 — November 17th, 2009 at 9:15 pm
oh, also, if you go the way of reverbnation with their widgets, pleeeeaase make them better looking, more customizable and resizeable! their widgets are functional but ill-fitting and ugly.
thanks,
kelsey