How To Find A Musician? | Best Places To Find Musicians In The 21st Century

Finding a musician for a band can be a daunting task, especially if you’ve got gigs booked and one of the band members decides they'd just jet off to Bangkok – never to return…

What do you do?

Well, the team at Alive Network has put together a guide to help you!
In this guide we’ll provide you with the best physical and digital locations to help you find a musician/new band member, from record shops to online forums.

Physical world search

In the real world, there’s still loads of people and places you can go to, to find band members - like they did in the old days....

These people and places include:

• Music Shops – both record shops (the one’s that sell recorded music – remember those?) and musical instrument shops. The obvious place to look, ask and meet.
• Rehearsal spaces – check the notice boards and ask around
• Recording studios - maybe the next big recording artist is looking for a new member... or some session musicians are looking to start a band of their own.
• Theatres - check notice boards or just go and get involved.
• Magazine/Newspaper Ads – e.g. The Unsigned Guide UK.
• Go to gigs, ask around - keep your ears peeled. 
• Host/go along to open auditions.
• Go along to local societies and clubs.
• Use a press release to attract attention (a previous band mate may have left in a dramatic manor)
• Contact local promoters – they usually know what’s happening.
• Try the University or College in your area
• Busking – use a creative sign that says something like, “Looking for a band”.
• Record and give away CDs with your contact details on.
• Create and pass on some flashy business cards
• Open Mic nights - you were great...are you in a band?
• Flyering in hot-music spots.
• Churches (good for choirs and Christian bands)
• Mix and mingle in the local Pubs, Bars, Clubs and Music Halls
• Radio Stations - there's often a local BBC introducting scheme!
• Mates of Mates - and the obvious one to end with.

Online Search

Now the 21st Century methods:

Social Networks

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Google +
• Youtube
• Soundcloud
• Linkedin
• Bandcamp
• Tumblr
• Pinterest

Using Facebook to track band members down can reap reward if you know where to look. As you may know, there are 1.2 Billion users on Facebook and over 41,000 posts per second there is bound to be someone looking for a band mate close-by. Try searching for 'musicians wanted' in groups and pages and keep an eye on local band pages too.

Twitter is also a massive social tool when used properly. Searching for general keywords like 'drummer wanted' or hashtags, e.g. #musicianwanted can bring up thousands of results from tweeters in need. To narrow these results down, try ticking the 'Near You' search option; better still, you can search within your own follower circle.

Youtube, Soundcloud & Bandcamp (in that order) are the other major go-to 21st century places to find musicians. Youtube, for example, allows you to connect with other musicians locally and all over the world. If you're looking for someone who's serious and local then search for local bands or musicians with local keywords, watch their videos and leave a comment like, 'you're awesome, really enjoyed your cover - are you in a band?' or find another way to get in touch with them (that may involve going to their facebook page or going down other avenues of social media). Youtube videos are a great way to audition and judge musicians too - especially if you're looking for someone with a lot of stage presence, who really lets themselves go on video. Soundcloud and bandcamp also work in a similar way, except without the visual aid.

Social Apps

• Hootsuite
• Tweetdeck

Just naming two of the many social platofrm apps, these can help you track searches for specific keywords. This mean you can follow search terms like, looking for a band member for an infinite live feed of tweeting bands in need.

Advertisement sites

These sites can be gold mines for finding band members on the web. GumTree is a great example. You can add pictures and list your ad by location, making it easy for people in your area to find you.

• GumTree

Forums & Online Communities

Here you will find a lot of human interaction. Post in a current feed or create one of your own and sit tight for a reply.

• Reddit
• Punktastic
• MetalHammer
• Drowned in Sound

Dedicated band member search/ link-up sites

...are effectivly digital notice boards.

These sites are massively useful and can save a lot of time physically searching and can put you in contact with a fair number of potential band members within 5 minutes.

• Join My Band
• Band Mix
• Forming Bands
• Find A Musician
• Sound Shed
• Party Sounds
• Band Mate
• Band Vacancies
• Muso Finder
  
• Meet & Jam

Fan sites

Fan sites could be the fastest way to find a band member if you’re looking to join a tribute band. Leave a commenbt on their site or post in the forum. If you don't ask, you shall not receive!

Blogs

Blogs, like this one, are a fantastic way to get the research ball rolling. It's also a good idea to read a few similar blogs to see if one has tips that the other blogs missed...(if you do happen to find anything we've missed, feel free to leave your findings as a comment on this blog!)