My "usual studio" was usually recommended by someone. A senior bandmate used it, a bandmate recommended it, I happened to find it near the train station—that's how it piled up, one studio at a time. But when it comes to finding a studio in an unfamiliar city, researching live music venues in a place we've been invited to play with, or finding a practice space from scratch after moving, my local network of contacts is completely useless.
Even if you search for "studio in [city name]" on a search engine, businesses without official websites or those with outdated information on map apps won't appear. Conversely, sometimes businesses that are no longer operating will remain at the top of the search results. The same applies to live music venues; information about "what's where" tends to be known only by people who live in the area or have actually visited them. Even if you ask on social media for "recommended live music venues in [prefecture name]," you'll only get two or three responses at best. Beyond that, you have to find each venue yourself.
This time, I'll be introducing Membo's nationwide spot search . I (the person behind membo.info) will honestly write only about what I actually checked by opening each screen myself.
A place where you can search for studios and live music venues all across Japan.
Membo's spot search is a place where you can find studios and live music venues all across Japan in one place. As of August 2026, there are over 4,300 music studios and over 1,400 live music venues registered, totaling over 5,700 spots. It covers all 47 prefectures, making it unlikely that you'll find yourself without information just because you're in a rural area.
It's simple to use. From the spot search on the top page, select either "Studio" or "Live House," then narrow down your search by prefecture, and if necessary, by city or town. That's all it takes to see a list of spots in that area. No registration or login is required; anyone can use it immediately.
While "studios" and "live music venues" may seem similar, they serve different purposes. Studios are places for practice and recording, and are often rented by the hour (30 minutes or 1 hour). Live music venues are places for performing in front of an audience, where you are the performer delivering your music. The spot search feature in Membo , which will be introduced in this article, has separate lists for these two types of venues, allowing you to choose the one that best suits your needs.
This list is available in both Japanese and English, and you can use the same search function in English . It's also useful when researching a city with foreign band members (more on this later).
I think some people might wonder, "Isn't it only the cities that are well-equipped, while rural areas are sparse?" So, I'll list the number of cases I actually checked and counted in several prefectures.
While it's no surprise that Tokyo and Osaka have the most listings, even Hokkaido and Okinawa have over 60 studios and over 20 live music venues registered. The numbers suggest that it's unlikely that people in rural areas will find themselves in a situation where they have no way to find a place.
List of live music venues nationwide
You can search over 1,400 live music venues across all 47 prefectures using the same format. Use this to find venues where you're performing or where other bands you'll be playing with are located.
Find a studio — a place to practice and record.
The nationwide studio directory includes both practice studios and rehearsal studios. It contains over 4,300 listings, divided into pages for each prefecture. For example, the Tokyo page lists over 1,200 studios, and the Osaka page lists over 380 studios.
One of the key features is that you can narrow your search not only by prefecture but also by city, ward, town, or village. For example, if you open the page for Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, you'll see a heading that reads "89 Music Studios in Shibuya Ward," displaying only the studios located within that ward. This saves you time searching because you can see only what's within your reach, rather than having to scroll through a list of prefectures from top to bottom.
A music production workspace filled with recording and editing equipment. Studio layouts vary, from practice spaces to those designed for full-scale recording.
Find a live music venue — a place to perform or play with other bands.
You can find a list of live music venues nationwide using the same system. There are over 1,400 listings, and they are available in all 47 prefectures. If you open the Tokyo page, you'll see over 390 live music venues, and there isn't a single prefecture on the regional pages that doesn't have a venue listed.
When you open the details page for a live music venue, in addition to the venue's basic information, you'll find a simple step-by-step guide on "how to perform." This is a template common to all live music venue details pages, and the content doesn't vary from venue to venue. It explains the general process: send a demo recording, have a meeting with the person in charge, discuss the performance date and quotas (equipment and ticket count), and on the day of the performance, do a sound check before the actual show. This is not a function to actually make reservations or applications for each venue, but rather a guide to let you know "what you'll be asked when contacting a venue for the first time." You will need to contact the venue yourself using the phone number or official website listed.
