Show HN: BandMatch – “Tinder” but for finding musicians to create bands/collab

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Overall concept & reception

  • Many like the idea of a dedicated musician-matching service; several say they’ve wanted something similar.
  • Others feel the “Tinder for X” framing is off-putting, given Tinder’s reputation and different underlying incentives.
  • Some musicians report similar apps tend to fail due to low critical mass and inactive accounts.

Location, privacy, and geography

  • Strong resistance to mandatory location permission; several want manual city selection and the ability to browse other cities (especially when traveling).
  • Concerns raised that blocking manual location only inconveniences honest users, since spoofing GPS is trivial.
  • Many request a toggle to allow global / online collaboration rather than local-only, especially given remote recording workflows.
  • App initially limited to US/Canada; later opened to UK/Australia. Some argue translations shouldn’t block wider release; others note GDPR requirements for EU/UK.

UI/UX: swiping vs search

  • Heavy criticism of swipe-only UI:
    • Hard to browse, revisit, or maintain a “maybe” list.
    • Swiping left permanently hides profiles even when users are just exploring.
    • Feels like a dark pattern borrowed from dating apps, not suited to band formation.
  • Many prefer a searchable/filterable list (by instrument, genre, distance, commitment) with optional favorites.
  • Some argue swiping yields valuable explicit preference data and can power better matching, but even supporters want a neutral “skip/maybe” option.

Onboarding, profiles, and content

  • Users dislike that you must register and complete a profile before seeing any content; they want to browse first.
  • Strong sentiment that music samples are essential: auto-playing audio clips, short self-intro videos, and/or embedded SoundCloud/YouTube.
  • Linking only to external platforms is seen as high-friction; some want in-app hosting despite complexity and copyright risks.
  • Suggestions include mandatory media for credibility/safety and even photo requirements for meetups.

Platform & implementation

  • Several request a web/desktop version; some avoid installing niche apps.
  • Others argue mobile apps (and app-store discovery) are what mainstream users expect; PWA literacy is low.
  • Creator notes it’s an MVP built mainly to learn React Native and real-time messaging, with filtering and richer media planned.

Competition & differentiation

  • Multiple references to existing services (BandMix, Vampr, regional “Bandmatch”, others).
  • Critiques that the new app is currently less feature-rich and has a smaller network; some question whether to continue versus using incumbents.
  • Ideas to differentiate: project-based matching, support for venues/hires, non-band roles (producers, beatmakers, drum machines/samplers), and possibly scraping public profiles to seed content.