How SetBook works

Your chart library is the foundation of everything in SetBook. Every song you might play — covers, originals, worship songs, jazz standards — lives here as a single, searchable record. Each chart stores the title, artist, original key, tempo, tags, author, and a notes field where you can paste your chord chart, lead sheet, lyrics, or any reference text you need.

You can link each chart to the original recording on Spotify, YouTube, or Apple Music, and to a separate file in Dropbox or Google Drive if you have a PDF chart you want to keep alongside the entry. SetBook auto-detects the platform from a pasted URL — no need to label which service it is.

Starting from scratch? Use Bulk Import to paste a list of songs in plain text (one per line, or with title/artist separated by a dash) and SetBook creates them all at once. It detects duplicates by matching title and artist, so you never end up with three copies of "Sweet Caroline" in your library by accident.

Tag songs by genre, energy, era, or whatever system fits your gigs. Filter by tag to find every uptempo cocktail-hour song or every slow first-dance ballad in seconds. Mark a song as Public to let friends save it from your profile, or keep it Private and shared only with your bands.

A setlist in SetBook is an ordered list of songs from your chart library. Drag from the song picker to add tracks, then drag-and-drop to reorder. Add Set Break markers between songs to separate sets, or use them to plan transitions and announcements.

The killer feature is per-setlist overrides. Need to play "Wagon Wheel" in B-flat for one wedding and in G for the next? Set the override key on each setlist — your master chart stays in the original key, untouched. Same goes for notes: write gig-specific reminders like "start with the bass solo" or "key change after the second chorus" without polluting the original chart.

Per-user song flags let each band member mark songs they need to brush up on, without affecting what anyone else sees. The pianist's flagged songs are different from the drummer's flagged songs.

On the night of the gig, switch to Stage View. The screen goes full-bleed dark, the current song is huge and readable from across the stage, and you can swipe to the next song with a single tap. Designed for reading off a music stand or a tablet velcroed to your keyboard.

Create a gig with date, start time, end time, call time, venue, dress code, compensation, and free-form notes. Attach a setlist (or build one later). Add a schedule of timeline events — load-in 4:00pm, soundcheck 4:30pm, doors 7:00pm, downbeat 8:00pm — and SetBook stores them as part of the gig.

Invite bandmates from your friends list. For each invitee you assign a role (drums, bass, vocals, MD, host/MC, etc.) and choose whether they can edit the gig and the setlist. SetBook checks each musician's other gigs and shows you who's free and who has a conflict at that time, so you can book the right people on the first try.

If your bandmate isn't on SetBook yet, you can still invite them. The shareable gig link works for anyone — they get the gig details and can RSVP without creating an account. They'll see the setlist, the call time, the venue, and your contact info.

Need to message everyone at once? The Message Band feature sends an email or SMS to every accepted musician on the gig — perfect for last-minute updates like "venue changed" or "wear black tonight."

Your gigs sync automatically to Apple Calendar and Google Calendar via a private iCal feed. Subscribe once and your gigs flow in alongside everything else on your calendar. When details change in SetBook, your calendar updates within minutes.

On every gig you can mark whether it's paid (some gigs are rehearsals or favors), set the compensation type (general, hourly, session, stipend, tip, etc.), and assign per-member pay amounts if everyone is getting paid differently. Mark each musician as paid as the checks (or Venmos, or Zelles) come in.

The Earnings dashboard shows your paid total, your pending total, and your upcoming bookings — for the current month, the year to date, the last 12 months, or all time. A line chart visualizes earnings over time so you can see your busy seasons and your dry spells at a glance.

Add your home address and turn on mileage tracking, and SetBook will display the round-trip miles to each gig — useful for the IRS deduction or for deciding whether a gig is actually worth driving to.

Export your earnings to PDF or CSV, broken down by year and month, and hand it to your accountant at tax time. SetBook also sends automatic payment reminders for gigs that are more than seven days overdue, so you never have to be the awkward one chasing the band leader for money you're owed.