Book Jamming Studios Online

[hellven]

Hi everyone. I will be launching a website very soon that will allow musicians to book jamming studio timeslots simply by clicking the studio and timeslot you want. The features include:

- Selecting the studio of your choice
- Selecting the room of the studio (eg: Big room, small room)
- Selecting the date that you want to book
- Viewing the timeslots still available on the date that you have selected

The function is very similar to booking movie tickets online. After the booking request is done, the studio will be informed of your request either through email or through SMS, after which they will approve or decline your request. The calendar will then be updated automatically. Obviously, the more jamming studios register with the site, the more choices we will have.

Reading all this would probably raise some questions in your mind right now, which is why i'm inviting people to take part in the pilot testing phase.

I need soft forummers to volunteer to help me test out the site and work out the kinks. I also need to get a few jamming studios to participate in the testing phase. If you know any jamming studio that would like to take part in this testing phase, please get them to contact me at sg.rockstar@gmail.com or just PM me, regardless how big or small they may be.

Thanks in advance and it's my hope that everyone will benefit from the convenience that the site will bring to musicians in Singapore.

 

[letterhead]

nice! it will definitely be a great way to book studios in future if it works out.

 

[shinobi]

it will mean convenience for us, but i doubt studios here will implement it if it does not result in profits

 

[kerplunk182]

This is awesome.
The other time i called Beat Merchants and they asked for my name and i repeated it at least 5 times but the guy still didn't get the spelling right.

 

[blueprintstudios]

hellven : may i suggest you should do a penalty fee for last minute (like 3 hours before slot, if more than 3 hours in advance no penalty fee) cancellation. you're going to get sooo many prank bookings if you don't do something to make them morons think twice. and those who fail to show up too.

actually you should try check out the "job agency" (middleman) method. they have penalties and all to prevent bad communications between you and the jamming studio. and you should try have a "credit/feedback history" of clients (the bands) who join this online thing should have good feedback like ebay. so that makes them trustable/reliable.

cinemas here do the "pay first, and get your product later", which in your case you can't do it yet cos you're new, and you got no good/trustworthy testimonial to back you up. if this turns out successful and stable then later on you can implement the "deposit first" thingy.

and lastly if guys join as "online jamstudio booking members" thingy, you have their contact details and all. maybe you can get some small commission funding (just to cover your time worth as middleman) and whenever jamstudio have promotions etc, you can notify your members via sms/emailing list or whatever. it's "Spam" but good spam. y'know.

it's a good idea you got here, so all the best. it's not about earning money as middle man, but what I believe is "a self-sufficient + cost efficient plan" will not guarantee success, but will not guarantee failure until you give up on it.

50¢ worth

 

[Noein]

im going to a few studios these few weeks, if they're interested to participate i'll let you know =)

 

[Noein]

=blueprintstudios


They should send a confirmation sms to the owner of the hp, and that owner needs to reply a 'YES' back, so that they can confirm that he's the real owner of the hp. If they cancel the booking within 3 hours of it, send them a warning, if that fella still does it more than 3 times, blacklist their number man! put them in the list of shame, so that other jamming studios will be wary.

 

[lepak]

This is gonna be super tough for you bro. Esp pranksters and ppl who call and cant get jamming slots... As like what blueprints said, find someway to avoid before u run it

 

[hellven]

thanks for the comments. yes i have thought hard about the issue of prank bookings and spam bookings. my goal is to have a user and studio rating system similar to ebay, but that may not work out to be very popular for studios to spend time evaluating every user who books. i also learnt that these problems already exist over phone bookings right now, and some studios have taken it in their stride. No doubt the added convenience of my site would make these prank bookings more prevalent.

the implementations i currently have in place to prevent spam bookings are as follows:

- the studio will be notified of the amount of time the user is requesting. bookings are not approved till the studio says so. which means the studio would probably decline a booking for 9 hours straight as that just doesn't make sense. the studio will be provided contact details of the user.

