FAQ

We are always interested to hear what challenges in band life we might be able to help with.

Suggestions to improve or change existing functions are also very welcome!

Feel free to send us your feedback and suggestions to support@band.zone .

Of course!

BANDZONE is currently operated on a system hosted by all-inkl in Germany (also see our data protection information).

The database and uploaded files are also backed up there on a daily basis.

BANDZONE does not offer live performance or offline functionality at the moment.

Our focus is currently on everything organizational outside of live performance.

This includes creating and exporting setlists (for live performance), song notes (e.g. during rehearsals or individual practice), and files for songs. However, we are not (yet) a live sheet music or text app - there are already several other apps for this purpose.

BANDZONE is a good option for bands and ensembles that perform without notes/lyrics and/or work with printed setlists (created in BANDZONE), and that are looking for an intuitive tool for their off-stage tasks.

But it is not always an “either/or”:
We also have bands with us where some musicians perform live using one of the "live tools", but manage their appointments, etc. via BANDZONE.

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Regarding this, our article on the topic of a 'Native App' might also be interesting.

You currently cannot do this on your own. Please send us an e-mail to support@band.zone - we can initiate that switch for you.

Short answer: No and yes ... ;)

"Real" recurring events: no

“Real” recurring event are currently not planned as a feature because...

1) ... we have already had some negative experiences with the “big official” calendar service providers in a similar context.
If you are operating within a single environment (e.g. ONLY Microsoft Outlook 365), this usually still works to some extent, but as soon as several different calendar clients are involved (i.e. BANDZONE plus various other clients that can subscribe to the band calendar the “fun” starts.

2) ... the above problem becomes disproportionately bigger, the more has to be "done" in individual events of the series. For example: individual availabilities, notes, setlists, various status values of individual events, etc. Solving all this for many environments causes ongoing technical pain without too much added value compared to our solution (see below).

3) ... we want to provide you with the most stable, reliable and cross-platform calendaring experience possible.

Better, yet "unreal" recurring events : yes !

We have the possibility to create multiple appointments as easily and quickly as possible with identical data using the “+ + Multiple events” button (1):

Events created this way still are dedicated events.

The only difference: We also save a group information for events created that way. A group name can also be entered by you on creation. Events within a group have a special event group icon in the date area. All the events within the group can be accessed via this link.

The optional notifications about new event groups (3) also includes a link directly to this event group so that the individual events can be accessed quickly.

Example of using event groups: rehearsals

Rehearsals can be created this way, for example, 3 months or more in advance.

All band members can also be set as “available” (2)!

This eliminates the need for everyone to confirm the standard case, i.e. that you are present for the rehearsal.

The future

But that is just the beginning. We have planned to make certain thing changeable for a whole event groups as well. Also things like adding events to a group etc.
This brings us closer and closer to the “usual” recurring event feature, but without having to deal with all their side effects.

Our goal is to bring you the most stable, reliable and cross-platform calendaring experience possible!

The "classical" recurring events approach did not allow us to do that.

You cannot do this yourself right now (we are working on it).

However, you can send us a CSV or XLS file and we will do the import for you.

You can't pause a subscription right now.

But feel free to send us an e-mail to support@band.zone - we will definitely find a solution!

For monthly plans

You currently cannot change plans on your own.

However, you can cancel monthly plans and then immediately book a new, even smaller, plan if your band meets the criteria.

Drawback (currently still): Days not used in the last payment period expire when booking a new package.

Alternative: Contact us via email at support@band.zone - we can change plans for you in the backend.

For lifetime plans

Lifetime plans can also currently not be changed by you yourself.

But feel free to contact us via email at support@band.zone - we can initiate a plan change to a higher plan for you.

Lifetime plans cannot be switched to a smaller tier plan.

Unfortunately, a direct takeover is currently not possible.

But there is an...

... alternative option

• Your bandmate can cancel the subscription
• and every band member can then book a new subscription immediately after cancellation (this new subscription then starts immediately)

Since your band can still use BANDZONE until the end of the payment period, you have no interruption in use.

Even after the payment period has expired, a new plan can be booked for the band at any time. The band's data is completely retained and you can therefore pick up where you left off.

By the way, every band member also receives a notification for the cancelation as soon as a monthly subscription is canceled. So nobody will be surprised about the end of a subscription.

Lifetime packages

Lifetime packages entitle the band to use BANDZONE permanently. This means that these packages can neither be canceled or transfered.

Even if the band member who booked the package leaves the band, the band can continue to use BANDZONE within this lifetime plan.

It may happen that some band members cannot or do not want to use BANDZONE.

Some things, such as event availability, can already be set by the admin for other band members, but there are 2 exceptions:

1. Personal absences
2. Personal song ratings

Why

1. Absences in BANDZONE are not limited to the band, but are stored for the user. This means that users who are active in several bands do not have to enter them multiple times.
2. Song ratings are currently deliberately kept anonymous - even for admins. As a result, they also have no access here.