Before the show starts, the stage is set up with only lighting and PA equipment. You can find places like this one by one on a map.
Narrow it down to prefectures and then to cities, towns, and villages.
Membo's spot search is structured hierarchically. First, there's a nationwide list, then prefectures, and finally, cities, towns, and villages within each prefecture. The page URLs are also separated, like /spots/studio/都道府県/ and /spots/studio/都道府県/市区町村/ , so you can bookmark them and access them from there each time.
The ability to narrow down the search to the city or town level means it can be used in the same way in regional cities. Not only prefectural capitals, but even if you open the page for a city a little further away, the spots there will be displayed correctly. As I wrote in " How to Find Band Members in Regional Cities like Fukuoka, Sapporo, and Sendai, " regional areas often don't have "little information," but rather "information that isn't organized," so the existence of such a list is meaningful.
The basic filtering level is two-tiered: prefecture and city/ward/town/village. However, some areas, like Shibuya Ward in Tokyo, have separate pages for each ward. Conversely, there are areas with few registered locations at the city/ward/town/village level. In such cases, you can return to the prefecture-level page to find the same spot. We'll discuss what to do if you've filtered too much and ended up with zero results in the "Common Problems" section later on.
Search by map — Includes not only addresses but also latitude and longitude for all entries.
The location details page includes a map along with the address. When I actually opened and checked several detail pages, I found that the address and latitude/longitude were registered for all locations, and there were no locations where the map was not displayed or the location was incorrect.
Below the map, you'll find two links: "Get directions" and "Open in Google Maps." The former will show you directions to the location, while the latter will open the store directly on Google Maps. If you want to check directions from the station, you can open it right there without having to search for the store name again.
Upon checking the actual links, I found that "Find directions" is based on latitude and longitude, while "Open in Google Maps" is based on the store name and address. The former displays the route directly to the destination, while the latter opens the same results as searching by store name, making it suitable for when you want to see additional information such as reviews and business hours on the map. Please understand that you can use them depending on your needs.
Practical Use — 3 Steps When You've Got a Co-Performance in an Unfamiliar City
Since it might be difficult to visualize from just words, let me write down a concrete example. Let's say the scenario is, "Next month, I've been invited to perform a live show in a city I've never been to before."
Check the venue —First, narrow down your search by prefecture and city/ward/town/village from the nationwide list of live music venues that you've been invited to, and then open the details page for that venue. If the address, map, phone number, and official website are registered, you can check the access and opening hours before the day of the event.
If you're arriving the day before, check out the studios as well . If you're arriving the day before and want to rehearse, open a list of studios in the same city or town to see if there are any close to the venue. Comparing the locations on the map will help you visualize the route from your hotel to the live house and studios.
This can also help you find members in that area —if you want to establish a base of operations in that city in the future, or if you want to get to know local bands, you can go to the member search for that area from the "🤝 Friends to play with in Membo " section on the details page (more details below).
The advantage of having a list and map together is that you can do all three of these things at once while you're looking up the venue's contact information.
What you can and cannot find out on the spot page
I will also honestly describe what is listed on each individual listing's detail page. From what I have checked, the address, map, and type of spot (studio or live music venue) are included for all spots. However, the following information is not available for all registered establishments.
Phone number — You can find it at about 80% of stores.
Link to the official website — can be found at about 80% of stores.
Photos — You can find them in about 80% of stores.
Opening hours — You can check them at about 80% of stores.
Google rating score — can be found at about 80% of stores.
Let me give you some more specific figures regarding Google's rating scores. From what I've seen, the average rating for a spot is around 4.4 stars, and looking at the breakdown of stars, more than 80% are 4 stars or higher. The total number of reviews posted across all spots exceeds 480,000.
While the numbers alone might seem reliable, the fact that over 80% of the ratings are 4 stars or higher means that there's hardly any difference between stores based solely on their rating scores. Rather than using it as a guarantee of safety because of high ratings, it's better to use it as a way to rule out stores with extremely low ratings or very few reviews, as there might be a reason for that. Ultimately, you can't skip checking the official website, calling the store, or actually visiting it yourself.
