The music business is not for the faint of heart. While the fantasy of going full-on Led Zeppelin — driving Harleys through the halls of the Chateau Marmont — is what everyone envisions once a band scribbles its name on the dotted line of a record deal, that’s not usually what happens.

Instead, for most bands, it’s a scramble to get their break in whatever form it takes. The old days of a record label pushing an artist are over. No one listens to the radio.

Once upon a time, MTV was the holy grail for musicians. Get your video on MTV, and bam — instant fame. But then reality TV took over, and Ridiculousness reruns became more important than rock anthems. MTV ditched music videos for endless shows about pregnant teens, party animals, and…whatever Catfish is, while music blogs/music magazines, YouTube curators, and podcasters are drowning in new music options. Aside from those new music options, there’s a constant source of older, obscure artists worth discovering. 

It’s a lot.

Meanwhile, social media swooped in with YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram, making it way easier for fans to watch music whenever they wanted. Why wait for a VJ to tell you what’s hot when you’ve got an algorithm shoving it in your face? Plus, music fans are now scattered across niche platforms, from SoundCloud to Spotify.

It’s gonna sound all corporate, we get it, but you need to think of your fans like customers in this instance. 

To cut through the noise, you need every trick at your disposal, or you risk becoming one of those bands lost in obscurity. So what can a band do? You need to take action via the right channels, like social media and a website, to get the edge. There is no clear path into the hearts and minds of the public these days, so any way that your music reaches people is a win. Bands need to think like marketers; you’re continually running campaigns across multiple platforms, and every tool is a chance to engage, from Facebook Messenger to Instagram DM. Bands can provide updates on what’s up with their newest single within minutes, not just once a week.

For many musicians, getting that edge is not a one-tool solution. There are options beyond Bandcamp, Spotify, Instagram, TikTok, and Apple Music. There’s also Manychat and Laylo, which can help you.

We’ll walk through how each can help you and what makes them different for different objectives, but ultimately, it comes down to what a particular artist needs for their promotional push to the masses.

Turn those amps up to eleven. It’s time to present the marketing battle of Laylo vs. Manychat for musicians and fans alike. 

Laylo: Direct Access to Your Super-Fans

Laylo is a fan engagement platform designed for musicians to build deeper connections and effectively manage drops, announcements, and events. It’s a mutant love child between MailChimp and social media tools, emphasizing real-time engagement, campaigns, and fan communication.

Here’s the lowdown on Laylo:

Laylo notifies fans when new music, tickets, merch, or exclusive content becomes available without relying on algorithms like Instagram or TikTok. It helps creators own their audience by collecting email addresses and phone numbers, ensuring announcements reach the people who care most: hardcore fans. For a band still playing the clubs, this kind of connection could be very effective in informing fans to sell those precious tickets on a Monday night in Tulsa.

Stand Out with Laylo’s Unique Tools

Laylo goes beyond email marketing by offering multi-channel notifications, including SMS and DMs, which are much more immediate and engaging. It’s tailored to the needs of musicians and creators, so it isn’t just a newsletter; it’s about driving fans to grab that new hoodie that just hit the streets.

Unlike Spotify, where the platform “owns” the audience, Laylo helps musicians build a database of fan information — meaning they can always stay connected. Laylo also provides custom landing pages for music releases and merch drops, removing third-party sellers and reducing service fees. 

One big thing about Laylo is that it’s got a customizable CRM

Laylo functions as a lightweight CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tool, helping artists track fan interactions, including who signed up for what and how engaged they are with the stuff a band posts.

Examples of Laylo in Use:

• Tour Announcements: A band can set up a page where fans RSVP to receive notifications when tickets drop for their city. If you’re a touring band, those comments of “come to Atlanta” or “wow, no West Coast dates!” become a thing of the past because your people know what’s up with the touring schedule.
• Exclusive Merch Drops: An artist can launch limited-edition merch and notify top fans via text message the moment it’s live, giving them first dibs before the rest of the world.
• Music Releases: Fans can sign up to receive an SMS notification the second a song or album becomes available on streaming platforms.

Pricing

Laylo offers a free tier with premium plans for those who want access to advanced features like deeper fan analytics and custom branding.

Laylo works for musicians who want to own their audience relationships and control how their content reaches fans. If you’re a musician looking to build that fanbase and boost your direct-to-fan sales, Laylo is worth exploring.

But Wait, What About Manychat?

Of course, we’re gonna talk about how badass we are. Because musicians should embrace Manychat, we can help slash through the noise of social media. It’s not enough for musicians to post and hope the audience engages. Even Blink 182 and Chappel Roan have social media strategies, and they perform in stadiums. 