In addition, for the things that an admin can already change for others a BANDZONE account still has to exist for these “others” .

That leads to...

The question

How do you add planned absences, set event availabilities, etc., for fellow musicians who do not use BANDZONE?

The answer

You can create an account on behalf of other band members without them using BANDZONE.

The account can also be “handed over” to them later and they can still use personalized calendar subscriptions, for example.

How does that work?

You invite the corresponding band members with an e-mail address that you have access to yourself:

• Option 1 : You use another email address or an email alias of yours that is not used for BANDZONE (many email providers allow for email aliases to be created)
• Option 2 : You use one of the email alias services, which forward a new email address to your existing email address
  • This option is more for experienced users (and is therefore not described further here)
  • Depending on the service, there may be delays in delivery
• Option 3 : You use the “+” trick for the email address
  • It is supported by many email services
  • It is very easy to use, namely:

The “+” trick for email addresses

This trick works, for example, for Gmail but also many other email services - as follows:

Let's say you already have the regular email address alex@example.com , then you can create another email address by adding “+” and any other text before the “@” sign.

With that you get from alex@example.com to e.g. alex+bandzone@example.com just by appending “+bandzone”.

E-mails that are sent to the new address generated in this way are delivered to the original e-mail box by many e-mail services.

Practical example

• Sam can't use BANDZONE, but everyone else is already registered and is using BANDZONE.
• Alex (alex@example.com) is an admin for the band and has agreed to manage Sam's BANDZONE account.
• Alex invites Sam via the band member management using the e-mail address alex+sam@example.com and completes the registration for Sam.
• Alex can then log in to BANDZONE “as Sam” with this new email address and
  • change the nickname to “Sam”
  • enter absences
  • copy the calendar subscription link (and send it to Sam... :) )
  • etc.
• Optional for later:
  • Should Sam be able to use BANDZONE independently at some point, Alex just has to change the email address of this account from alex+ sam@example.com to Sam's “correct” email address.
  • After this change, Sam will have access to everything that has been done and everything that is yet to come :)

In other words:

Does a paid subscription automatically start after the trial period and do I therefore have to cancel it if I no longer want to use BANDZONE?

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No. You only need your email address for registration. No payment details are required and you do not start any subscription yet.

So you don't have to cancel anything before the trial ends.

Once your 32-day trial has passed, you'll keep your BANDZONE account, but you won't have access to your band data anymore. You can decide at any time to continue using BANDZONE via a subscription or a one-time payment, delete your account or 'leave it as is', for example to just receive our newsletter.

You can cancel an active monthly subscription anytime via your band's subscription page. You can access this page via the main navigation as follows:

The subscription page for the currently active band can also be reached via https://band.zone/currentSub.

Lifetime packages

You can't (and don't have to) cancel a lifetime package. Your band can permanently use a lifetime package booked for them - even if you should leave the band.

Restriction of cancellation in case of payment problems

You can't cancel a monthly subscription that has payment issues until the payment issues are resolved. On your band's subscription page, you'll find a link to update your payment details:

The link leads to a special page of our payment service provider Paddle, where you can update your payment details or store new data.

As an admin, you can only indirectly delete a band by removing yourself from the band as the last band member.

You can remove yourself from a band in two ways:

1. By deleting yourself from the band member list‍
   • With that you can delete a single band, but keep all your other bands as well as your BANDZONE account.
   • To do that first remove all band members from the band and then
   • Delete yourself from the band - you will also be given a notice that the band will now be deleted.
2. By deleting your BANDZONE account‍
   • By deleting your entire BANDZONE account, any band where you are the only remaining member will be deleted. You will also receive a notification about which bands will be deleted.

Why is it so complicated?

Considering that bands usually have several members and in most cases a lot of relevant data is stored in BANDZONE, deleting a band should not be too straightforward. Therefore, this measure aims to minimize the risk of accidental deletion.

In fact, data recovery is only possible with significant effort, if at all...

The “Your account” link in the main navigation menu will take you to the “Delete BANDZONE Account” link:

On the “Delete BANDZONE account” page, you will be shown again:

• Which data you no longer have access to after deletion
• Which bands and data may be deleted because you are the last band member
• and which of your subscriptions may be canceled

At the bottom of the page, you must confirm the deletion by entering a text and can then delete your account.

Do you want delete your whole band?

If there are other band members in a band besides you, this band will NOT be deleted if you delete your account.

You can find out how to delete a band here »

You can enter your data or the data of your band directly in the checkout process in step 4 via the “Add VAT number” link (all data is mandatory):

If you enter the VAT number (and other company details) directly during the checkout process, sales tax will no longer be shown.

