Digital marketing platform Laylo has announced the hiring of Brian Shin as head of growth.
Shin, who previously worked for AI search company Perplexity, will be tasked with spearheading growth strategy at Laylo as the company expands adoption of its AI platform across artists, promoters, festivals, and major entertainment brands.
The Los Angeles-headquartered Drop CRM is used by more than 10,000 artists, promoters and live events, including Rosalía, Robyn, Idles, The xx, Suki Waterhouse, Circoloco and Teletech.
“We’ve always believed technology should support the artist-fan relationship, not replace it,” said Alec Ellin, co-founder and CEO of Laylo. “We’re building AI that acts like an extra member of an artist or event organiser’s team, handling everything from building a 50-date tour page instantly to making sure real fans buy and tickets sell out, and now making sure the best fan moments from every show don’t disappear. Brian’s job is to put those tools in the hands of every touring artist and event organiser.”
Originally known for its SMS drop campaigns, Laylo has evolved into a broader marketing platform for the entertainment industry, with integrations across Instagram, WhatsApp, Spotify, Shopify, and major ticketing platforms like Dice.
Entertainment is a compelling case for AI because the most valuable work is often the most personal
Brian Shin, Laylo
Over the past year, the company has launched automated Ticket Sales and Abandoned Cart agents, an AI Tour Builder and optimised email templates.
This week, it is launching a UGC Agent that monitors Instagram Story tags, identifies fan clips worth keeping and automatically messages fans to collect the original file before before it disappears in 24 hours – extending Laylo's AI offering "from revenue recovery to capturing content".
“Entertainment is a compelling case for AI because the most valuable work is often the most personal. I’m excited to help artist & event teams get their time back for the part only they can do,” said Shin, who joins Laylo after scaling growth initiatives at Perplexity.
Laylo cites early customer data highlighting the immediate impact of the tools around merchandise recovery, ticket sales and fan content.
It reports that a Canadian indie rock band converted 28% of abandoned carts using the platform, bringing in nearly $8,000 in net revenue with zero manual setup, while an independent promoter recovered more than $9,000 in ticket sales in a single day.
It adds that its AI Ticket Sales Agent automatically re-engaged 700 fans who RSVP'd but didn't buy on drop day, "converting at roughly three times the industry average".
Since 2021, Laylo has says it has powered more than 250 million fan actions and more than $1 billion in sales across tickets, merchandise and content. The platform is backed by Y Combinator, Eldridge and the founders of C3 Presents.
