Frequently Asked Questions

Questions:

What's this?

User Access

Site Customization

Personnel

Song/Set Lists

Venues

What Happened?

Interoperability

Useful Utilities

Answers:

What does the Edit Gig Button button do?
Use this button to update information about a particular gig. For example, if the gig location was unknown when the gig first came in but is now available, you can include the new information through the Edit Gig button.
  1. Select the gig you want to update from the gig list
  2. Press the Edit Gig button
  3. Make the gig updates
  4. Press the Save Gig Edits button at the bottom of the Edit Gig form
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What does the Gig Details Button button do?
This button displays all available information about the selected gig, including gig location map and participating personnel contact information.
  1. Select the gig you want to details about
  2. Press the Gig Details button
  3. When you are done, press the Return To Gig List button
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What does the Gig Alert Button button do?
This button sends email to all personnel on the gig (who have email addresses). You will be prompted to phone any musicians who have no email. The Gig Alert is useful if
  1. Gig information comes in close to the gig and you think members may not check the website.
  2. Some musicians on the gig don't have access to your site for one reason or another, but do have email.
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What does the CellPhones Button button do?
[This service is not yet generally available and is currently being tested by a few interested users. If you would like to assist in testing please send me a message by clicking on the Feedback icon from your account page.]
This button sends a text message to the cellphones of any or all personnel on the gig, provided
  1. They have a cellphone
  2. They belong to a cellphone service provider included on the "known provider" list (see below for more info)
  3. This information has been provided in their personnel information on the Site Config page.

Why use Send To Cellphones?

  1. Some of the band members may not have a computer; they can get the gig info on their cellphone instead
  2. You may want to send some info shortly before the gig, after its likely that the band members will log on to your WheresTheGig site
  3. You may want a convenient way of carrying your gig info with you, without having to carry a printout that gets accidently left in your pocket and put through the wash

How do I make Send To Cellphones work?

For a band member to receive a text message, their cell phone number and carrier must be set as part of their personnel information. Here's how you make this happen:
  1. Click on the Site Config tab
  2. Select the band member from the personnel list (if they are a new member click the [New Personnel] button and go to Step 4)
  3. Click the [Edit Selected Personnel] button on the page bottom
  4. Set the member's cellphone number in the field conveniently labeled Cell Phone.
    • It is important to enter the entire number for your locale. For example, in the U.S. this is the 10 digit number comprised of the area code and number, like (123) 456-7890.
  5. Select the member's cellphone carrier from the menu conveniently labeled Cell Carrier
    • Hey! My cell carrier isn't on the list. What do I do?
      Send me a message by clicking on the Feedback icon from your account page. Tell me the carrier and the mail server the carrier uses, if you know it. For example, Verizon uses the server vtext.com. If I can find get the carrier's server information I can probably add it to the list.

Cellphone FAQ

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What are the "Band Member Pages"?
This is the site that your non-administrative band members see when they log on to your Where's The Gig site. It basically shows them the gig list, gig calendar, and gig details. However, the don't have the ability to modify the gig information or site configuration.
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Why does my Public Calendar page show only "This service is currently disabled"?
Because your calendar is disabled. To enable it:
  1. Go to the Site Config page.
  2. Click on the Public Pages tab.
  3. Click the Provide a public gig calendar checkbox.
  4. Click the [Set Public Pages] button.
Instructions for providing a link to the calendar page are provided in the section above the checkbox on the Site Configuration page.
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Why does my Agent Services page show only "This service is currently disabled"?
Because your Agent Services page is disabled. To enable it:
  1. Go to the Site Config page.
  2. Click on the Public Pages tab.
  3. Click the Provide booking-agent services checkbox.
  4. Click the [Set Public Pages] button.
Instructions for providing a link to the Agent Services page are provided in the section above the checkbox on the Site Configuration page.
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Why does my Public Song List page show only "This service is currently disabled"?
Because your Public Song List page is disabled. To enable it:
  1. Go to the Site Config page.
  2. Click on the Public Pages tab.
  3. Click the Provide a public gig calendar checkbox if it is not checked (the p ublic calendar must be enabled to provide the public song list).
  4. Click the Enable a public songlist checkbox.
  5. Click the [Set Public Pages] button.
Instructions for providing a link to the public song list page are provided in the section above the checkbox on the Site Configuration page.
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What is a Template, and why should I make/use them?
Templates are useful when you often perform at the same location. A template contains most of the information that goes into the gig form, except for the gig date and status. So, for example, if your band tends to rotate through four or five clubs, creating a template for each club makes it really easy to add your gigs. Instead of typing in the sound check, gig times, dress, etc. you just select the template and all of the information is filled in for you.