Alternatively, you can also enter the company details on the invoice retrospectively (but then the sales tax will still be shown on the invoice):

With a BANDZONE account

When you registered, you have already indicated whether you would like to be informed about news.

However, you can change this at any time in your account in the “Notification settings”:

A separate registration for the newsletter via the website isn't necessary if this setting is activated.

Without a BANDZONE account

If you don't have a BANDZONE account, you can sign up for the newsletter via our website.

There are 3 ways to get to your band's subscription overview, which also allows you to book a new plan:

1. From the main navigation ("Your subscription" or the direct link https://band.zone/currentSub)
2. Via the band overview https://band.zone/myBands
3. Using the top navigation link next to your name (available as long as you do not have a subscription)

On the subscription overview, you will find all options for booking a suitable plan.

You cannot book a plan under the following circumstances:

1. Your band already has an active monthly package
2. Your band already has an active “Lifetime” package

In the first case, you can book a plan as soon as the band member who owns the current subscription cancelled it. You can see the name of the owner in the plan's info block.

In the second case, your band can use BANDZONE permanently - even if the band member who has booked the lifetime plan leaves the band. So there is actually no need to book a new plan... :)

If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at support@band.zone.

You will receive the link to the invoice with the confirmation email by Paddle.

You will also find links to all invoices in the subscription block on your band's subscription page at https://band.zone/currentSub :

If more than one invoice is available, the billing area can be collapsed/expanded.

Please note: the links (as mentioned in blue) will redirect you to the invoice view at our payment service provider Paddle.

How long?

Whereever you see BANDZONE coupon codes, it is usually also stated whether there is a limit: i.e. a time limit or a maximum number of bookings for which a specific coupon code can be used.

If there is no information about the duration, the coupon codes are valid for 1 month after creation or publication.

How often?

If there is no explicit statement about the limit of possible bookings, a coupon code can be used as often as you like during time it is valid.

Coupon codes can also be used by a single person as often as they like (e.g. when booking for several bands).

For what?

Usually, coupon codes apply to all plans (monthly and one-time payment).

However, certain coupon codes may be limited to special plans. We will indicate this, if possible, where the coupon code is displayed. When you apply a coupon code on the booking page, you will always see which plans it is valid for and the savings for each.

Coupon codes cannot be combined.

You can currently test BANDZONE with all of your bands for 32 days - with no restrictions.

You can't do it yourself.

But feel free to contact our support at support@band.zone - we'll find a solution.

In rare cases, it may indeed happen that an email cannot be delivered.

We regularly check the logs of our transactional emails with our email service provider “Brevo”.

Should we identify problems there (e.g. soft bounces), we will immediately investigate them and may even get back to you via email.

You can do the following things yourself:

• Check your spam folder
• Check that the email address you were invited with is correct - spelling mistakes happen...
• Contact us via support@band.zone - we will immediately check whether we can fix the problem

Currently, BANDZONE is a pure web app, meaning it works in almost any browser, whether desktop, tablet or mobile phone.

However, you can easily add BANDZONE to your home screen. This allows you to quickly access BANDZONE and gives you more space on the screen because the navigation bar is not present anymore.
Almost an app feeling! :)

We created two help articles for that:

• Add BANDZONE to the home screen on iOS »
• Add BANDZONE to the home screen on Android »

We also created an article containing more details on the reasoning for keeping BANDZONE a web app for now, as well as some smartphone screenshots.

Yes!

You can book each plan both as a monthly subscription and as a one-time payment.

For details about the plans, please have a look at our pricing page.

During the trial period, you can use BANDZONE as if you had booked the “Plus” plan. This means you'll face (almost) no usage restrictions - only those that are also active in general and with the Plus plan: namely, a maximum of 32 band members and 8GB storage space.

You can book a paid plan at any time during the trial period, e.g. to use limited-time coupon codes before they expire. Unused test days expire if you book a plan during an active trial period.

After the trial period has ended, all of your band's data will be retained and you can book a suitable plan at any time. After booking, you can pick up where you left off.

You can access the booking page for each band via your band overview https://band.zone/myBands and, in the case of an unexpired subscription, via the main navigation in the band section:

After you leave the band or delete your account, your monthly subscription for that band is canceled automatically.

If the band continues to exist after you leave the band or delete your account (because there are still band members), your band can still use BANDZONE until the end of the payment period.

Each band member is informed about the cancelation of the monthly subscription via e-mail and can then book a new plan for the band at any time.

If you purchased a lifetime plan for a band, this band can continue to use BANDZONE permanently as long as it exists. A lifetime plan is a one-time payment and therefore does not have to be “canceled”.