- the booking system is such that no 2 identical timeslots can be booked at different studios or rooms. so there's no issue of a user being super kiasu and booking 8pm to 10pm on one particular day for 10 different studios, then cancelling them later.


as for penalty for last minute cancellations, the website will not engage in any transaction. this would be between the studios and the user. as i mentioned, this problem already exist today through phone bookings, but a problem nonetheless.

in case you are wondering how much this is going to cost the musicians to do an online booking, i'm looking at $1 or $2 booking fee per booking that will be paid to the studio, not to the website. considering a 2 hour jamming session typically cost $30+, i think $2 is a fair amount for this convenience.

please keep the comments coming and throw possible problems and scenarios. i really appreciate the feedback.

 

[theunknown]

maybe u can make an advertising space for the studios, so they can showcase what they have in the studios with some photos, what equipment they have, their location.. not just for bookings. once successful, u can charge them of course.

whatever it is, this is an awesome idea. u deserve the mere one reputation point i can give.

oh yeah one problem though, people may just go to the website to check available slots then call the studios directly to avoid paying the pay-as-you-book-online fee.

 

[gothviruz]

This is a fantastic idea. I had this very same idea for my jamming studio, but didnt have time to sit down to think further. Ur idea is brilliant, as it combines all the jamming studio together, making it so much easier for musicians to make alternative bookings if their 1st choice is not available.

Yup, i agree with Blueprints. Although my studio is barely into it's 3rd Month, we have experienced a few no shows. Just imagine this, for example, Band A book room 1 at 2pm. Band A too wants to book same slot but we tell them, "sorry fully booked". Then Band A either no show or during the last minute called to say cant make it. And the room will be left unused. Some dun even bother to call to cancel..

Ok.. back to topic, I may like to try out this system.. will discuss with my partners first.

 

[blueprintstudios]

hellven : this one just takes time, and it's very simple.
1) look at the people involved. you. the bands. the jam studios.
2) you're of good will. the jam studios won't say no to business either.
3) it's the prank / selfish bands that cause the jam studio their loss. and other good regular bands their slots.

so now you just have to "think" like the prank band. if I was a pranker, I'd do things in a way that will ONLY BE BENEFICIAL to me, and whether the jam studio gets any disadvantage is none of my business. it does not matter if I get banned from the jam studio. there's already 30 over recording studios in singapore and there's even loads more jam studios. singapore is small and my choices are like an international buffet. even if there's a HP SMS confirmation system, so what? I have multiple lines and some are prepaid and some are private and some are my sister's. or I ask my friend to book for me. how would the jam studio owner know or keep track of my records? they won't even bother and it's easier for them to just submit into my pranks.

ok now you can start listing ways of pranks and methods and exploiting your own system's loopholes by thinking like them. then after that exploit the loopholes back against your own worst enemy.

back to me again, I personally feel a membership system would be good, but ppl are paranoid about their private details/information being given out to spam and all. and it's very tiring to key in all full addresses. but surely it's not as bad as keying in just 8 + 6 numbers and name to maintain database. oh wait did you misread? "8 + 6 numbers + name only? no need ic number/blk name,address?" yes. I mean, lets think how mcdonalds mcdelivery handles THEIR "clients". how many bogus orders do you think they receive? probably lots. but not alot of ppl are willing to take the risk because their full address is at stake. they wouldn't wanna be "BLACKLISTED @ macdonalds" . I remembered the 1st and 2nd time I ordered mcdelivery. 2nd time I only gave my name as Ron (I gave my Mr surname the 1st time) and the girl's like "ok i repeat your order, bla bla, and your address is so and so. thank you mr <surname>"
so what's going on? my details are actually being taken down into a database format? then I remember ordering for the 3rd/4th time, I was at my friend's studio at punggol, then when I said the punggol address, they verified and ask me isn't your address at blabla, I said "oh no I at friend house.". so probably they also take down the number of successful transactions a.k.a good reputation points to deem me trustworthy to deliver to another location.

so 8 numbers would be the number that calls you to do the booking.
6 numbers would be the person revealing his house postal code. but doesn't mean he has to reveal EXACTLY which unit he live. unless you stalk him or it's a landed property.
and a name/alias. like if his name is "fazril" or something, just "faz" will do.
so when he calls/MSNs to book with you as middle man, he just needs to go "faz <postalcode> <hpnumber> <time from> <time to> <which area/jam studio>"

so if he gives you a fake
1) number/private , call him back.
2) fake name
3) postalcode
(checkable at SLA MAP SERVICES AND STREET DIRECTORY or streetdirectory.com, but they're down currently)

if all fake and 1st transaction then after the prank (the time booked) no choice then blacklist, when he calls the next time just say "your transaction cannot be processed." or somethin. then you go figure how to improvise from here.