Insta-Template Instructions:

If you have already entered information for some past gig that you would now like to use as a template
  1. Go to the gig you want to use by using the Gig Calendar or just use the gig list on the Display Gigs page.
  2. Select the gig.
  3. Press the Edit Gig Button button.
  4. When the gig information is displayed, Press the [New Template] button.
  5. The information from the [Edit Gig] form will now fill in the template entries.
  6. Enter a Template Name.
  7. Click the [Add Template] button at the form bottom.
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What is a Black Out status, and why should I use it?
A Black Out date is useful if you want to flag a date when your band can't do a gig. This can happen if a key band member will be out of town or otherwise unavailable, or if the band will be on travel to an out-of-town gig.

If you try and add a gig on a blacked out date you will receive an error message. Likewise, if you try to black out a date that has a gig on it you will also receive an error message.

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How can my band notify me about Personnel Black Out Days?
Band members can let you know about any unavailable dates by using the Set My Blackouts page (available both on the administration and band members' pages). If you book a gig with an unavailable band member a warning will be displayed so you'll know to either not book the gig (yeah, right) or get a replacement player (more likely), or just do the gig without them and make more money per player (most likely).

Features:

  1. Check availablility right on your gig form: Set the gig date and then click the personnel icon () to get a list of any conflicts.
  2. Easy calendar-based checkboxes for rapid date entry.
  3. Members can add comments to let you know when during the day they are not available.
  4. Warnings displayed if a blackout date coincides with a booking.
  5. Convenient listing of all members' unavailable dates on the Administration site.
  6. Blackouts shown on JavaScript-based calendar along with gigs to assist with planning.
  7. You (or the person with the administration email account) will be notified by email when a band member modifies their blackout dates.

How to enable Personnel Blackouts:

  1. Easy part: Associate personnel with their login name.
    2.
    1. Go to the Review/Edit Personnel page.
    2. Select a band member from the list.
    3. Click the [Edit] button on the page bottom.
    4. Select their associated Login Name on the form.
    5. Click the [Save] button on the page bottom.
  2. Hard part: Make your band members keep their schedule up-to-date.
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Can I export all my band's Personnel Black Out Days to my personal calendar, like my iPhone or Outlook or Google Calendar?
Yes:
  1. Click the Set My Blackouts tab.
  2. Click the List All Personnel Blackout Days link below the navigation tabs.
  3. Click the link: "Export blackout list to your personal calendar (ICal format)"
Note: Be sure that your default time zone is set correctly, otherwise the ICal entries may be offset in time. How to set your default time zone.
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It would be great if every time I update our schedule--add, update, or remove gigs--the band members would be informed about the updates. That way I wouldn't have to call or email everyone to let the know that there have been updates. How do I do this?
WheresTheGig will automatically, once a day, send out an email with a list of all modified gigs. The list of gigs is sent to any band members that are assigned to the gig, and band members are sent a list of only the gigs they are assigned to. Needless to say (but I'll say anyway), the emails will only be sent to band members that have email addresses included in their personnel information.
Here's how you do it:
  1. Click on the "Site Customization" tab.
  2. Click on the "Account Options" tab.
  3. In the "Email Schedule Updates" section check the checkbox labeled "Email schedule updates to band members".
  4. Click the [Set Options] button.
This is a nice feature, as it keeps band members up-to-date even if they don't have user access to your WheresTheGig account (fill-in musicians, for example).

Note: Some ISPs, notably AOL, will "blackhole" mail from WheresTheGig. That is, the mail won't go into any user's folder and also won't get bounced back to WheresTheGig. I suggest you verify that your members are receiving the update emails. If they are having problems you can have them try adding the server "wtg.com" to their email whitelist.

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I use different players for my gigs. I understand that WheresTheGig will automatically send a confirmation request email to these players so I'll know if they'll play the gig. How do I do this?
When this feature is enabled, WheresTheGig will display a list of the potential players on your gigs with a "boilerplate" message requesting their response (that you can modify) that will be emailed to them. Here's an example: Confirmation Request
Email will be sent only to players that you specify as described below, so it won't be sent to any of your band members that play most of you gigs (since that would be pointless).

Here's how you do it:
  1. Click on the "Site Customization" tab.
  2. Click on the "Account Options" tab.
  3. In the "Enable Member Gig Confirmation Emails" section check the checkbox labeled "Enable send confirmation requests to specified members".
  4. Click the [Set Options] button.
  5. Click on the "Review/Edit Personnel" tab.
  6. Select a player that you want to receive the confirmation request email.
  7. Click the [Edit Selected Personnel] button.
  8. At the top of the form, check the checkbox labeled "Send email to member requesting gig assignment confirmation"
  9. Click the [Save Personnel Edits] button at the form bottom.
The confirmation request email form will now be displayed if any of the selected players for your gig are flagged to receive this mail. Be sure that any players flagged to receive the mail have an email address specified in their personnel information.

Only one confirmation is sent to a player per gig, so even if you update a gig a player will not receive a second email about the same gig. But if you add another player during your update, they will receive the confirmation request email (if they are flagged to, as above).

