Group Configurations let you save reusable musician seat templates — like “String Quartet” or “Jazz Trio” — so you can staff an entire performance in seconds instead of building it from scratch each time. Once you’ve defined a configuration, you can apply it to any gig with a single click, specifying the pay rate and response deadline for the whole batch.
Before You Begin #
- You must be a group leader to create and manage Group Configurations.
- Specialties (instrument categories) must already be set up in your group before you can add seats. See Creating and Managing Instrument Categories in BookLive if you need to set these up first.
Step 1: Navigate to Group Configurations #
- Log in to BookLive at https://booklive.com/login.
- From your dashboard, select your group.
- In the left sidebar, click Members.
- Look for the Group Configurations section within the Members area. This is where all your saved templates are listed.
Step 2: Create a New Configuration #
- Click the + (pink button) in the top-right corner of the Group Configurations table.
- In the dialog that appears, enter a name for your configuration. Use something descriptive like String Quartet, Jazz Trio, Solo Violin, or 5-Piece Band.
- Click Create. BookLive will open the configuration’s detail page where you’ll add your seats.
Step 3: Add Seats to the Configuration #
A seat represents one musician position in the configuration. Each seat specifies which instrument/specialty is needed and optionally a specific part (e.g., “Violin I” vs. “Violin II”).
- On the configuration’s detail page, click the + button to add a new seat.
- Select the Specialty (instrument category) for this seat.
- Optionally, assign a Part to further distinguish the role (e.g., First Violin, Second Violin).
- Click Save.
- Repeat for each musician position in the configuration. For example, a String Quartet would have four seats: Violin I, Violin II, Viola, and Cello.
Step 4: Apply a Configuration to a Performance #
Once your configuration is saved, you can use it when staffing any gig.
- Open the performance you want to staff.
- Go to the Musicians (staffing) tab of the performance.
- Click the Add Musician(s) button.
- From the dropdown menu, select Add Ensemble.
- In the dialog that appears:
- Choose the Group Configuration you want to apply from the template selector.
- Enter the Payment per Musician — this amount will be applied to all seats added from this template.
- Set a Response Deadline — the number of hours musicians have to accept or decline their seat proposal.
- Optionally, if the performance has timeline segments, you can toggle Assign all musicians to specific segments only and select which segments apply.
- Click Add Musicians. BookLive will create all the seats at once, ready for you to fill individually or via Auto-Fill.
Step 5: Edit or Delete a Configuration #
If your typical lineup changes, you can update an existing configuration at any time.
- To rename a configuration, click the edit (pencil) icon next to it in the Group Configurations table, update the name, and click Update.
- To remove a seat from a configuration, open the configuration, find the seat in the table, and click its delete (trash) icon.
- To delete an entire configuration, click the delete icon next to it in the Group Configurations table and confirm.
Note: Deleting or editing a Group Configuration does not affect performances that have already had seats added from it — those seats are independent once created.
Tips & Notes #
- Create one configuration for each common group size or format you offer (e.g., Duo, Trio, Quartet, Full Band). This saves significant time when booking multiple gigs per week.
- The payment amount you set when applying a configuration is a starting point — you can adjust individual seat payments after they’ve been added to a performance.
- Group Configurations work seamlessly with the Auto-Fill feature: after applying a configuration to create the seats, use Auto-Fill to automatically send proposals to available musicians from your personnel lists.
- If you use different pay rates depending on the event type or client budget, you can apply the same configuration multiple times with different pay amounts.
