Guide
Band Connect user guide
Start a band, pick songs with your friends, vote, and email everyone the set list, in five quick steps on your phone. Nothing to install, and it's free.
Last updated: October 13, 2026. If the screen ever differs from this guide, the screen is right; tell us with Send feedback at the bottom of any page.
What Band Connect is
Band Connect takes you from "we should jam sometime" to a band with a set list everyone agreed on. You start a band, pick the songs you'd like to play, text your friends one invite link, everyone votes with a thumbs-up, and the finished lineup and set list land in everyone's inbox. After that, the same pages run the band: the jam date, gigs, your fans and fan emails.
- The band leader starts the band, invites friends, makes the set list, and runs the fan side.
- Band members (the friends you invite) join from the link, add songs, vote, and get the band emails.
- Fans never need an account. They scan the band's QR code, leave their email, and hear about shows.
Getting started
The welcome page
Open Band Connect signed out and you see the welcome page, with Start a new band and Log in. Joining a friend's band? Skip it and open the invite link they sent you.
The menu bar
- The logo (top left) takes you to your band's home page. In several bands, it opens About Band Connect, where Go to my band picks up where you left off.
- Guide opens this page.
- Signed out: Log in. Signed in: Menu (My band or My bands, About Band Connect, Guide) and Log out, with "Signed in as your name" so you know which account this is.
- Log out brings you back to the Band Connect welcome page.
The step bar and your band's home page
On each step the top says "Step N of 5", with numbered buttons: 1 About you 2 Songs 3 Invite 4 Vote 5 Set list. Band leaders also see 6 Fans, the optional fan tools: QR sheet, fan page, fan list, new-fan notices and song requests. Tap any step you've already reached to go back to it. The bar is on every step page, and Band home (also first in the Menu) takes you back to your band's home page.
Where you land when you sign in: once your band's email has gone out, your band's home page. Before that, the step you are on. Band leaders can always invite someone from Invite someone on the home page or in the Menu.
Tap the logo for your band's home page: the band name, the jam session, Continue where you left off, and every step marked Open, Done or Not yet.
In more than one band
Each band has its own songs, votes and set list. Tap another band's name under "Step N of 5", pick a band under My bands in the Menu, or use the Your bands card on the band's home page.
Logging in, and forgotten passwords
- Already have an A&R Guru account? Tap Log in (top right, or in the note at the top of the sign-up and invite pages). You come straight back.
- On the sign-in page, enter your Email or Username and Password and tap Sign In.
- Forgot it? Tap Forgot your password?, enter your email, tap Send Reset Link, then follow the link in the email and tap Set New Password.
The five steps
For the band leader. You need an email you can check now, a few songs in mind, and a way to text your friends.
1Step 1: Start your band
- Tap Start a new band.
- Fill in Your name, Email and Password (or tap Log in in the note at the top if you have an account).
- Under What do you play?, check everything you play. Singers, check Vocals.
- Band name: type one, or leave it blank and we'll call it your first name's Jam Band.
- Band email (optional): a shared address, if the band has one. Fans' messages go there.
- Tap Start my band.
Verify your email
The page says "Check your inbox to verify your email." Open the email Verify your A&R Guru email address and tap Verify My Email. Leave Band Connect open: it moves on to Step 2 by itself (or tap Continue to your songs).
Typo? Edit Email Address, then Save and resend. Nothing after a minute? Check Junk or Spam, then Resend the link.
2Step 2: Your songs
- Find a song: type a title or artist, then tap the song row to add it. Adding a song counts as your first 👍.
- Can't find it? Type it in: enter the Title and Artist and tap Add.
- Add from your library: check songs you saved before and tap Add the ticked songs.
- Each song shows its length and a green ▶ button for a 30-second preview. The red trash button removes a song, with Undo.
- Tap Next: invite your friends. (Came back to add a song? The button takes you back to where you were, for example Done: back to voting.)
3Step 3: Invite your friends
Your band has one invite link for everyone. Text it to the group chat.
- No link yet? Tap Get your invite link to text friends.
- Tap Copy Invite Link to Text Friends, or Share… on a phone, and paste it into your text.
The link works at least two weeks, and always until the day after your jam. Move the jam later and the link stretches to match by itself.
When and where do you play? (optional)
Pick the Date and Time from the calendar and clock, type the Place, and tap Set the jam. To move it, change the fields and tap Change the jam. The jam shows on the invite, the join page, the voting page and the band email.