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What is the Duration value, and why should I use it?
The Duration value selection is just to the right of the gig date selection. This is useful if you do multi-night gigs. You just enter the gig once and set the duration, and then the gig shows up on all of the consecutive dates. For example, if you have a 5-nighter from Tuesday through Saturday, just add the gig on the Tuesday and set the duration to 5. This makes it really easy to enter multi-night club gigs, especially if you're using templates.

Gigs with more than 1 day of duration show up slightly differently on the gig lists (like the main admin page). Here's an example. The February 15 gig is a five day duration gig:

  1. There is only one selection box for a multi-day gig. That is, none of the subsequent days on a multi-day gig have a selection option.
  2. The multi-day gig only counts as one gig in the gig count at the page top.
  3. The entire gig duration will show up if any portion of the gig duration is in the time interval shown.
  4. An additional Through column will show up on the gig detail of a multi-day gig.
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How can I add all the month's gigs in just a few seconds?
Yes! If they're all at one place and you have a template for the gig. Here's how you do it:
  1. Click on the New Gig tab.
  2. Click Add Gigs By Month on the sub-menu (right below the tabs).
  3. Follow the instructions on that page. They're really easy.
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How are band rehearsals handled differently from other gig types?
A Rehearsal gigtype is automatically provided on your gig-entry form (like the "Other" gigtype). Rehearsals are special in the following ways:
  1. They show up on gig lists in a special font.
  2. They are color-coded.
  3. Confirmed rehearsals show up with a special color on the band calendars.
  4. Rehearsals have a special Gig Details page format.
  5. Rehearsals never show up on the public calendar.
  6. Rehearsals never show up on an agent service inquiry.

If you already set your own rehearsal gigtype, I suggest you remove it from your gigtype list.

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I hear you can use WheresTheGig as a way to totally organize your rehearsals. How do I do it?
You can easily use WheresTheGig to organize your rehearsal schedule and provide location and time (of course), but also the agenda, the list of songs to be rehearsed (with links to their mp3s, charts, and lyrics), and the list of members expected to participate in the rehearsal. Here's how you can best use the gig-entry form to specify your rehearsal information:
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Can I export my gig information to my Outlook, Evolution, PDA, or Cellphone calendar?
Yes. WheresTheGig can export your gig information to any "iCalendar" compliant calendar application (such as those listed above).

(Note: Be sure that your default time zone is set correctly, otherwise the ICal entries may be offset in time. How to set your default time zone.)

WheresTheGig allows you to

Outlook (Microsoft, Mac) instructions
Evolution (GNU/Linux, *BSD, UNIX) instructions
PDA/Cellphone/Other instructions

What does an exported gig look like on your local calendar?
A "summary" will be made for each gig that looks like "Gig: [band name] ([status]) at [venue]". For example: 
Gig: The Notones (Confirmed) at The Stale Beer Pub

The event description will list much of the gig information (load in, sound check, food, sound lights, etc). Many calendar applications bring up the description by double-clicking the summary, or through a selection on the Right-Click menu.

To have the gig placed in the proper time interval on your calendar, the gig Start and End times must be provided in the proper format. WheresTheGig, like it's author, is fairly simple-minded, and can only understand certain time formats:
Start TimeEnd TimeWheresTheGig Thinks You Mean
8:0010:008:00 pm - 10:00 pm
9:001:009:00 pm - 1:00 am
7:00 pm11:00 pm7:00 pm - 11:00 pm
8:00 am1:008:00 am - 1:00 pm
18:0021:006:00 pm - 9:00 pm
800 pm1100pmHuh? What?
About 9WheneverHuh? What?

You get the idea. If WheresTheGig can't figure out the gig time, it just displays it as an "All Day" event.

Outlook (Microsoft, Mac) instructions:
  1. Click on the Export To Calendar link at the top of the page.
  2. Click on the [Update Active Gigs (CSV)] button.
  3. Save the calendar export file to disk.
  4. Run Outlook
  5. Clean out any previously imported WheresTheGig events. If you don't, you'll end up with duplicates. (Skip this section if you have never imported events from WheresTheGig.)
    • Select [View]->[Current View]->[Active Appointments]
    • Sort by "Subject" by clicking on the heading labeled "Subject".
    • All the previously imported events will be grouped, since they all start with Gig: ....
    • Select all of the previously imported events (click on the first one and shift-click on the last).
    • Press the [Delete] key.
  6. Select [File]->[Import and Export] from the Outlook menu bar.
  7. Select Import from another program or file from the action list.
  8. Select Comma Separated Values (Windows).
  9. Select the file you just downloaded from WheresTheGig with the file chooser.
  10. You've already removed all of the gigs from your Outlook calendar, you can ignore the "Do Not Duplicate Items" choice.
  11. Select Calendar. The gigs will now be imported into Outlook.
Evolution (GNU/Linux, *BSD, UNIX) instructions:
  1. Click on the graphic at the top of the page.
  2. Click on the [Update Active Gigs (Ical)] button to update gig info, or on the [Remove Deleted Gigs] to remove inactive gigs from your calendar.
  3. Save the calendar export file to disk .
  4. Run Evolution, show the Calendar view.
  5. Select [File]->[Import] from the Evolution menu bar.
  6. Select Import a single file in the Import Wizard.
  7. Select the downloaded file using the [Browse] button.
  8. Leave "File type:" selection on "Automatic", click [Forward].
  9. Click [Import].
  10. The destination folder "Calendar" should be highlighted. Click [OK].

