Show HN: Bandmule.com Band Calendar

Hi. Well it’s been a while now since I launched the Band Mule web app which started out as a shared band calendar for managing gigs. Just thought I’d post an update on how it is going.

Since then, following user feedback, two apps have been created for Android and IOS. A setlist manager and MP3 player were introduced to the apps.

One of the difficult parts I found was filtering user feedback and deciding on what features to prioritise. The set list manager and the audio player were two features that were requested often. Unexpectedly, the top request was for the new availability viewer. This lets band members update their availability for gigs/rehearsals. The aim was to make this as simple as possible so it’s basically one big scrollable view where users can scroll down and tap days that they are available.

The app and the idea has very much been influenced by Eric Ries’ Lean Startup book. I’ve aimed to let the users drive the evolution of the app as much as possible. Even the fact that the IOS and Android apps exist (rather than just a plain web app) was due to user feedback.

The mobile apps were also written using a cross platform framework initially (Appcelerator Titanium). Eventually this became more of a crutch than a boost and they were both rewritten natively from scratch. This has been one of the best decisions to bite the bullet and go native. Development is so much quicker and nasty issues don’t arise that get hidden or introduced by a framework.

The future will likely be more of the same approach. Keep listening to feedback and iterate, iterate, iterate. I keep all feedback as individual cards on Trello and regularly group them into common themes in order to determine what feature to introduce or to enhance (or even remove).

Have a look if you’re interested, links to the apps are below.

All the best.

https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/band-mule/id761447162

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bandmule