BAND MANAGER

Have you ever wanted to take control of a Rock Band and steer them to success? If the answer is yes, then Band Manager is for you. From hiring the talent to firing the talent, you will be in charge of every important aspect of the Bands rise to fame (or slide into obscurity). It will be a hard slog – playing gigs and writing songs can take it out of your Band, and as such you will have to carefully plan their schedules. If you’ve nurtured them well, then your Band could very well land a Recording Contract and release songs commercially. This will be the ultimate test; can they get a Number One single, or will they struggle to break the top ten. Their fate and their future rests in your capable hands.

HIRING TALENT:

Without anyone to play the instruments, your Band will amount to nothing, which is why the first thing you will have to do is hire people to play in your band. There are four main areas that must be filled; you will need a Drummer, a Bass player, a Lead Guitar play and of course, a Lead Vocalist. The clipboard at the bottom of the screen lists a number of applicants applying for a particular place in you band. Once you dismiss a person you will not be able to hire them later, and by advancing to the next day you will be presented by a new list of applicants – so choose carefully!

Each band member has a number of different statistics that will affect the progress of the game, these are as follows:

Name: The name of the band member

Gender: Whether the band member is male or female

Age: How old this person is (Please note that these three stats have no influence on the game whatsoever and are simply for realism)

Instrument: Refers to the instrument that the band member plays (or whether they are the singer)

Talent: This statistic is very important when your Band plays gigs and records tracks. The more talented the band members are, the more impressed the audience will be;

resulting in a better Gig and ultimately positive band recognition.

Charisma: Charisma is very important when performing on stage and when appearing on interviews. Good charisma results in more recognition.

Attitude: This refers to how well the band member conducts themselves in interviews and generally within the band. Someone with a low attitude is likely to cause frictions

within the band and attract bad publicity.

Appearance: In today’s shallow media market, Appearance is everything. Band members who are very photogenic and look good on stage are going to attract much more

media and fan attention.

Song Writing: When a song is written, it is this attribute that defines the quality of the song. The song writing attribute is ‘hidden’ which means there is no way of finding it

out.

WRITING SONGS:

The next thing you will want to do is to get your band to start writing songs. (You will need at least three songs before you can play a gig) You can do this by clicking on the ‘Record Track’ button, and as long as the band and currently writing – or not too tired – then they will start on a brand new track. This creative process will take a few weeks game time, so be patient. You can advance to the next week by clicking on the ‘Next Day’ button. I.e. one day equals a weeks worth of events.

When the band has completed a song, you will be notified and it will appear in the ‘Track List’ window.

PROMOTION:

Band promotion is vital if your band is to be recognised. By selecting a type of advertising in the ‘Promotion’ window, you will spend the specified amount on promoting the band each week. If you wish to decrease the amount of money you are spending, simply choose a smaller campaign or select ‘none’. This is very important in the early stages of your band’s development and you will need to build up some recognition before specific venues allow you to play.

PLAYING GIGS:

When your band has built up enough of a reputation, you will be able to play gigs – although obviously you won’t be able to play a stadium right away. You will have to start off small, playing at pubs etc. When the gig is over you will receive a Gig Report telling you how it went, how many people turned up and any profits made from ticket sales.

DEMO TAPE:

When your band is big enough, and they have a strong track, you may wish to send the song to a Record Company. You can do this by selecting the particular track from the ‘Track List’, and then clicking on the ‘Demo Tape’ button. The Record Company will get back to you the next week with their response. If they like you then they will sign you; this will allow you to release songs commercially and hopefully enter the charts.

RELEASING SONGS:

To release a song, simply double click on the track you wish to release. Every week the song sales will be calculated and you will receive a percentage of all sales made. Promotion is extremely important at this stage, and all promotion invested will be spread across all your released tracks. Check the Music Chart regularly to see where your song gets!

BAND HOLIDAYS:

If your band is becoming tired or things are getting a little overheated between members, try sending your band away on a week’s break. They should come back feeling refreshed, revived and ready to work. This option is not free however; it will cost you £350 for the benefit of getting those whining youths out of your hair.

INTERVIEWS:

Every now and then your Band will be invited to do an interview, either on the Radio or TV. This is when individual attributes come into play; Attitude and Charisma will determine how an interview goes, and band members with good appearance look good on T.V shows.

SACKING BAND MEMBERS:

If you have a particularly unruly band member, and they are causing severe unrest, then the only option is to sack them. This is last the last resort as it will affect the popularity of your band but will also make other band members happy to be rid of the bad element. You will of course have to hire someone new to fill in the gap before you can start writing songs again. To sack someone, select them and click on the ‘Sack Member’ button to do the dirty deed.

MUSIC LESSONS:

Every week you have the option to make your band practise, even if they are tired. Note however, that making them practise when they want to rest will only decrease their morale. If you want to turn your band into masters of their craft, then you can book music lessons for individual members to make their Talent rating increase faster. Simply click on the member you wish to book lessons for and then click on the ‘Music Lessons’ button.

TIPS ON PLAYING:

- Make sure you do plenty of Promotion early in the game and that you write your three songs so you can start playing gigs as soon as possible.

- Keep an eye on the money situation, if you are low, try doing some gigs to bring in extra cash.

- Gig ratings are very important; they are an indication of which songs are more popular and your overall band popularity.

- Only send Demo Tapes when you are managing to fill out the Nightclubs and Music halls, The Record Company is unlikely to sign you if you have little recognition. The strength of the Track is also very important, record new songs when your band members have high Talent ratings.

- Music lessons can get your band members up to good talent levels quickly, but can be expensive. Use sparingly and try not to push your band members too hard when it comes to practising; they need their rest just like you.

CONTACTING US:

If you experience any bugs or problems, we would be grateful if you could let us know so we can be sure to fix them. You can e-mail us at:

gecko_games@yahoo.com

Alternatively you can visit the website to find out about newer versions and our other games: www.geocities.com/gecko_games