PDA/Cellphone/Etc instructions:

Most PDAs and cellphones with calendar applications can sync to Outlook. To download the gig information into these devices:

  1. Follow the instructions for Importing Into Outlook.
  2. If your device is capable of syncing directly to outlook, the gig data will be installed during the sync process.
  3. Some devices (such as cellphones) sync to outlook through their desktop client program. Follow the instructions for your particular device.

Note that the calendar synchronization only goes from WheresTheGig to your computer. Any changes you make on your local calendar are not transmitted back to WheresTheGig.

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Help! My calendar and/or personnel exports are showing up at the wrong time!
ICal exports will show up shifted in time if your default timezone or venue timezone are set incorrectly. To set your default timezone:
  1. Click the Site Customization tab.
  2. Click the Account Options subtab.
  3. Set the default timezone at the bottom of the form.
If some of your gigs are still showing up shifted in time, check the venue timezone:
  1. Click the Review/Edit Venues tab.
  2. Select the venue from the venue list.
  3. Click the [Edit] button at the page bottom
  4. Check the venue timezone on the venue information form.
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Can I synchronize my gig information to my Google Calendar?
Yes. WheresTheGig will synchronize your gigs with Google Calendar. You can choose to synchronize gigs (as described below), or force your Google Calendar to reflect the current state of your WheresTheGig schedule. WheresTheGig will only synchronize future gigs.

Here's how you do it:

  1. Create a new calendar in your Google Calendar set. Google Calendar allows you to create separate calendars for separate event types (e.g. family, work, gigs, etc). You must create a specific, separate calendar for each WheresTheGig account you want to synchronize. This is important! WheresTheGig will assume that any events in this Google calendar pertain to your WheresTheGig account giglist.
  2. Click on the "Export To Calendar" link at the top of your WheresTheGig account page.
  3. Fill out the Google Calendar Access Information form at the bottom of the page.
    Note: None of your Calendar Access information is stored in WheresTheGig. It is optionally stored in your browser's cookies.
    • Calendar URL: Your "private" calendar URL. To find this:
      1. Login to your Google Calendar.
      2. Click the "Settings" link at the top right.
      3. Under the Calendar Settings heading, click the "Calendars" link.
      4. Under the calendar list, click the name of the calendar that corresponds to your WheresTheGig account.
      5. Under the "Private Address" section you will see buttons labeled "XML", "HTML", and "ICAL". Click the "XML" button. Copy the long string of characters into the Calendar URL textfield in WheresTheGig.
    • Calendar Timezone: Important! Your dates and times can be wrong if the form value is inconsistent with your Google Calendar. To find the Google Calendar timezone:
      1. Login to your Google Calendar.
      2. Click the "Settings" link at the top right.
      3. See your current default timezone in the "Your current time zone".
      4. Each calendar can have its own timezone setting. Verify the timezone of your gig calendar by selecting the "Calendars" link under the "Calendar Settings" heading.
      5. Under the calendar list, click the name of the calendar that corresponds to your WheresTheGig account.
      6. View the calendar timezone in the "Calendar Time Zone" section.
      7. The timezone list on the WheresTheGig form may have different names than the google list. In the WheresTheGig list, select a major city in the same timezone as the Google timezone entry.
    • Calendar Username: Your Google Calendar username.
    • Calendar Password: Your Google Calendar password.

Important Limitations

Although WheresTheGig will synchronize gigs both to and from your Google Calendar, things will go more smoothly if you do all of your gig updates on WheresTheGig and push the changes to the Google Calendar during synchronization. The following limitations will occur when synchronizing events added or modified in Google Calendar and pulled to WheresTheGig.
  1. Gig Updates happen in only one direction: From WheresTheGig to Google. Any updates made manually to gigs on the Google Calendar will be overwritten by the gig information from WheresTheGig.
  2. Multi day events: If you add a gig to your Google Calendar that extends beyond one day, WheresTheGig will assign the gig only to the starting day of the gig.
  3. Repeated events: WheresTheGig will not currently handle repeated events from gigs added manually to Google Calendar. Only the first day's event will be set in WheresTheGig.
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Can my fans import our public gigs directly into their personal calandars?
Yes. If you have your "Fan Services" enabled you can provide a link that will export your public gigs in ICal format so that they can be imported directly into your fan's calendars. Your public ICal export link looks like:

http://WheresTheGig.com/cgi-bin/gig_calendar.pl?account=YOUR_ACCOUNT&Action=export_ical