Regarding fees, the number of rooms, and whether instrument rentals are available, as far as I could check, none of the spots had this information listed on their detail pages. Prices vary greatly from place to place and also depend on the time of day and plan, so you'll need to check the exact rates directly by phone or on their official website. If you want to get a sense of the average cost beforehand, I recommend reading "How to Choose a Band Practice Studio — Budget, Selection Criteria, Booking Tips for 20 Cities Nationwide and a Complete Guide to the Costs of Band Activities in Japan" before contacting them, as this will help you organize what you need to ask.
The studio details page also has a section called "🌐 Information for Foreign Musicians," which indicates whether English-speaking staff are available and how easy it is to make a reservation. However, as far as I could see, this section displayed "Confirmation Required — Please inquire in advance" on every spot's page. The section itself is provided, but the actual information for each studio is not yet filled in . Be prepared to take the extra step of checking before you go.
Conversely, if you have the address and a map, you can confirm the rest of the information on-site with just one phone call. Instead of thinking, "I won't go because there are no photos," or "I'll rule it out because the opening hours aren't listed," it's best to use the information provided as a guide and fill in the missing details yourself.
Things you can't do — You can't make reservations through spot search.
This is where I want to be particularly honest. Membo's spot search is purely for "finding" places. There is no function to book or apply online directly. From what I've seen, only a very small number of spots have email addresses or booking form links registered.
The reason we don't have a reservation function is that the application process for studios and live music venues varies from place to place. Some venues accept reservations with just one phone call, others only accept reservations through a dedicated form on their official website, and some even require you to contact the representative directly via their social media account. We believe that focusing on providing the correct contact information is more reliable in the long run than creating a half-baked, unified reservation form.
What's the difference between this and map apps or search engines?
Some of you might be thinking, "Why not just use a map app?", so let me honestly explain the differences. General map services like Google Maps mix information on all kinds of businesses, from restaurants and hair salons to convenience stores. Membo's spot search is limited to music studios and live music venues, so it's less likely that you'll get music schools or dance studios mixed in with your search results when you're looking for a "studio".
Other differences are also summarized in the table.
item
This service
General map app
List limited to music venues only
○
△ (Easily mixed with other industries)
Registered in all 47 prefectures
○ (There are no prefectures with 0 results.)
There are significant regional differences.
Available in both Japanese and English.
○
Service
Romanized spelling of address
○ (Almost all cases)
Service
Register/Login
Unnecessary
Service
Online booking
× (Not currently available)
Depending on the service/store
Customer reviews
× (Not currently available)
○
In summary, Membo's spot search is solely focused on one thing: "viewing music venues across all 47 prefectures, in both Japanese and English." It doesn't include features like reservations or user reviews. A more accurate explanation would be that it sacrifices the versatility of a map app for the ease of use of a search engine specifically for music venues.
How to use it when touring, playing with other bands, or performing at festivals.
When performing in an unfamiliar city, it's not just the location of the live music venue that you should research beforehand. If you're arriving the day before, you can get a good idea of things like whether there's a studio near your accommodation where you can rehearse, whether there's a place to park your equipment van, and how far it is from the nearest station. By comparing a list of live music venues and studios side-by-side, you can get a good sense of these things before you go.
How to use it when you move to a new city due to relocation, job transfer, or starting school.
When you move to an unfamiliar city for work, school, or a job transfer, you're starting from scratch, without the studio you used to use or any musician friends you know. In situations like this, having a way to find out "what's available in that city" without relying on local information networks can help you get started more quickly.
When searching with foreign members — English version and Romanized address
Membo's spot search is available in English, and you can view the same list in English at https://membo.info/en/spots/ . From what I've seen, addresses are also available in Roman letters, and almost all spots are listed. This means you can directly send a link to a member who can't read Japanese, saying, "This studio looks good, check it out."
From the studio's page, you can proceed directly to searching for members.
Personally, what I thought was the best feature was this integration. On the detail pages for studios and live venues, there is a section called "🤝 Friends to play with at Membo ," with two links: "Find members in this area" and "Post a recruitment here." In other words, you don't just find a studio and that's it; you can then move directly to the Membo member search or the Membo recruitment list .
