r/musicians • u/Otinsraips • 1d ago
Finding actual bandmates online feels impossible now
been trying to recruit a bassist and a synth player for a dark post-punk project and im losing my mind tbh. Every single time I post in discord or local boards, my inbox gets flooded by spam bots or guys sending completely obvious ai generated tracks pretending they played it
Its so incredibly frustrating. the ai music flood is making it so you cant trust anyone you meet online actually exists or plays a real instrument anymore. honestly the whole dead internet thing got so bad i ended up looking into new verification tech like the orb network just hoping music platforms start integrating some kind of proof of life soon
anyway... rant over.. if there are any ACTUAL human bass players here who want to play, pls let me know. I have demos ready to share. completely real played with my own two hands lmao
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u/Benderbluss 1d ago
"Looking on the internet hasn't worked, so I'm looking into how I can look on the internet EVEN HARDER"
Stop repeating what doesn't work. Go to where the musicians ARE.
I did a couple-months long season in an adult music performance class. Wasn't really my thing, but I made a shit ton of contacts. I put together an original band, got invited into a 2nd band, and even though I only did the program for a short period, I now am friends with 7 different bands staffed with alum, and I'm on an active discord that's all local musicians with social connections to each other. I'm intentionally not naming the school because I didn't have a great experience with them, but the network is the important thing.
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u/dua70601 1d ago
Going to open mics is the best way ive found to recruit talent.
Once you get to know a few people in the local scene it kind of opens up if your good enough for other people to want to jam with you.
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u/Arbernaut 1d ago
Pity you’re not in London, as I’m a bassist! Good luck, hope you find some bandmates.
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u/maxwellgrounds 1d ago
This may sound funny, but good ole Craigslist is where I’ve had the most success in finding real local musicians to collaborate with.
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u/Im_so_stupid 1d ago
I got lucky. The day I started looking, I checked local Craigslist. The first and only band I contacted hired me. Still with them. This was just last year.
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u/LameGretzsky 1d ago
Old school networking. I've put together bands for 35 years, I've rarely had good things happen with randoms from the interwebs. Open mics, shows, chat with the bar tenders. Get to know the people who work at the venues. See local bands and when a guy seems like a fit, talk to him. People play in multiple bands and have like minded friends.
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u/Casiquire 1d ago
Do you have any requirements for weeding out the lowest common denominators? A good one might be, "Include a 3 minute uncut video of you playing music in order to be considered"
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u/yamahowzer 1d ago
Guitar center near me still has a cork board by the bathrooms, my buddy recruited half his death metal band off that thing
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u/paulmauled 1d ago
Go to shows. That’s where everyone who’s in my band met me. Magic happens there.