Replace YOUR_ACCOUNT with your WheresTheGig account name.
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Can I use WheresTheGig.com with my PDA or Cellphone web browser ?
Yes. There is a specially-formatted fast-loading version (with limited functionality) at http://WheresTheGig.com/pda.
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How do I change my (or another user's) password?
Easy:
  1. Go to the User Access page.
  2. Go to the Changing A Password section.
  3. Enter the username.
  4. Enter the new password.
  5. Re-enter the new password.
  6. Click the [Change Password] button.
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How do I grant site access to someone?
Easy:
  1. Go to the User Access page.
  2. Go to the Adding Users section.
  3. Enter the new username.
  4. Enter the password.
  5. Re-enter the password.
  6. If you want this user to have administrative access (the ability to add gigs, delete users, etc.) click the Grant this user administrative access checkbox.
  7. Click the [Add User] button.
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How do I remove site access from someone?
Easy:
  1. Go to the User Access page.
  2. Go to the Deleting Users, Adding Administrative Access: section.
  3. Select the user to remove from the Delete General Access To: list.
  4. Click the [Delete User] button.
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How do I grant administrative access to an existing user?
Easy:
  1. Go to the User Access page.
  2. Go to the Deleting Users, Adding Administrative Access: section.
  3. Select the new administrative user in the Grant Administrative Access To: list.
  4. Click the [Add Admin User] button.
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How do I remove administrative access from a user?
Easy:
  1. Go to the User Access page.
  2. Go to the Deleting Users, Adding Administrative Access: section.
  3. Select the user to remove from the Delete Administrative Access To: list.
  4. Click the [Delete Admin User] button.
Note that this user will still have general access.
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Our band has started wearing pink boas and spangled G-strings. How do I add this to the "outfit list"?
To add a new outfit selection:
  1. Go to the Site Config page.
  2. Click the Outfits tab.
  3. Enter the new outfit in the first available text field.
  4. Click the [Set Outfits] button.
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Our band has stopped wearing pink boas and spangled G-strings. How do I remove this from the "outfit list"?
To remove an outfit selection:
  1. Go to the Site Config page.
  2. Click the Outfits tab.
  3. Clear the text field containing the outfit to be removed.
  4. Click the [Set Outfits] button.
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Our band has started playing a lot of Elbonian Fertility Celebration parties. How do I add this to the "gig-type list"?
To add a new gig-type:
  1. Go to the Site Config page.
  2. Go to the Gig Types section.
  3. Enter the new gigtype in the first available text field.
  4. Click the [Set Gigs] button.
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I don't think our band will be playing any more Elbonian Fertility Celebration parties. How do I remove this from the "gig-type list"?
To remove a new gig-type:
  1. Go to the Site Config page.
  2. Go to the Gig Types section.
  3. Clear the text field containing the gig-type to be removed.
  4. Click the [Set Gigs] button.
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My band's website has a tasteful chartreuse background color with a magenta foreground. How can I make the WheresTheGig public calendar and agent services pages match our website colors?
You can set your WheresTheGig public page colors and fonts. Here's how:
  1. Go to the Site Config page.
  2. Click the Public Page Styling tab.
  3. Set the style attributes in the forms provided in that section.
  4. Click the [Set Style Attributes] button.
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I want to really, really customize all aspects of my public pages. In fact, it would be really convenient if I could use my website's external stylesheet definitions define my WheresTheGig public pages. Can I do this?
Yes you can. If you wish to customize your public pages to a greater extent than the pre-defined customizations described here you can use an external style sheet. Your style sheet's URL is set in the same place as the other customization settings (described here). Note that if you use an external style sheet, its values will supersede the customizations set in the general customization fields described here.

In addition to the standard HTML tag classes, I've set some public elements to have their own specific classes so you can further customize your Look and Feel:
Class Description
monthtextThe calendar table cells containing the month and year label
dayheaders The calendar table cells containing the day-of-week labels
publicdateThe calendar table cells containing public gigs
privatedateThe calendar table cells containing private gigs
calendartitleTitle on calendar and date pages
pubdateDate on the public gig list (see here for more on the list format)
pubtimesThe gig times on the public gig list
pubprivateThe "Private Event" on the public gig list
publicgiglistThe top-level class for the public gig list
pubcommentsThe gig comments in the public gig list
pre.pubSpecific <pre> tag for gig comments in the public gig list
pubvenueThe venue name in the public gig list
table.printsongnameClass for the public songlist table
div.printsongnameClass for the public songlist song name
div.printsongartistClass for the public songlist song artist
*#songlist_col1Identifier for public songlist column separator