Fans want that immediate, direct interaction — and musicians need tools that help scale engagement without burnout. So if you’re a local band or a working band like Lucero or Off With Their Heads, you must make every effort to fill rooms every night and sell some t-shirts. Having an ace in the hole always helps.

Discoverability is everything. Musicians need tools that help them engage. Manychat makes it possible. If a fan comments “🔥🔥🔥” on an Instagram post, Manychat will automatically send a DM thanking them for being awesome — but then include a link to the latest single or exclusive content.

Engagement Without Losing Personal Touch

The heart and soul of the music business is that it connects people. So, losing that personalized touch would be bad for a musician. For musicians, responding to every DM or comment on Instagram can feel overwhelming, especially as the fan base grows. But ignoring fans isn’t an option — they want to feel seen and heard. One of the biggest things about music fandom is the sense of community.

Manychat allows musicians to automate conversations with their followers while keeping things personal.

When a fan DMs, “When’s the new album dropping?” Manychat replies with the release date and even includes a pre-save link. That way, the fan gets the info they want without the artist needing to check their inbox constantly. Just make sure the messages don’t feel too generic.

But, just the same:

Let people know when a new song or album drops. With Manychat, musicians can send direct notifications to fans whenever a new song, music video, tour announcement, or merch drop happens. Gotta sell those hoodies, right?

Fans have questions — a lot of them. They want to know about show times, ticket availability, or shipping details for merchandise. Instead of becoming overwhelmed, musicians can use Manychat to answer FAQs automatically.

Streamline Merch and Ticket Sales

Because record sales are not what they once were thanks to streaming (we’re looking at you, Spotify + Apple Music), musicians can’t live off of what they make. So now, merch and live shows are more important than ever.

Musicians can create automated flows that guide fans through the purchase process — no need for long, complicated checkout links. Because a musician will always receive the ubiquitous “Are you coming to XXXX city?” or “Where can I buy that tour hoodie with the skull on it?” Manychat can automatically respond with a link to the merch store or offer to complete the purchase right inside the chat. The result? 

Higher conversion rates and more direct sales.

Consistent Without Being Annoying

Consistency is vital on social media, but it’s impossible for artists to always be online. (Someone’s gotta play shows and get in the studio, after all.) Manychat allows musicians to schedule automated social media interactions and keep conversations going, so that guitar solo can get nailed without explaining to someone in Alabama that they won’t be making it down there for this tour.

While the band travels between cities, Manychat can automatically respond to new followers with a message like, “Thanks for following us. We’re stoked you’re here. Check out our latest album and tell all of your friends. Seriously. [Spotify link].”

This keeps momentum, even when the artist is off the grid and on the road. There is power in the Instagram DM. This is an easy way to pump up engagement with fans who in this instance, can be thought of as a customer, but not in a gross and sales-y way. 

Even bands need to launch campaigns; it only helps make that sale on the new shirt you’ve got dropping. 

Data-Data-Data for Long-Term Growth

Want to borrow a move from the tech world? Everything’s rooted in data. One of Manychat’s biggest advantages is that it captures valuable fan data, like email addresses and phone numbers, which musicians can use for future campaigns. Building a direct-to-fan communication list ensures musicians aren’t relying entirely on social media platforms like Instagram or TikTok, where content algorithms can be fickle.

Manychat can prompt fans to sign up for exclusive newsletters or text alerts. Later, you can use this data to promote ticket sales, exclusive merch, or new releases — if politicians do it during election season, why can’t you? (In the marketing world, this is called “higher conversions”.)

This way, the marketing doesn’t feel like customer marketing, but connecting with fans in an organic way. It’s fostering social media engagement and keeping fans feeling looped in via DM, while also helping sell tickets across multiple platforms. User engagement, baby. Use the channels you’ve got or some other enterprising musician will. You’re not just a person strumming a guitar; you’re creators. 

What we’re saying here is that the edge is essential. A musician has to know what’s happening with their fans. You miss the chance to sell a few extra tickets when you can’t make informed decisions from real-time data like segmentation. 

If you’re playing that rock and roll, let’s talk. We’d love to help you level up from clubs to theaters or at least help you get the merch into the hands of your fans. Lean into being content creators across multiple channels. (We get it, you’re not developers, you write beats. But, a sale is a sale.) 

If you’re going Laylo vs. Manychat, it boils down to what works best for the promotional plans your band has in mind. 

Let us know if we’re playing your kind of tune.