Prefer email?
Under Or email them an invite, edit Your letter, add Friends' email addresses, and tap Send invites. Tapped Set the jam first? Your addresses are kept, and the page says your invites have NOT been sent yet until you tap Send invites.
Who's in so far shows each friend as Sent, Joined, or Not reached, try again (with Try again). Then tap Go to song voting room; you don't have to wait there.
4Step 4: Agree on songs
Until a friend joins, the page shows your songs so far ("Voting opens as soon as one friend joins"), with Add or change songs, your invite link to copy or share, and who has joined.
As soon as one friend joins, voting opens:
- Tap 👍 or 👎 on each song. Tap the other thumb to change your vote.
- The list sorts itself, most 👍 at the top. Each song says who suggested it.
- There is no voting deadline.
- Add more songs, Send email to your band, and when the band has had its say, Next: make the set list.
5Step 5: The set list
- Tap Draft my set list. It starts with the 10 songs with the most 👍.
- Use ↑ and ↓ to set the order, ✕ to take a song out, and Add to set for more songs the band suggested.
- Check the total time under the list.
- Tap Confirm & Email Band. Everyone, you included, gets the lineup and set list by email.
For friends you invite
We also email you a link to confirm your address. Voting doesn't need it; sending an email to the band does.
Running your band
Your band is ready
After the set list goes out, step 5 shows the jam, the Lineup, the numbered Set list with its total time, and your next gig. From there:
- Suggest another song. Once the band votes it in, the leader sees Add to set list, then confirms and emails the update.
- Suggest a musician to the leader (members).
- Send email to your band, Rehearse this set, Open Stage view, Print set list, Download PDF.
- Members: Make leader, Remove, Leave the band (a leader hands over leadership first).
Everything here stays in Band Connect. Pages such as tipping, the band profile and the Electronic Press Kit settings open inside Band Connect with a Back to Band Connect button; Exit in rehearse, Stage view and the printouts brings you back to the page you opened them from. Your public Electronic Press Kit opens in a new tab.
Giving a bandmate permission (leader)
On your band's home page (step 5), press Members. Next to each bandmate you see Let them write to fans. Press it and that person can write and send letters to your fans. The name then shows a Can write to fans badge, and Stop takes it back.
Only the leader can give or take back permission. To hand over the whole band, press Make leader on the same page.
Your fans (leader, optional)
Your band's home page has a Your fans section below the steps. It is optional: the five steps, the set list and gigs never wait on it. Each item reads Set up or Not set up yet, for its own needs only; tap Set up next to an item whenever you like.
- Gig emails need your band's postal address (the law requires one in every fan email). It goes on the band profile.
- Tips need your own Stripe account.
- Fan list and New-fan notices are always there.
Gigs (leader)
- Add a gig: venue, date, times (Pacific), address and ticket link. Public gigs show on What's On and your fan page.
- Print QR sheet: fans scan it to join your list. Your fan list is yours; Export CSV anytime.
- Email your fans about gigs: set your band's postal address first (the law requires one in every fan email), then pick when gig emails go.
- Turn on your Electronic Press Kit and Set up tipping (your own Stripe account).
Song requests from fans
- Fans request songs for a specific gig. No account needed: they pick one of your upcoming public gigs, then a song from that gig's set list (or from your band's agreed songs if the gig has no set list yet).
- Requests open as soon as the gig is on the calendar and stay open through the show, until the gig ends.
- Start the show opens the live queue: one row per song, most requested first. New requests re-sort it on their own every few seconds.
- Tap the big Played button when you play a song and it drops off the list. Tapped the wrong one? Undo shows for 5 seconds. The smaller Dismiss button takes a song off without playing it.
Fans can write to your band
- Fans use Write to the band on your fan page. Every message is kept for the band and forwarded to the band's email, or to the leader's when the band has none. Your own address is never shown to the fan.
- The leader replies from your own email: just answer the forwarded message, and it goes to the fan.
- A fan who isn't following yet sees a Follow button on the Sent page, and the forwarded message ends with a Follow link for them. Either way, they join your fan list only after confirming by email.
- Replies to your fan emails will come to your band's fan address, your band's short name at fans.bandconnect.live (for example sandys-jam-band@fans.bandconnect.live), once that mail address is switched on. A band name over 30 characters needs a short name first.