  1. It may help you to examine the default style definitions at the top of the public calendar by viewing the HTML source of the page.
  2. You may need to set the <TD> background and foreground to the same values as <BODY> if you want the calendar and page backgrounds and foregrounds to match.
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I like the WheresTheGig public calendar, but I'd rather have the gigs displayed in a simple list format. How do I do this?
To display your gigs in a list, rather than a calendar:
  1. Go to the Site Config page.
  2. Click on the Public Pages tab.
  3. In the "Public Gig Calendar/Songlist Page" section, select the As a listing choice.
  4. Click the [Set Public Pages] button.
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I'm concerned that my country's government will get us into a war with Elbonia and draft my band, so I'm moving us all to Sweden. How do I change the default country for our gigs?
To reset the default country used for gig venues and personnel addresses:
  1. Go to the Site Config page.
  2. Select the Account Options tab.
  3. Select your new country. (If you don't see your country on this list, just send me a note using the Feedback link and I'll add it in.)
  4. Click the [Set Options] button.
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We got a new guitar player. What's the easiest way to add new personnel?
The easiest way to add personnel is to:
  1. Go to the Personnel Info page.
  2. Click the [New Personnel] button.
  3. If this member is going to do most of your band's gigs, click the checkbox at the form top. That way they'll be selected by default for gigs.
  4. Fill in the member's information.
  5. Click the [Submit Personnel] button.
To give the new member access to your Where's The Gig website:
  1. Go to the User Access page.
  2. Scroll down to the Add User form.
  3. Give them a username and password. If you wish them to have administrative privileges click the Admin Access checkbox.
  4. Click the [Add User] button.
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The guitar player finally got email. How do I update her information?
To modify personnel information:
  1. Go to the Personnel Info page.
  2. Select the member to update.
  3. Click the [Edit Selected Personnel] button at the page bottom.
  4. Modify the member's information.
  5. Click the [Save Personnel Edits] button at the page bottom.
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I don't want to give access to some musicians who only occasionally play with the band. How should I configure my site for this?
You can still take advantage of Where's The Gig by using the Gig Alert feature:
  1. Do not add access for this member, that is, don't give them a username and password.
  2. Add them to the Personnel roster either during the account setup process or through the Personnel Info page. Be sure to include their email address so they can receive Gig Alerts.
  3. When you wish to distribute the gig information, send a Gig Alert. Email will be sent to any personnel on the gig, whether or not they have Where's The Gig access.
  4. Click here for more information on Gig Alerts.
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How do I make it so band members see ONLY the gigs they're playing on instead of all the gigs on the band's schedule?
Here's how: (Note that the administration page will always show all gigs. Only non-administrative users will see the restricted gig list.)
  1. Be sure to assign members correctly on the gig entry/edit page.
  2. Associate the band member with their login name. See here for instructions. Account users that are not associated with a band member will see all gigs.
  3. Go to the Site Config page.
  4. Click on the Account Options tab.
  5. In the "Restrict Member Schedules" section, click the Band members see ONLY their gigs checkbox.
  6. Click the [Set Options] button.
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We have about 200 songs in our set list. Is there an easy way to import our whole list into WheresTheGig instead of adding the songs one-by-one?
If you want to import only song names this is really easy. Just put your song list in a standard Excel file, with the songs in a single column. For example: 
Brown Eyed Girl
Old Time Rock & Roll
Disco Inferno
Super Freak
My United States Of Whatever

Then

  1. Go to the Song/Set Lists page.
  2. Click the [Import Songlist] link on the lower navagation bar.
  3. Enter your song filename into the upload field and click the [Import Songlist] button.
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The easy import only imports the song name. I also want to import other song information like the song key, song duration, etc. Can I do this too?
Yes you can:
  1. Create an Excel file.
  2. The first line of the file describes the attributes that will be provided for each song. Here's an example first line for uploading the Name, Key, and Duration attributes: 
    Name                      | Song_Key  |     Duration
  3. All the following lines will contain the songlist information, one row per song. Here's an example of the first few lines of a file: 
    Name                      | Song_Key  |     Duration
Brown Eyed Girl           | G         |    3:45
Muskrat Love              | A         |     
What's New, Pussycat?     |           |    3:51
Afternoon Delight         | F         |    3:12
    In this example, the duration of Muskrat Love and the key of What's New, Pussycat? are not known, so it's left blank.
  4. Once your file is ready, go to the Song/Set Lists page.
  5. Click the [Import Songlist] link on the lower navagation bar.
  6. Enter your song filename into the upload field and click the [Import Songlist] button.
  7. If a song is already in your WheresTheGig list it will be updated with new information from the uploaded file.
  8. You can download an example songlist to help you to create your own list. (Remove any columns from the sample file that you don't need.)
The following table describes the available attributes:
Attribute Description
NameSong Name (e.g. Satisfaction, Achy Breaky Heart)
Artist Person or group that did the original (e.g. Rolling Stones)
Performer Person that performs the song in your band:"First-Name Last-Name" (e.g. John Smith)
Song_KeySong Key (e.g. A, C, Gb)
GenreThe song type (e.g. Rock, Jazz, Polka)
NotesThings to remember, like patch numbers, "breaks in the second chorus", etc.
DurationLength of the song (e.g. 3:45, 0:26, 4:33)
TempoThe song tempo in Beats Per Minute (bpm)
Song_URLThe internet address of the mp3 (e.g. www.myhost.com/song.mp3)
Lyrics_URLThe internet address of the lyrics (e.g. www.myhost.com/lyrics.txt)
Chart_URLThe internet address of the song chart (e.g. www.myhost.com/chart.txt)
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What is some of the special stuff that goes on during a song list import?
Here are some things that may be of interest that go on behind the scenes during a songfile import:
  1. Duplicate songs are removed from the import list. If you have identical song names in your import list, only one will be added. If, for example, you perform Satisfaction by The Rolling Stones, and also the version by Britny Spears, only one version (the last in your list) will be added.
  2. Songs that are already in your songlist on WheresTheGig will be removed from the import list. This is so if you import your songfile twice by accident you won't have to go through the tedium of deleting the 200 duplicated songs. And you also won't be asking me to do it.

