BandRX Rebrands As FanRX, Releases Facebook Timeline Band App

The third largest band application for Facebook, BandRX, has changed their name to FanRX and rebuilt their entire app to adjust for Facebook’s (now officially standard) Timeline for pages. The rebranding comes as several radio stations, festivals, record labels, consumer brands, celebrities, and authors all began using the app. While their focus is still on music, all these other users have one thing in common – fans, which would explain the name change.

FanRX’s Facebook Page Builder saw over 225,000 musicians, celebrities and brands using the app in less than a year since their public launch, and the new design does in fact look very good. Up top is the standard cover photo for Timeline, and below users can customize features they’d like to have fan-facing including videos, a music player, tour dates, a merch store, a Twitter stream, and more (see an example).

Given all the additional real estate that Timeline offers developers, FanRX went a step beyond simply widening their tabs for users. They’ve added 2-column layout options, and have a new drag-and-drop interface that allows bands to arrange and publish any number of their 15 modules on their Facebook Page (click screenshot to enlarge). In addition to their standard offerings that are free, they’ve introduced a new premium tier of features that includes new color schemes and multiple modules.

While the new FanRX looks great and operates nicely, like all other Facebook band apps, it will still have to rely on artists driving their fans to the app. Timeline has disallowed apps to be the default landing pages, and this is a big problem for all Facebook apps. The best advice for bands is to secure their own real estate – operate your own website, and do not rely solely on Facebook (or any other social network for that matter) for your fan outreach and retention.

This post is by regular Hypebot contributor and independent music business professional & musician, Hisham Dahud (@HishamDahud)