Home / The Story Behind the Best App for Bands and Event Pros

The Story Behind the Best App for Bands and Event Pros

creators of the back on stage app reuben and eric

“It is a terrible thing to look over your shoulder when you are trying to lead — and find no one there.” - Franklin D. Roosevelt

Our Struggles

My name is Reuben, and I’m the bandleader for The Phonix, a 9-piece Canadian Funk & Soul band from Vancouver, BC. We’ve performed over a hundred events a year since 2009, and I understand the challenges of managing an event band.

For over ten years, I have been busy running around, in circles at times, to get things done. I worked hard, focusing all my energy on all the business tasks instead of growing my band and playing the music that I love.

Thankfully, one of my bandmates, Eric, stepped up to help with managing the band so I could finally have the freedom to focus on my vision of building a one-stop solution for band management. A dream for a software application that would automate the tedious tasks of band management that were wearing me out...

the phonix band at penticton peach fest

An App Built On In-Depth, Real-World Analysis

Back in 2013, during an 8-month period, I decided to keep a journal of all the band management tasks I completed to find out where my time went. I wanted to know how I could save time, generate more revenue, and have more time for my passions, which are music, family, and friends.

Here’s what I found out from my journal. To save time, book more gigs, and be more organized, I needed to speed up these five main areas:

Preparation of contracts and invoices
Booking and communicating with musicians
Preparation of set lists and maintaining the music library
Bookkeeping and paying musicians
Client communications

With thorough research, analysis, and Eric’s help, we spearheaded the Back On Stage project with the goal of making, hands down, the best app for bands and event industry pros, anywhere. Check out our in-depth study HERE.

A Solution That Will Save Thousands of Hours for Bandleaders, Musicians & Event Industry Pros

Back On Stage is a highly innovative software. It’s a web-based productivity app that allows bandleaders and event pros to book gigs in minutes instead of hours. The software automates most of our jobs using client relationship management (CRM), scheduling, communication, and repertoire management tools.

It saves us up to 80% of our administrative time and helps eliminate those late-night phone calls and oh-so-familiar feelings of "did I remember to book a drummer for gig X" and "Am I forgetting something?".

Back On Stage is an application that will keep bandleaders and event pros everywhere from losing any more hair!

Our Vision

The goal of Back On Stage is to help musicians and event pros optimize their capacity, generate more revenue, and improve professionalism, using ONLY a single organizational application. It will provide equal opportunities for all by levelling the management playing field.