Platform Comparison Guide
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Platform Comparison Guide
Free editable Word guide you can copy, fill in, and share with your band. Also readable on this page.
How to use this guide
Comparison of platforms for finding bandmates. Score the options honestly and the page resolves into a primary and secondary channel, an owned home base, and a kill list.
Rate the platforms once, record picks and the kill list in the band's shared folder, and redo the comparison after each ninety-day pilot or whenever a channel stops moving tickets.
Shiny apps fragment attention. Choose platforms with criteria, not FOMO, and kill ghost towns ruthlessly.
Fewer done well
Two active socials plus one owned home base will outperform five dusty profiles every season, because each abandoned account tells a visiting booker the project might be dead. A page whose last post predates the current drummer raises questions that a simple absence never would.
Honesty beats FOMO here: if nobody in the band will genuinely post short videos twice a week, the band does not belong on a video-first app no matter how hot it is. Presence without upkeep is a liability dressed as marketing, and fans who find a ghost town rarely come back for the grand reopening.
Criteria that matter
Grade each option on five axes: whether your actual listeners spend time there, the weekly hours it demands, whether it can sell tickets or merch, who owns the follower data, and whether more than one member can run it. Scoring turns an endless vibes argument into arithmetic.
Give every axis a one-to-five rating in a shared sheet and let the totals speak, because the guitarist who loves a niche app will always out-argue the band that needs email signups. Numbers make the trade-offs visible: great reach, brutal effort, zero data export means proceed with caution.
Pilot then drop
Give any shiny new app one defined season — say ninety days and a posting rhythm you can actually sustain — then judge it on outcomes: ticket clicks, email signups, and follows from people in cities you play. Anything that cannot move those three numbers is a hobby, not a channel.
Underneath the experiments, the site and electronic press kit stay permanent, since bookers want one stable link with photos, audio, and dates that never depends on an algorithm's mood. Socials are rented distribution; the press kit is property, and property survives every trend cycle.
Fill-in: Platform choices
Primary: ________
Secondary: ________
Home base: ________
Kill list: ________
Putting it into practice
Kill one ghost-town platform this month and improve the home base link.
FAQ
How many platforms should a band maintain well?
Fewer than you think—often two primary socials plus a home base (site or Link-in-bio to owned assets). Ghost towns hurt more than absence.
What criteria matter in a comparison?
Audience fit, effort cost, monetization, data ownership, and whether the whole band will actually post.
Should we chase every new app?
Pilot with a time box. If it does not move tickets, email, or meaningful follows, drop it.
Where do EPKs and sites fit?
Owned home base first; platforms are distribution. See website and EPK guides when the stack is chaos.