From BANDZONE you will get an email

• to confirm your email after registration
• when you use the “Forgotten password” feature
• after 8 days and after 28 days during the test period
• as confirmation for booking a paid plan
• to confirm the cancellation (your band members will also receive the cancellation confirmation. This is so that someone else may decide to continue the subscription without interruption, for example if you leave the band and cancel the subscription as a result.)
• depending on the notification settings in your account, whenever a notification is triggered by you or your bandmates (currently, for example, when there are changes in availability or when someone explicitly uses the notification function)

From Paddle (our payment service provider) you will receive the following emails:

• A confirmation of your booking
• A monthly email for every recurring payment
• If you cancel, you will receive a confirmation of cancellation
• If there is a problem with your billing, you will receive up to 3 emails within 7 days asking you to update your payment details

The trial period for a band starts as soon as the band is created.

This means that you can test BANDZONE separately with each of your bands.

The language is automatically recognized by the system during registration and on the login screen based on your browser settings.

However, you can also explicitly select a language in your BANDZONE account:

Generally

BANDZONE is currently operated on a system hosted by all-inkl in Germany (see also our data protection information).

The database and uploaded files are also regularly backed up there.

Payment and subscription data

Your payment details are stored exclusively with our payment service provider Paddle.

However, in the BANDZONE system, we also store the following subscription data (including lifetime plans):

• The ID of the plan booked
• Paddle's subscription ID (this will also be shown on your band's subscription page once you've booked the plan)
• The status of the subscription
• Subscription start, update and end dates

For invoices, we store:

• Checkout ID and order ID
• Gross invoice amount, VAT and currency
• The URL to the Paddle invoice
• Payment date, creation and update date

With the help of this data, we can, for example, quickly check the access authorization for your band, display data to you and communicate with Paddle via their programming interface.

You can currently pay with credit card, PayPal, Google Pay and Apple Pay.

Google Pay works with Chrome Browser on Android, Windows, and MacOS.

Apple Pay works with Safari on macOS or on iPhone and iPad.

If you have any questions about the subscription, before/after a booking or in general, feel free to contact us at support@band.zone .

4YKINGS GmbH is the company that has operated BANDZONE and developed it further since its founding in 2019.

Before 4YKINGS was founded, BANDZONE was developed privately by Tobias Gasser (CEO of 4YKINGS).

BANDZONE is therefore not (yet) an independent company, but a product of 4YKINGS GmbH.

For this reason, 4YKINGS GmbH appears wherever it is legally necessary.

Paddle is our payment service provider and a so-called MoR (merchant of record). This means that this company acts as a reseller of BANDZONE.

The contract to use BANDZONE is therefore concluded between you and Paddle (for company details, see also our general terms and conditions).

This type of billing is a common model for online software and has several major advantages for BANDZONE and for you:

• We don't have to worry about worldwide tax rules (which in many cases would also require a separate company in the respective country)
• We don't have to worry about invoicing and monthly billing
• We don't have to worry about checking payment details and payment issues
• We can easily offer BANDZONE in many different currencies
• ... and much more.

Ultimately, this means:
‍We are spared a large part of bureaucracy and can therefore concentrate more on the further development of the BANDZONE!

So a win for all sides! :)

‍

If you are interested in further details, you can find more information directly from Paddle on the following page: https://www.paddle.com/blog/what-is-merchant-of-record

We wanted to use “real” and consistent photos as possible in a certain style for the BANDZONE.

That is why we used photos from one of our band's extensive photo shoots. With permission from everyone involved, of course - thanks again to all of you! :)

But: in the band we are just “boys”, so...

We are of course aware of this deficit in representing all musicians and hope that all "non-boys" will continue to overlook this until we have made improvements.

Our payment service provider Paddle currently only provides invoices in English.

This may change in the future. Unfortunately, we have no influence on this.

The slightly lighter background area in the booking process at steps 3 and 4 comes entirely from our payment service provider Paddle (integration is done via a so-called IFRAME):

This means that although we have control over the design up to the frame marked in red above, we have very limited influence within this frame.

E.g. we don't have any influence on the labeling of fields, buttons and other texts.

That is why the main button says “Subscribe now” not only for monthly packages, but also for lifetime and support packages.

The country and postal code are collected by Paddle to combat fraud.

We are currently unable to deactivate this.

Here is the corresponding statement from Paddle:

“We only collect this information because local legislation requires us to do so. [...] to verify VAT numbers, company information, cardholder details, etc.”

For technical reasons, the lifetime package is currently a 99-year subscription (also see our terms and conditions for paid plans). For this reason, this period is also shown accordingly on the invoice.

But

This lifetime subscription is paused immediately and automatically after ordering (effective date in 99 years), so that you (or your grandchildren;)) will not be charged again in 99 years.

On your band's subscription page, you won't see anything about a next payment (because there isn't one) and you can't cancel this package either.

This means: the only place where you will encounter the effects of this current minor technical limitation is in the billing period of the invoice.