Yona Marie

Are any musicians out there who wish there was an AirBnB style app for renting practice spaces? www.piano.me seems to be the right solution!

While musicians are still struggling with all the problems regarding finding rehearsal space, it looks like PianoMe continues to develop and supports musicians with innovative creativity. Reason enough to get an overview of the platform myself.

Is it an AirBnB-style app for renting rehearsal spaces on an hourly basis? What is different, and does it work?

Rehearsal rooms are often overloaded or too expensive. Many musicians already share their rehearsal rooms with others, either because there are not enough rehearsal rooms or for economic reasons. This often happens via individual, smaller advertising portals, whose range is, however, manageable.

Furthermore, all of these portals have one thing in common: the offer is mostly confusing, inquiries have to be made by phone or message, there is no payment processing, and usually, there are no reviews of the rooms by other musicians who would have helped get a realistic picture.

In this way, it is still complicated to find a suitable rehearsal room quickly and to rent it as cheaply as possible. Most of these offers are also of a long-term nature. What if I need a rehearsal room spontaneously? Be it because I'm traveling or because I can't or don't want to afford a rental agreement? Here seems PianoMe to become a game changer.

My first impression of the platform - PianoMe seems to have managed to really change something in that sense. The platform offers exactly this added value that other portals lack and has exactly the properties that music creators and providers need.

Musicians have the opportunity to get an impression of the offered rehearsal rooms in advance: How big is the room? What instruments are available? What does the room include? How many people can use the room at the same time?

For what purposes is the room best suited? What do other musicians who have already rented the space say? In some rooms, providers have even integrated audio samples of the available instruments into their offers. All of this makes me optimistic!

Copyright: PianoMe

Another important point that struck me immediately: it seems to me that the platform actually makes previously unused capacities visible. 

Music schools, whose rooms usually remain unused after 6 p.m. or on weekends, private musicians who do not practice 24/7 in their own rooms, and other offers from these areas expand the entire range of available rehearsal rooms, which in the end, musicians will also benefit!

Is it only rehearsal rooms with pianos? Or a wide range of practice rooms and studios can be shared and also rented by the hour by any musician?

At first glance, the landing page suggests that PianoMe is only intended for pianists. But if you look at the offer that is available and the feedback from the musicians, you will quickly see that the offer is used by any kind of musician, whether as a newcomer, student, music teacher, returnee, pianist, singer, or band. 

In addition, the URL suggests that the portal only rushes to the aid of pianists. This impression of mine was also not confirmed. When going through the feedback left behind, as well as opinions on the Internet, I noticed that PianoMe is now used by a wide range of musicians. 

Although I don't know the number of users, the platform seems to be getting more and more approval on the internet. If you do a little research, you will find not only various feedback but also some stories as to why the rooms were rented. 

A piano teacher organized a recital in Cologne and needed a small concert hall for this. A young band wanted to record their first album and rented a room and apparently even a recording studio for it. I learned from the Google recessions of some landlords why they, in turn, offer their rehearsal rooms for rent via PianoMe.

The backgrounds are very different and range from marketing goals, to saving time by outsourcing the entire administrative effort in connection with the room rental, to the additional income when the room is not used anyway. 

A landlord writes that his room was actually not used earlier on the weekends. Since he has been offering it for rent through PianoMe, this situation has changed radically. There are countless other examples!

Copyright: PianoMe

Are only rehearsal rooms in Germany offered on PianoMe for rent?

The range of rehearsal rooms seems to be relatively manageable. At the time of my analysis, the offer comprised 149 listings. In addition to "classic" rooms with pianos and grand pianos, there are studios, rooms with drums, band rehearsal rooms, and smaller concert halls that can be rented by the hour. 

Not all major German cities are represented by a long shot. On the other hand, the supply seems to be growing steadily. The offer is currently concentrated in large metropolitan areas. I noticed positively that the platform seems to be well-received in other European cities as well.

Among other things, rehearsal rooms in Belgium, the Netherlands, UK, Spain, and other European cities and also in some cities from the USA are already available for rent. 

The good thing is: These are not only offered but actually rented. I was able to gather this from the feedback from the musicians who rented these rehearsal rooms through PianoMe.

I learned from the platform's own FAQ area that most of the rehearsal rooms on the platform can indeed be found in major European cities at the moment, but the team is constantly working on expanding the range. 

My conclusion: For a few selected cities in Europe, things are looking very good! In Germany, especially in Berlin, Cologne, Frankfurt, and Hamburg.

Is PianoMe more than AirBnB for musicians?

The idea is obvious: You don't always have to reinvent the wheel! The PianoMe team also seems to follow this motto when it comes to the basic structure of the platform. The rooms are presented as transparently and attractively as possible, communication with the landlord and payment processing is possible, an availability calendar is provided, and many other similarities. 

However, there are also certain other building blocks that have nothing to do with the rehearsal room rental itself. For example, I noticed the “PianoMe-Tube” section. Interested musicians can upload their videos here.

In this way, musicians can not only share their own favorite pieces, new songs, original compositions, creative ideas, and love of music with other music enthusiasts but also connect with other musicians! 

The PianoMe blog page also informs musicians about relevant developments. The "PianoMe-Talks" section caught my eye as a special area. With the help of interviews, the platform offers music creators the opportunity to present themselves to a broad community and reveal news about themselves and current and upcoming projects to their fans.

Copyright: PianoMe

My summary 

Overall, the platform seems to deliver what it promises. PianoMe also seems to go up well with musicians. The offer does not currently cover all European cities. I hope that this will be the case relatively quickly. Another suggestion for improvement on my part would be to create a broader presence on the Internet. 

It seems to me that the PianoMe team is currently using word-of-mouth tactics, which in itself is not a bad thing when it works. In order to reach a broader “user spectrum”, it needs more presence.

Another tip for improvement: Card payments and payments with Klarna are currently accepted. Other payment methods would certainly be helpful. But I think that the team already has this point in mind and is working on the implementation. 

At least a hint on the platform indicates that this should be the case. Otherwise, PianoMe left a lot of positive impressions on me.

The page structure, intuitive processing, transparency of the offers and payment processing, and existing features such as discounts, likes, sharing, sending confirmations and receipts, etc., speak in favor of using the platform. For this reason, I can highly recommend using the platform overall.

Speaking of which: I think the idea that musicians can share their own rehearsal rooms and studios is excellent in itself. I have been able to gather from some recessions that this not only makes money but also expands one's own network.

How you can become a host on PianoMe can be found in these instructions that I found: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xA2p-G-nm6M