Sound Animal

Based in Munich, Germany, Sound Animal is a 154sqm building featuring four flexible rehearsal studios and is aimed at musicians seeking a rehearsal space.

As a musician himself, Sound Animal Founder Bakir Kreso knew too well the difficulties of finding well-equipped, soundproof rehearsal spaces in a central location. Alongside two friends, he established Sound Animal to enable local musicians to live out their passion by providing access to a flexible space and all the tools they need to make this a reality.

Challenge

Before implementing Nexudus, Bakir and his team used Google Calendar to manage studio bookings in the space. Whilst this worked, he soon realised that a more comprehensive and integrated solution was needed.

“The majority of our members don’t use our space for work,” Bakir explains. “Music is their hobby and they use the studios in their leisure time. So when we first started the business we used Google Calendar to let members keep track of availability.”

Tasked with managing four fully-equipped studios and a body of members that was steadily growing, the team quickly realised that it was becoming increasingly challenging to keep track of bookings. It was an issue that was proving not just time-consuming, but one that could potentially compromise safety and security. In other words, they were operating on a trust-based system.

“Trust is a great thing but it’s not scalable,” acknowledges Bakir. “Now, with Nexudus, we have a perfect management system that makes everything very transparent. We know how many hours an individual has left and members know how many they have.”

Solution

1. Flexibility

Bakir also notes that the level of flexibility Nexudus affords is somewhat unusual for the music space industry. As far as he knows, Sound Animal is “the first music rehearsal studios provider that has a professional member management system like Nexudus”, which is why new members are often “completely blown away by its functionality.”

“Every time I show a solo musician where they can make a booking, see the rehearsal studios, cancel a booking and check how many hours they have left, they're so impressed,” Bakir says. “I’m also finding that bands love that they’re able to cancel a rehearsal and get a new spot without having to call the studio.”

2. Apps

The majority of Sound Animal’s members engage with Passport by Nexudus and use it to manage their bookings, enabling Bakir to focus more on the strategic-led aspects of running the business.

Studios contain all kinds of musical equipment and members come from a variety of musical backgrounds.

3. Integrations

One of Bakir’s favourite Nexudus features is the integration with GoCardless. In Germany, it’s uncommon for people to pay for memberships using credit cards, so Sound Animal needed to be able to facilitate SEPA withdrawal payments. The integration is “going really well” and Bakir finds it reassuring to know that he has a reliable system in place.

“It was a pain before—it’d take half a day to go through all the payments to see what had been paid and what hadn't. The switch has saved us a lot of time.”

Which Nexudus features would you like to make further use of in the future?

Bakir’s short-term vision is to leverage Nexudus’ integrations further by implementing SALTO Systems to enhance access control. Sound Animal currently operates using a key box system - a key code is sent to a member every time they make a booking.

“This works okay but there’s always friction when, for instance, somebody forgets to leave on time,” Bakir explains, adding that he sees the project as a “worthwhile investment that will further set us apart from the competition.”

Once introduced, members will gain access to the studio automatically for the duration of their booking and the door will lock when they leave, enhancing security.

Sound Animal also plans to give its members more options within NexBoard. “We do have tablets inside the studios and we’re looking to give members more options with NexBoard over the next few months. We’re also building a hangout area where people can meet so it’ll make sense to have NexBoard available there too.”

As a startup, Sound Animal is continuing to experiment with new membership options and services. “That’s why we chose the Nexudus platform. It’s the most flexible solution on the market which means we can try out new things without being limited by our system.”

To stay up to date with what Sound Animal are up to? Visit their website for the latest updates.

Bakir Kreso is the Founder of Sound Animal and a Management Consultant. As a musician, he is well aware of the difficulties of finding the right space and tools to allow performers to carry out their passion. He uses this understanding to enact positive change in his space.