you realised I didn't mention anything about emails, because seriously emails are way too easy to change other than home addresses/names and handphone numbers. so hp still the way to go. you'll be easily pranked and more to jot down if emails.

gd luck!
60¢ worth

 

[dtrulez38]

great feedback!
seriously hope this will go nicely...

 

[cereal]

I feel usually most of the time, "no-shows" result in inconsiderate jammers cancelling last minute and they don't bother to inform the studio.

I hope this online booking thing works well for you. The best way would be to do it like how cinemas do it here, "pay first, get tixs later".

In any case having online payment methods is the best cos that is one way of weeding out the pranksters as imo pranksters are usually young teens who won't have any means of accessing credit cards or debit cards.

 

[blueprintstudios]

cereal : we can't just follow plainly cinemas or macdonalds methods , because each of them has their pros and cons, but definitely one thing that will work is if you can figure out an X marks the spot point in BETWEEN that caters the best of both worlds without the worst of both also then that'll be really great.

cinemas : pay first, get item later.
a.k.a customer pays. then goes to "collect" his item from supplier.
pros : cinemas will NEVER lose out.
cons : kids don't have credit cards./debit cards.

macdonalds : order first. cash on delivery.
a.k.a customer orders. and the supplier delivers items. then customer pays.
pros : client will never lose out and gets the convenience of 24 hours thingy.
cons : mcdonalds i'm sure they get lots of bogus scam calls.

jam studio (standard way) : order first. pay upon collection.
a.k.a book first, go jam . and pay finally.
pros : similar to macdonalds. the jam studio will always be there. payment after use of room.
cons : but the band will not ALWAYS be there to show up on time. causing jam studio to lose out.

we can't just simply stereotype and let the kids who are great payees answer fault for the ones who suck. so membership via HP/home address postal code should be great because that's what most kids (heck even primary sch kids!) have. unlike debit/creditcards for verification.

so we can work off from here after analyzing the situation more indepth. so any pranksters here who would like to atone his sins help contribute? =)

 

[hellven]

Thanks for the feedback. Let me answer the points one by one.


"theunknown"
>> maybe u can make an advertising space for the studios, so they can showcase what they have in the studios with some photos, what equipment they have, their location.. not just for bookings. once successful, u can charge them of course.

-- yes there is already a page dedicated to every studio, but so far it is a very simple one with 4 picture allocations and a simple studio description. The next phase (about 3 months later) will see a more dedicated page for every studio with ratings and comments by users similar to the youtube system.

>> oh yeah one problem though, people may just go to the website to check available slots then call the studios directly to avoid paying the pay-as-you-book-online fee.

-- yes this WILL happen. because the studios benefit from collecting booking fees, they might choose to collect the same flat booking fee regardless of whether users call through phone or internet booking. this will have its own set of problems of course and we can't predict with certainty what might happen, but i believe the $2 booking fee should be relatively easy to ease into. After all, for an average band consisting 5 musicians, it works out to only $0.40 extra per member.

"gothviruz"
>> Just imagine this, for example, Band A book room 1 at 2pm. Band A too wants to book same slot but we tell them, "sorry fully booked". Then Band A either no show or during the last minute called to say cant make it. And the room will be left unused. Some dun even bother to call to cancel..

-- yes this is a typical problem that persists in studios. on my site, a "waiting list" system has been implemented. Users still can book slots that have already been booked and they would be automatically placed under a waiting list. In the event that the bands cancels, the first on the "waiting list" would be automatically informed via SMS that the slot is theirs. But if the band does a no-show, the studio still has a list of users under waiting list they can call. Its a low chance that the band-in-waiting can turn up at the last minute, but still better than having no one under waiting list at all.