Conversely, if you've already formed a band and only need to know about practice locations and live venues, you can ignore these two links and just use the map and list. The location search and member search are designed so that you can use either one or the other.
Common pitfalls and patterns for success
Rather than sharing the experiences of specific individuals, this section will focus on the trends that emerge from the design of the spot search function, highlighting areas where users tend to stumble and areas where they tend to succeed.
situation
Things that are likely to happen
Things you should also check
The store had very little information on its product page.
The phone number and official website are not registered, and the only means of contact are a map and address.
Try searching again using the link that opens in Google Maps, by searching for the store name or address.
I looked for a reservation form because I thought there was one.
There are very few shops where you can make a reservation online directly.
When I narrowed it down to the city/ward/town level, there were 0 results.
Even if registration exists at the prefectural level, it may not be registered in smaller areas.
Return to the list at the broader prefectural level to search again.
I looked at the "process leading up to performing" at a live music venue.
This is a general explanation of the process and not a store-specific application form.
Contact them yourself via the phone number or official website listed.
I was hoping for English-speaking staff.
Some stores still have the "For Foreigners" section marked as "To be confirmed."
Before going, make sure to confirm by phone or email.
What they all have in common is that Membo's spot search handles the initial "viewing locations in a list" part, but the actual "contacting" part comes back to you. Understanding this division of labor from the start will reduce the chances of being confused when you can't find the features you expected.
When you can't find a single studio nearby
Sometimes, while studios and live music venues are registered at the prefectural level, narrowing the search to the city or town level results in zero entries. The quickest solution in this case, as mentioned in the previous table, is to go back to the broader prefectural level and search again. If there are still few options nearby, or if the number of studios is limited because it's a rural area, you can also look outside of Membo's spot search database.
One option is public facilities operated by local governments. Community centers, civic halls, and lifelong learning centers often have rooms available for music practice. Soundproofing and equipment vary from facility to facility, but hourly rental fees are often cheaper than private studios. In some cases, school music rooms or gymnasiums are also open to local residents.
However, the systems for these public facilities vary greatly from one municipality to another, and they are not registered in Membo's spot search . You will need to search on your local city or town's website using terms like "community center music room rental" to check the usage conditions and reservation methods. It takes a little extra effort, but remember that it does mean you have options.
There's one more thing I want to be honest about. Membo's spot search isn't the only way to find studios and live music venues all in one place. You can also use a map app to specify "music studios" as the type of business and view the area around your current location, view a list of locations on the official website of a studio chain that operates multiple locations, search for music rooms using your local government's public facility reservation system, or search on social media by combining a region name and studio name. Each method has its own strengths.
What I want to convey in this article isn't that "this one tool is all you need," but rather that having multiple ways of searching will help you avoid getting stuck in unfamiliar cities . Membo's strengths lie in its focus solely on music venues, its consistent format across all 47 prefectures, and its availability in both Japanese and English. Conversely, if you want to find out about prices and availability, or make a reservation on the spot, you'll need to check each venue's official website or call them directly. Use them appropriately.
Summary — From "places you know" to "places you can find"
Local studios and live music venues are places you've gotten to know over time. While these are valuable assets, it's no reason to repeat the same struggles from scratch every time you go to an unfamiliar city. Membo's spot search allows you to narrow down your search from prefecture to city/town to find over 5,700 spots nationwide—more than 4,300 studios and more than 1,400 live music venues. While you can't make reservations or applications through the search function, it's a great first step in finding out "where" a place is and "what kind of place it is."
No registration is required, so even if you haven't actually formed a band yet, just browsing the studios and live venues in the city where you plan to perform can be helpful. If you're planning to move, try opening the spot search early; if you have tours or joint performances planned, open it once the dates are set.
For those who want to get involved before officially joining, we also offer support member and guest appearances . If you're meeting new members for the first time online, we've compiled a complete guide for online first meetings . We've already got all the tools you need to find practice spaces, performance venues, and fellow musicians. All that's left is to actually open it up.