    Note: you can add duplicate song names using the regular WheresTheGig [Add Song] function.

  3. During an advanced import, any Genres in the import file that are not already defined on your WheresTheGig account will automatically be included in your Genre list.
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How do I integrate setlists into the gig information?
By integrating setlists into your gig information, the sets to be performed at a particular gig will show up on the Gig Details page. Band members can then view the sets in two ways: (1) Set "song information" view provides links to the song mp3, lyrics sheet, and chart. (2) Set "stage" view provides a stage-ready set list with a large font, ready to be printed and taken to the gig.
  1. Go to the Song/Set Lists page.
  2. Click the [Set List Options] link on the lower navagation bar.
  3. Click the checkbox labeled Enable Set List Assignment On Gig Form.
Your sets will now be displayed for selection on your Add Gig and Edit Gig forms.
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The stage-format setlists show only the song name. How do I make it also show the song key and other information?
In addition to the song name, the stage set list can also show the song key and the song performer. To configure this:
  1. Go to the Song/Set Lists page.
  2. Click the [Set List Options] link on the lower navagation bar.
  3. Select or de-select the attributes as appropriate to your needs.
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We have a couple of excellent sets, but we often use slightly modified versions of them. Is there a quick way to duplicate a set so we can do the slight adjustment, instead of creating the new set from scratch?
Sounds like you need a Clone. Here's how you do it:
  1. Go to the Song/Set Lists page.
  2. Select the set you want to copy.
  3. Click the [Clone Set] button to the left of the sets list.
  4. The clone will appear in the sets list.
  5. Select the clone in the set list.
  6. Click the [Edit Set] button to make your adjustments.
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How do I make WheresTheGig compute the total set time duration automatically?
WheresTheGig will display the total time duration of the set on the normal and stage view of the set list only if all of the songs in the set have duration values. This makes sense if you think about it.
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I want to make a nicely organized songlist for my website. How can I export my song list information to Excel, OpenOffice, or other programs?
The easiest thing to do is to enable your public song list. See the [Site Configuration] page, "Fan Services" for instructions.

You can also export your songlist in a standard format (CSV) so that it can easily be read by other programs:

  1. Go to the Song/Setlist Management page.
  2. Click Song List on the submenu.
  3. Click the [Export Songlist As CSV] link. Save the file to disk, or open it with the program of your choice.
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Can I use my venues from another account so I don't have to type in all that information again?
If you have administrative access to another WheresTheGig account, you can copy the venues from that account into your new account. This is an especially nice feature if you manage more than one band and book many of your bands into the same venues.
  1. Click on the Review/Edit Venues tab.
  2. Click the Import Venues From Other Account link on the navigation tabs submenu.
  3. Follow the easy instructions.
Don't worry about duplicate entries. The venue import won't import a venue with the same name as an existing venue in your current list.
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I use AOL and when I try to access the site, my browser tries to download the file "band_registration.pl" or some other file that ends in ".pl". What's going on here?!?!
A few WheresTheGig users that access the site through AOL have reported that the AOL browser attempts to "save to disk" rather than displaying a page. They also report that using Internet Explorer (or another regular browser [I personally recommend Mozilla]) loads the page correctly.

I can only guess (since I don't use AOL) that this problem is a result of the AOL browser using the file extension (.pl) to identify the file type, instead of the "Content-Type" header value which provides the MIME type of the incoming file. This is pretty broken behavior (on the part of AOL). In short, just use a regular browser if the AOL one is giving you grief.