"blueprintstudios"
>> we can't just simply stereotype and let the kids who are great payees answer fault for the ones who suck. so membership via HP/home address postal code should be great because that's what most kids (heck even primary sch kids!) have. unlike debit/creditcards for verification.

-- yes this is the reason why i decided not to go with credit/debit card booking. Not all musicians have debit cards, esp the younger ones. it would be tough to give membership based on address registration since i would not be able to confirm their address is correct. i would advise studios to call or sms users the day before to confirm their bookings. this isn't foolproof and would cost the studios a bit more in phonebills, but i know of studios who are already doing that.


Please keep the possible scenarios coming. this is very helpful indeed!


PS: i'm looking for a graphic designer to do the art for my site at a low budget. students or part-timers most welcome. if you know of anyone who fits the bill, please get them to PM or email me with whatever portfolio they have!

 

[john_dzite]

I really really really love this idea. Because this problem always happen to me. Like you want to find a studio but ur handphone no battery and ur house phone is being used by ur idiotic siblings. Then everytime you call, they always say the slot is full and you got to call several studios more which costs a few more money. This system can actually save your time seriously...

I support this idea! You rule!

 

[shinobi]

this is a good idea. especially when people would rather come online and spam forums asking "how much is this", "is there stock".... instead of calling the shops

telephones... omg what a hassle you must be crazy

 

[blueprintstudios]

hellven : the thing about my suggestion on the postal code thing. because 1) it's more privacy for the consumer and easier for you to search. 2) as I've mentioned my method wouldn't work if the prankster calls and say everything fake for the first time. but that's unavoidable even if he had to give out his full name/ic/address , they could all be fake. but seriously there are ppl who got better things to do, this will only happen for the "1st time per pranker per hp number" then after that further phone calls. you just need to run a database check of the hp number they're calling in from, and verify that this guy is either NEW or BLACKLISTED. and you can simply ignore his calls or ask for a valid explanation.

in case you were wondering "DATABASE" ... it's called microsoft excel or openoffice spreadsheet. then you "CTRL-F" find the number. y'know
NAME / HP / POSTCODE / EMAIL / Feedback
WeatherMan / 65427788 / 8877245 / weather@forecast.sg / 10

when he calls and make a booking, if his number is private, he'll have to state his number then you just find through the spreadsheet (PLS MAKE BACKUPS). or his house postalcode. and what "10" means is that he's done 10 successful transactions and you just need to "increase" this number each time the jam studio hasn't called back to complain about MIA guy. if jam studio calls in , just replace it with a "9". but then again if you wanna keep track if a certain guy SOMETIMES fly kite, then instead of numbers you can use +++++(plus) or ---- (minus). e.g. "+++-+++-" = this guy has turned up 6 times but fly kite twice. then you can at least do a reminder over the phone that "pls make sure you turn up or call in advance if any cancellation because your records show that you don't turn up sometimes".

yes phone bills will cost. but trust me using MSN/Emails online bookings this way will cause LOADS of fake IDs trying to "register/book jam studios" in your name. and probably sabotaging your middle man deal with the jam studio.

MAYBE you can use emails registration/verification/booking AFTER at least 3 successful "deals" with regular members who register via postalcode/hpnumber. then you can deem this guy trustworthy enough to do "internet booking" .it's his loss if he were to pull stunt on you cos this is indeed a good idea.

if you're concerned with phonebills. I mean heck how much can it cost , 10cent 20 cent? just call say "got show up? no?yes? ok thx bye" then increase your booking rate from $2 to $3. $1 more just to cover phone bills per band. that's not too hard, now average band has 4 members to 6. surely they can fork out 50¢ to 60¢ more per band? then when it's for a band that has positive feedback, then you can charge $2 booking for them back for consistency.

hope this helps
50¢ worth

 

[XLayaR]

I'm sure this idea will change the way we book studios from now on.

Here's a thought(and correct me if this has been brought up before)
-To help facilitate the booking scheme we can create a calender for each jamming studio so we're able to view when and what time there are slots.(like how you choose seats at cinemas)

PROS:saves time, on both sides, to call and check then double check with mates
CONS:TROUBLESOME(for studio owners)
expect lotsa bandwidth to be taken up

and I think the no-showing would be a problem even without this system