By being a member you will have full access to the entire web site. The site is updated every night and the new ads are only viewable on the members pages. As a member, you get first crack at ads such as item for sale and band auditions. As a member, the ads you post will be seen by members and non-members. After your ad has been in the members section for 5 (plus) days it will be placed on the non-member pages. Most likely your ad will be answered in the first five days since most of the active musicians of this site are already members. Non-members may miss out on playing opertunities and deals on equipment. A message will be posted on the main page if the site will not be updated between 9 pm and midnight due to a gig or some other event that keeps me away from the computer. The posting feature on the "Bands For Hire" page will be available only to members. This feature alone is worth a membership. As a member you will also have available to you others methods of making contact with me incase you need help with something on the site. This contact information can be found on the main page of the members site.

Breakdown of member benefits

• Access to all the newest ads (updated daily)
• Band posting on "Bands For Hire" page
• Personal "stlmusic.com" address to use when posting ads (with spam filter and alias)
• Web interface for accessing POP3 mail along with your "stlmusic.com" email.
• No webpage advertisement banners, just ads.
• Ability to update and remove posted ads
• Customer support - phone or email

Even though many features on the site will remain open to non-members, the low cost of a yearly membership ($1 a month) should be well worth the service you receive.

I have been running St. Louis Music Classified since I created the site back in 1997. During these years the site has grown in popularity due to the facts that the site was designed for the St. Louis area compared to a nation wide site and that the site was updated manually every night (or close to it). At the start of this project maintaining the site only took a few minutes a day. I thought about just having a message board where musicians could post ads but found that manually updating the site was the best way to filter out Spam and make the site appear in a user-friendly format. As the site has grown the demand on money and time has grown due to increased bandwidth, server space and most importantly, time. For the most part the site is updated every night with new ads and updates. It usually takes around 35 to 45 minutes to ad all the new ads, update existing ads, send out confirmation email messages, format the site to include new dates and remove old material. (The entire site was built and is maintained using a simple text program like notepad) With the creation of the Bands For Hire, Message Board and Gig Calendar, there is even more time involved with monitoring activity on the message board and calendar plus posting new bands so employers know where to look for currently working groups.

Many people have commented over the years that I should charge for this service. I was always hesitant about this idea but as time went on and my money and time got stretched, I decided this was the next step if I want St. Louis Music Classified to survive and grow to be even better than it is today.

The best way is to charge a flat rate membership. With the membership you will have full access to all the pages: Musicians Wanted – Musicians Available – For Sale – Extra – Looking to Buy – Posting New Ads – Updating Old Ads – Posting in Bands For Hire. You also receive customer support and email notification of site updates plus your own stlmusic.com email address to use for posting ads. The following pages/services will still be available to non-members. Viewing of Bands For Hire, Message Board viewing and posting, Gig Calendar viewing and posting.

I understand that musicians don’t always have money. I’m living proof of that. That is why the membership fee will be very affordable. To gain access to the entire site is just $12 for an entire year. That’s only a dollar a month, which is a deal you can’t beat when it comes to unlimited postings in all sections. You can also subscribe for a 6 month or one month membership.

Membership payments can be made through PayPal online or if you don’t feel comfortable with online payments you can print the form that is available during the signup process and mail in your payment.

If you were one of the nice people that sent me a donation when I was accepting donations in the months before the membership service started, you had receive a lifetime membership regardless of the amount you sent (even if it was only $1). I really appreciated your support during a time when I was having trouble making ends meet.

Member Pages

Sign-up Page

Renew Membership