When you invite someone to a band, you give them a role. The role decides what they can do with the band's songs and setlists. The roles form a simple ladder: each step down removes one ability.
The four roles
Leader is the band's owner. Full control: invite and remove members, change roles, rename the band, and delete it. A band has exactly one leader. To hand it over, the leader transfers ownership to someone else.
Member is your working bandmates. They can create and edit songs and setlists, and copy the band's content out (export files, or Copy to workspace into their own library). They can't manage members.
Viewer is read-only access. Viewers see every song and setlist and can use Play Mode, and they can copy content out via export or Copy to workspace, but they can't make changes.
Guest is for a session player sitting in on a gig. Guests can view songs and setlists and use Play Mode on stage, but they can't edit anything and can't copy the band's content out.
What each role can do
| Ability | Leader | Member | Viewer | Guest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| View songs and setlists | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Use Play Mode | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Export or copy content out | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Create and edit songs, setlists | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Invite and remove members, change roles | Yes | No | No | No |
| Rename, manage billing, delete the band | Yes | No | No | No |
Two things sit outside this ladder:
- Personal layers are for everyone. Every role, including guests, sets their own capo, instrument, transpose, and private notes on the band's songs. That is a reading preference, not an edit. See the band workspace guide.
- A band on hold overrides edit. If a band is on hold, editing pauses for every role until it is back. Reading, Play Mode, and your own personal setup keep working. What a band on hold means.
How many people fit
A band holds 15 people, you included, whatever mix of roles they are. Guests and viewers take a place the same as members do.
That covers a four-piece with a sound engineer and a couple of deps several times over. If you are running something bigger, a choir, a big band, a rotating pool of session players, mail hello@fretlist.com and we will sort something out for you.
The count is checked when someone accepts, so sending a sixteenth invite works and the accept is what tells them the band is full. Remove someone who has moved on and the place frees up immediately.
Changing someone's role
Open Settings → Band → Members. As the leader, you can change any member's role from the dropdown next to their name, or remove them from the band. To make someone the new leader, open their menu and choose Make owner. That hands over full control and steps you down to Member, so do it only when you mean it.