Jam Studio Directory Idea

[nkf31]

Hi fellow softies,

I love what James and some other softies have started in getting a directory of jam studios up and running. It's difficult to keep it updated though, and I would love to see other info e.g. rental rates, equipment, conditions of the studios.

So I was thinking - what about improving on the online directory for jamming studios? Something like a hostelworld.com, but for jamming studios, where fellow musicians can view details about the studio, user-contributed ratings and reviews and even book a studio online/through your mobile phone.

My big question is - would you use something like that?

I've included some screenshots in the link below - http://bit.ly/studiokaki

Suggestions and criticisms welcome You can vote in the poll above as well.

 

[wjl123]

Looks good! I will probably use it, especially if i need to find a studio which is located at a convinent location for everyone in the band.
The rating and review thing is good for finding quality studios and the booking online thing seems quite awesome.

I think if the availability of slots thingy actually works, people can scroll through different studios and look for slots at the last minute without actually calling each studio to ask, win-win for both studio and band!

 

[carboxymoron]

I think there's a huge demand for this, especially the social/feedback element with ratings and reviews. The forum thread directory is impossible to maintain and newbies often have to find out the hard way which studios are good or bad.

Big user of hostelworld here so I like the direction too, though the centralised booking system might be a bit ambitious to start with.

Are you planning to develop this yourself?

 

[nkf31]

@carboxymoron

am not planning to self-develop, but work with a friend - if there is sufficient demand + potential for sustainability (if not i will bleed money heh). the social element will probably be the first step, but ideally bringing studios into the mix and allowing people to book via creditcard sounds like a possible monetisation strategy. as well as a win-win for the studio too, as wjl mentioned

so... would you guys book via credit card or paypal? haha.

 

[carboxymoron]

re: paypal, I would, but I'm guessing I don't represent the majority of studio users. A large percentage might be students without credit cards, for example, but I don't know actual stats.

The way I see it, you actually have two targets for such a project: the studios and the jammers. Considering a lot of studios themselves are not tech-savvy (some still using paper-based booking! Or very poor implementations of shared phone calendars), if you can offer a good booking solution for the studio owners, that's already a product in itself. And on the other hand is the booking fee for users.

 

[wjl123]

I agree with carboxymoron and it's probably best if you start off targetting jammers and build up a user base first then proceed to approach studios and get them to work with you.
I guess a separate smartphone app for studio managers and jammers to update their schedule and book studios respectively could be feasible.

Online payment can be tricky but it's definitely needed to deter jammers from last minute cancellations. I myself use paypal without a credit card by using POSB internet bank transfer to my paypal account, but i don't always have money in my paypal and the transfer process takes a day or two.

Another option could be to have jammers purchase credits through bank transfer, paypal, credit card or even prepaid card, which could be then used to book the studios for a smaller fee and pay only in full after the jamming session. Perhaps you can take a cut off the booking fee for your sustainability.

 

[carboxymoron]

Your last example is more or less the hostelworld model. Maybe to give some background, the site only handles a percentage of the total fee as a deposit, and also takes a small service charge.

For example, if the booking is $40 in total, maybe the user only has to pay a 10% deposit + $2 service charge through the site. So that's $6 through Paypal. The remaining $36 ($40-$4) is for the user to pay direct to the studio.

The deposit discourages cancellations, and the service charge helps the site provide the backend booking system to studios at minimal cost. Perhaps it could be a subscription system that's paid off using something like Bandcamp's revenue share model. That way studio owners are more likely to jump onto the system as it could be virtually free or very low cost.

 

[wjl123]

oh that seems about right. Bandcamp system seems practical and efficient, i guess theres many other options to explore too.

The main problem is probably the payment from the user and if the schedule of the studio were to be on the site, one could just bypass the booking system from your site and phone the studio directly after viewing it.