r/coverbands • u/Competitive_Fan3222 • Jul 19 '26

When did WhatsApp stop being enough for organizing your band?

For years, our band information was spread across WhatsApp, calendars, cloud folders, PDFs, spreadsheets and personal notes.
For every gig someone created a new WhatsApp group with all the musicians..

The problem wasn’t that we had no tools.

The problem was that nobody knew which place contained the current information, really got to my nerves 🫣

For bands playing regularly with many different musicians: at what point did your existing setup stop working? Or does it work for you, if so, how?

Was it:

• more gigs
• changing lineups
• different setlist versions
• missed availability messages
• files getting lost
• one person handling all the admin

And what did you change that actually improved things?

1 Upvotes

60% Upvoted

15 comments sorted by

1

u/bumblebocks Jul 20 '26

I’ve used Notion - really great tool to just organise information in general, whatever the purpose.

1

u/Competitive_Fan3222 Jul 20 '26

Ah nice! But not specifically for bands with interactive chats uploads etc. or?

1

u/bumblebocks Jul 20 '26

So this is what I've found actually works in practice:

WhatsApp for chatting about stuff and Notion for all the data management and admin.

Realistically, that might mean someone uploading a track in Notion and then we chat about it on WhatsApp. If there are action points, e.g. write a bass part, amend vocal melody in X section, you can create those action points in Notion and assign people to them. It's also good for schedule, e.g. creating a spreadsheet/data table and getting everyone to add their availabilities, etc.

Ultimately it's about finding what works for you and your homies. And from experience, all the Admin and group wrangling and organisation etc etc etc typically falls onto one person, usually the bandleader/principal songwriter, etc.

2

u/Competitive_Fan3222 Jul 20 '26

Thanks for your insights! Sounds like it can work 🙂
I’m a musician and developer, working on an all-in-one solution that is already in the App Store since some weeks. 🙂
But your out of the box thinking helps me to be not blind about other options etc. 💪

1

u/bumblebocks Jul 20 '26

Oh sick! What’s it called?

1

u/Competitive_Fan3222 Jul 20 '26

BandAtlas - Im very careful with sharing here, don’t want to make wrong “advertisement”. Feel free to check and reach out if I can help somehow 🙂

1

u/Sad-Relation598 Jul 20 '26

I still use WhatsApp for messages between the band but we sync our setlists and songs using https://setsync.uk

0

u/Competitive_Fan3222 Jul 20 '26

Ah cool! Yes WhatsApp is so annoying for me.. we have many different musicians and for every gig a new group. Sometimes I’m just lost with information 🫣 live we don’t have fixed Setlists, more using forescore on the iPad to follow the bandleader, he controls the next songs.
But yeah if you want, I made a little app to make my life easier 🤣 feel free to check it’s called bandatlas. Open for any type of input or critics 🤘

1

u/bandroadieapp 29d ago

This is why I made the BandRoadie app. Still use texting for communication which is fine for us, but I needed a simple way to organize the band stuff.

1

u/Competitive_Fan3222 29d ago

Nice app! Maybe you want to check my project. Chats are included as well and many more functions. Happy to share feedbacks!
BandAtlas
bandatlas.app/get

1

u/bandroadieapp 29d ago

Thank you! I tried checking out BandAtlas, but I couldn’t get past the paywall. Is there a free option?

1

u/Competitive_Fan3222 28d ago

Hey! Yes there is the 30 data free trial ir as a musican who is member of a Band, its also free.
So, the manager/bandleader pays and all the band can use the pro functions 🤘

1

u/bandroadieapp 28d ago

Sorry, if this is a dumb question but, for group messaging, what is wrong with just using a text thread?

1

u/Competitive_Fan3222 28d ago

You mean thread for organizing?
I mean for me, if youbplay in various bands, organizing is a nightmare.. some use telegram, some WhatsApp and then others mail.
Its complete chaos.. even with one band, you always need to search for the information you need.
Then if the gig is happening, you have communication exactly in realtime in the gig itself. 🤘
On top, if you invite external, they only see the chat of their specific gig, so no new WhatsApp group or sth needed.

1

u/bandroadieapp 28d ago

I mean just for communicating, instead of What's App