Trello for musicians: setup, limits and an alternative
Plenty of musicians, producers and bands track their songs in Trello: one card per song, one list per stage. Here is a setup that works for music, where Trello falls short once audio and feedback come in, and how Trackboard compares. We make Trackboard, so we are not neutral: we stuck to facts you can check, and we say where Trello does better.
Updated
How to set up Trello for your music
A kanban board fits the way a song moves forward. This setup holds up for a single as well as an album.
One list per stage
Ideas, Recording, Arranging, Mixing, Mastering, Distribution, Promotion. Move a card to the right as the song progresses, and you see at a glance what’s stuck.
One card per song
Not one per task: the card is the song, and its tasks live in checklists. Name it like the project in your DAW, so you find one from the other.
One label per release
A color for each EP, album or single. Filter the board on a label to work on one release at a time.
A checklist for each stage
Keep a template card with the checklists you reuse (mix, master, release), or set up a Butler rule that adds the right checklist when a card enters a list. Our free checklists, linked at the bottom of this page, give you the items to start from.
Files and feedback in the card
Attach your bounces, or links to your cloud storage, and keep the feedback in the card’s comments. Add a due date for the master or the release to see what’s coming.
Where Trello falls short for music
Trello is built for any kind of project. With music, the same frictions keep coming back.
Audio is just an attachment
A bounce is one file in a list of attachments: no waveform to see where you are in the song, and no way to point at a moment of it.
In Trackboard: Every audio file of a song plays on its waveform, right in the track.
Feedback without timestamps
“The vocals get buried at 1:42” has to be typed by hand, then found again by scrubbing through the file. Which mix the comment is about isn’t always clear either.
In Trackboard: Click the waveform to comment on the exact second. The comment stays on its file, and clicking it plays from that moment.
10 MB per file on the free plan
Enough for an MP3, not for a WAV: a 3-minute stereo WAV at 24-bit / 44.1 kHz weighs about 48 MB. Trello’s paid plans raise the limit to 250 MB per file.
In Trackboard: Files up to 500 MB each, on the free plan too.
Checklists to set up and maintain
Template cards and Butler rules can add the right checklist, but you build and maintain them yourself. And tasks that concern a whole release, like the artwork, end up repeated on every song or on a separate card.
In Trackboard: Every stage of every song starts from your checklist template, and release-wide items are shared by all the songs of the release: tick the artwork once.
Every song created by hand
Forty projects in your DAW folder means forty cards to type before the board is useful.
In Trackboard: Pick your projects folder: Ableton Live, Logic Pro, FL Studio, Pro Tools, Cubase, REAPER and GarageBand sessions become tracks in one go.
Trello vs Trackboard: a Trello alternative made for music
What each one offers to organize music, on their free plans unless stated otherwise.
| Feature | Trello | Trackboard |
|---|---|---|
| Made for | Any kind of project | Music production only |
| Kanban board | Lists and cards, to set up yourself | 7 production stages, ready to use |
| Audio playback with waveform | No, files are attachments | In every track |
| Timestamped comments on a mix | No | On the waveform |
| Size per file | 10 MB (250 MB on paid plans) | 500 MB |
| Total storage | Unlimited | 1 GB (200 GB on Pro) |
| Checklists | Per card, with template cards and Butler rules | Per stage, from your own template |
| Tasks shared by a release | Repeated on each card, or a separate card | Shared by every song of the release |
| Songs grouped by release | With labels and filters | Releases, with a board filter |
| DAW project import | No | Ableton Live, Logic Pro, FL Studio and more |
| Due dates | Yes | Not yet |
| Automation and integrations | Butler and Power-Ups | No |
| Collaborators | Up to 10 per Workspace | Unlimited |
| Price | Free plan, paid plans billed per user | Free up to 30 tracks, Pro at €6/month |
Trello’s figures come from: Trello pricing, Trello help: attachments.
When Trello is still the better choice
Trackboard only does music. Trello remains a good fit if:
- your band or label already runs everything in it: gigs, merch, social media. Another tool has a cost too.
- you rely on automation or integrations: Butler rules, Power-Ups, the tools you already use.
- you mostly work against deadlines: Trackboard has no due dates yet.
- your audio lives elsewhere and the board only tracks tasks.
You can also use both: Trello for the band’s business, Trackboard for the songs.
Moving your songs from Trello to Trackboard
There is no Trello import, but most of the setup takes a few minutes.
Create your account
Free up to 30 tracks and 1 GB of audio, with no card required.
Set your checklists once
In My checklists, adjust the default checklist of each stage. Do it first: new tracks start from it, existing ones keep their own.
Import your DAW projects
Pick your projects folder: each session becomes a track. Then move each one to the stage of its Trello list.
Turn your labels into releases
One release per EP, album or single, and the board filters on it the way you filtered on labels.
Upload your mixes and invite your collaborators
Drop the latest bounces into each track, then invite your bandmates or your mix engineer by username or email.
Questions
- Is Trello good for music production?
- For tracking where each song stands, yes: one list per stage and one card per song work well. It gets harder once audio comes in: no waveform, no comments tied to a moment of a mix, and 10 MB per file on the free plan.
- How do I organize my songs in Trello?
- Create one list per stage (Ideas, Recording, Arranging, Mixing, Mastering, Distribution, Promotion), one card per song and one label per release. Add the checklists you reuse with a template card or a Butler rule.
- Can you share audio files on Trello?
- Yes, as attachments: up to 10 MB per file on the free plan and 250 MB on paid plans, or as links to your cloud storage. Trello doesn’t show a waveform or tie comments to a moment of the file.
- Is there a Trello alternative for musicians?
- Yes: tools built for music production, like Trackboard, keep the kanban board and add what Trello lacks for audio: a waveform player, comments on a precise moment of a mix, checklists for each production stage and releases. If you also run gigs, merch or admin in Trello, you can keep it for that.
- Is Trackboard free?
- Yes, up to 30 tracks and 1 GB of audio, with every feature and unlimited collaborators. Pro costs €6/month for unlimited tracks and 200 GB of storage.
Trello is a trademark of Atlassian. Trackboard is not affiliated with, endorsed or sponsored by Atlassian.