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Sonicbids Logo ReverbNation Logo Can I export my schedule to sites like Sonicbids and ReverbNation?
Probably. Click on the Export To Calendar link at the top of the page and see if the site is one of the export options.
Note! WheresTheGig will use the gig time and venue address from the information you entered into your site. If you didn't include the venue information it will show up as blank on the exported CSV file. You'll likely have to fill these values in by hand to have Sonicbids or ReverbNation accept your file. But if you provide all this information in WheresTheGig you won't have to do the extra work.
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MySpace Logo Can I automatically display my band's schedule on MySpace?
The answer is "Yes". Here's how it works: WheresTheGig will create a graphic image that looks like a list of your upcoming gigs. You wrap the image in a link so that when people click on the image, it brings them to your public calendar, and they can see all of your gig details. The image is synchronized to your schedule every few minutes and so reflects your current public schedule. Note that this has *no* affect on your band's event schedule that is stored within the MySpace system itself.

Here's how you do it:

  1. Go to the Site Customization page.
  2. Click the MySpace Schedule Colors tab.
  3. Check the checkbox to enable your image calendar. You can also customize the image colors to match your MySpace page.
  4. Click the [Set Image Colors] button.
  5. Go to the Calendar Export page by clicking the link at the very top of the page.
  6. Copy the HTML in the MySpace section of the Calendar Export page.
  7. Go to your MySpace account, edit your profile, and paste the HTML you just copied into your MySpace profile content. The image with your schedule will now show up in your profile.
The process that updates your image schedule runs periodically, so it may take a few minutes before your image is created and available.
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There is a regional entertainment website that lists band schedules. How can I share my public gig information with this or other web applications, or with programs without going the trouble of decoding the calendar HTML?
Where's The Gig provides an XML exporting function so that other websites or programs can easily access your public information. The information that is exported is similar to the information listed on your public calendar, no band-private information is sent. Note that the XML export will only work if you have your public calendar enabled. See this for information on enabling your public calendar.

The XML export is obtained through the same URL as your public calendar, with an additional Action=export_xml parameter. For example, the demo account XML URL is

http://www.wheresthegig.com/cgi-bin/gig_calendar.pl?account=demo&Action=export_xml
You band's URL would be
http://www.wheresthegig.com/cgi-bin/gig_calendar.pl?account=[your-account-name]&Action=export_xml
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What is the RSS entry on the top menu bar for? Why is an RSS feed so cool to have?
To the point: You can have your gig schedule show up automatically in your browser, with links to the gig details. This is great if you access one WheresTheGig account. If you access multiple accounts using RSS is very useful.

RSS stands for Real Simple Syndication (*), and you can do lots of really cool things with it. It's often used by news sites and bloggers to distribute links to new content.

"So why should I care?" Answer: Most reasonable browsers are "RSS Aware", meaning that you can register an RSS feed and the current gig schedule will automatically show up in your browser. The following is an example of setting up a WheresTheGig RSS feed with Firefox (free) version 1.5. The details may differ for your browser.

  1. Click on the link at the top of the page. After you fill out the "Create RSS Feed" form and click the button, an RSS icon will appear in the browser's address bar (what the hand is point at):
  2. When you click on the icon the browser "Add Bookmark" dialog will pop up (what the hand below is point at):
  3. Assigning the bookmark to the "Bookmark Toolbar Folder" is useful, because your gig schedule will appear right on the browser toolbar:
  4. Now when you click on your toolbar entry, you'll see your gig list. Selecting a gig from the list will bring you straight to the gig details page:
  5. That's it.

(*) There is some controversy about what RSS stands for. Google if you want more info about this.
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I love WheresTheGig and want to put a banner on my page! Ya got one?
Here's one. Just select all the text in this textfield and paste it into your page:
will display:

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How do I have WheresTheGig compute gig mileages for taxes and other business purposes?
On the main page look for the link Compute Gig Mileage below the navigation bar. Set the time interval and your home address in the form and click the [Get Gig Mileage] button. Some things to be aware of:
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I use multiple WheresTheGig accounts. Is there an easy way to show all account gigs on my calendar, and to switch accounts without having to log out and log back in?
Yes. The Multi Account features are very convenient. You can associate yourself with any account where you have administrative access. Instructions:
  1. The multi-account features are controlled using the " Multi Accounts View" link on the lower navigation bar of the "Display Gigs" tab.
  2. Add account associations using the "Add account" panel. You MUST have administration privileges for an account to associate it.
  3. To show all gigs from associated accounts, click the [Enable Multi Account Gig Display] button.
  4. To disable the multi account gig display, click the [Disable Multi Account Gig Display] button.
  5. To switch accounts, select the account from the associated accounts list and click the [Set Current Active Account] button. This is much more convenient than logging off of one account and logging back in.
  6. You can only take actions (e.g. edit, delete, details, etc) on Active Account gigs. Gigs from associated accounts will have their summary displayed in the gig list.
  7. In the calendar view, associated account gigs will show up as the account name in parenthesis. Clicking on the calendar entry will show the gig summary to the right of the calendar. No actions can be taken on associated account gigs.
  8. If you want to take an action on a gig from a different account, use the "Multi Accounts View" page to switch to the appropriate active account.

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