Martin Brändström: BandBond and the App Revolution

“After spending 20 years in the scene, you develop a certain intuition. Where you know that something is or is just not right. The metal community is a different kind. It is one that is incredibly open and accepting but you have to be honest. There has got to be that transparency. You cannot come in trying to be sly or pushing a certain angle or agenda and taking them for fools. But that is exactly what I love about it and what makes it such a pleasure to be involved and to work in it for such a long time. Our mission with Bandbond is to make it this fair platform. We are trying to be as transparent as possible and honest about our motivation – and from what I’ve read so far, I think that this has come through.”

With a thirty-plus year career in DARK TRANQUILLITY and as one-sixth of one of the pioneering acts to come out of the Gothenburg metal scene, it is safe to say that Martin Brändström knows a thing or two when it comes to the inner workings of the heavy metal sanctum – whether it be from an artistic or professional perspective. Distorted Sound caught up with the keyboardist to discuss another string he has recently added to his proverbial bow – and that’s BandBond. The recently launched (at the time of this interview), and completely free, smartphone app that has been created by the music community, for the music community, with the end goal of taking communication back into its respective hands.

As a firm believer in the DIY approach when it came to a lack of media coverage back in the day – starting fanzines, trading tapes with like-minded metal-loving souls and hitting up the local radio stations – Martin’s frustration with the modern-day digital age would finally peak when it came to handling his own band’s social media. When it comes to online reach for artists, that can be as low as 5% on current platforms, meaning fans do not receive all the updates and bands themselves do not reach all of those fans unless they fork out money to do so. And this ‘pay to play’ mentality would become the catalyst for the app we have today.

“I was noticing that in order to get your stuff out there, you were having to pay for these sponsored posts and until I had that task, I didn’t realise the magnitude of it all. I did not realise just how limiting the algorithms are and how much it would take to open that forum up to us. And to me, this idea that a third party comes in and puts themselves in a situation where they’re the gatekeeper of the relationship they had no responsibility in creating, it is absolutely wrong,” he states firmly. “As a band, you grow up together making those records, playing in the concert halls and to have this other party saying that in order to reach out to YOUR fanbase or to stay informed, YOU have got to put up money but then have it make no difference overall? Because they treat the content as if its advertising. There is no difference in price if I wanted to reach out to any person with my toothpaste brand or soda. But what we do is not advertising – it is sharing our journey as a band. And that’s how I think you should continue building that relationship on a digital platform.”

Alongside fellow metalhead and music studio colleague Joacim Starander, Martin would ponder how that relationship should flourish and started to outline the concept of a new home for all things metal. A place where both the bands and the fans who share this love could interact, access content and continue to do so uninterrupted – and perhaps most importantly at no cost to either party. “It came to our minds that we could have this more focused channel – a more fun and engaging way to stay informed, to cultivate our scene and have that content without its reach being funnelled down,” he explains. “So we started to build Bandbond and what we have now is the first version – it is like our best guess at what will be the start but to take it further we’re gonna have to see what the fans want, what the bands want and also what the labels want. We want to be reaching out to magazines like you guys and everyone who is involved in with the metal scene in some capacity should be able to find something in this app.”

With the guarantee of never missing another post from your favourite artists and the added caveat that the app consolidates posts from Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, it is safe to say that BandBond offers enough to satisfy the most discerning music fan. And with heavyweights like MESHUGGAH, BEHEMOTH, LACUNA COIL, EMPLOYED TO SERVE and CONJURER amongst the 300 bands having already signed up prior to the app’s launch, the appeal appears to be mutual amongst the artist community. According to the app’s co-founder, the next step will be to introduce a sense of exclusivity when it comes to content, but as we discuss such an option, he is quick to reiterate the importance of honesty and transparency when it comes to an app that still remains in its infancy – particularly when it comes to increasing band numbers on there.

“We’ve been careful to only put bands that we are on direct contact with on there. Technically, we could just open it up and put everyone on there, but I don’t think that would be a good way to build the trust we need. Plus, if they don’t actually know that they’re represented on there then they may never actually start using it!” Martin laughs. “We’re still a new platform and need everyone sitting down at the same table for this to happen. Right now, we’re working on making the user experience more personal – so you’re not just a faceless person to these bands. We have this small feedback thing called Fanfeed at the moment, and while it’s a basic way of offering fan interaction, we put it there to remind us that this is really important – and that we are developing this further to give the fans that more personal experience.”

As we pass the three-month mark of no live shows due to COVID-19, the importance of bands being able to connect and interact with fans has probably never been as significant or well-received in our digital age. The livestream is becoming something of a regular occurrence online as gig goers search for ways to fill the void the virus has created. As an artist first and foremost, it is a subject which Brändström can very much relate to but despite the current uncertainties, he remains undeterred as our conversation draws to a close; to learn from the experience and use it as a tool when it comes to that all-important communication between fellow band members.  “I’ve been in such denial about this whole Corona thing – at first it looked like it was gonna be over in a few months, the next minute our (DARK TRANQUILLITY) whole year had just gone,” he divulges. “BandBond aside, I think we’re gonna learn a lot about how to interact with each other digitally over this time. Bands are gonna learn a lot about communicating – especially with these livestreams. I have seen a few with such great production value. And after this I think people will still do it on special occasions. These are different and difficult times – but we have to stay positive together. And that’s how we’ll survive it.” Ladies and gentlemen – welcome to the app revolution.

BandBond is now available on the App Store and Google Play.

For more information on the app like its official page on Facebook.