Tag Archives: How-To

David Friday Fun: Customize the ‘Buy’ And ‘Download’ Buttons on Your Player Embeds

A question we’ve been asked quite a lot in the past weeks was how to change the text of the ‘Buy’ and ‘Download’ buttons. It only takes a couple of little tweaks to the html codes of your SoundCloud embed players so here’s how to do it.

That’s how my embedded track looks like on my blog when I use the regular html code. Note that for the Buy button to show in the player, you’ll need to have added a url to the Buy field in your track or set settings:

Now to change the text on the Buy and Download buttons, you’ll need to make some changes in the parameters of the code. I’ve bolded the parts that need to be added, don’t forget to add the parameters twice in the code:

The string added to the code between the track url and the end quotation mark includes both the changes to the Download and Buy buttons &text_download_track=Free download!&text_buy_track=Purchase! and this is the result:

This of course works for the artwork players too, here’s how this looks:

Quite an easy way to direct your listeners to social micropayment service Flattr or ask them for a donation via PayPal, don’t you think? We’re sure you’ll have many other examples for creative ways to use these little tweaks, so please share them with us in the comments for everyone else in the community to get inspired.

Hacking the SoundCloud player

More html parameters for the player

Program an entirely customized player (coding knowledge required)

Adams How To Use the DropBox for Demo Submissions

When any band starts one of the first stepping stones is recording that first demo and sending this to their favourite labels. This system classically has taken place with artists submitting demos through the post, sending over MP3 files or bands sending across links to their Myspace pages. And sometimes all three. From a label’s perspective it’s becoming more and more essential to simplify this whole process.

What if this system was streamlined and centralized? Well it can be. SoundCloud has a really useful free tool called DropBox, that enables you to streamline your demo submission process. It’s being used by labels ranging from Fat Cat Recordings to EMI and we think that more people could be making the most out of their DropBoxes.

So here’s a quick post covering everything you’ll need to know to create a quick, simple and cost effective demo submission policy for your label. Hopefully it will make checking demos feel like an interesting discovery process again, not just a chore.

Why use a DropBox?

Your DropBox page is where people can go to send you tracks directly via SoundCloud. By using the SoundCloud DropBox feature it allows you to:

- Centralize and organize all demo submissions
- Stream submissions without taking up space on your desktop
- Enables everybody, even people who are not on SoundCloud, to share their tracks with you
- Embed a DropBox on to any site where you want to receive submissions (including Facebook)
- Receive submissions that can feature links to videos and further information on an act

How do I setup and let people know about the DropBox?

If you have a SoundCloud account then you automatically have a DropBox. So you can get started straight away with receiving demos. There are two ways you can direct attention to your DropBox page. Firstly you can use the direct link to the DropBox and include this link wherever necessary eg. in your email signature. Alternatively you can grab a rather nice looking DropBox widget to embed on your own site eg. on your ‘Contact’ page. The widgets work as a great visual presence on your site as an easy click through for people to follow to go to your DropBox. You can grab the embed widget codes from the right hand side of the DropBox page on your public profile.

How can I customize my DropBox?

With our premium accounts you can customize the look and feel of your DropBox page as well as leaving information on your demo policy, what you’re looking for etc. To customize your DropBox click on the ‘Edit your branded DropBox’ option as shown in the image above. From here there is a number of options you can edit on your branded DropBox page:

- Add header and body background images
- Customize the text and logo
- Edit the color scheme

With these options you can make this page come across as an extension of your own site. Here is an example of how EMI Norway branded their DropBox to match their look and feel…

What happens when I receive music from my DropBox?

All your submissions through your DropBox can be viewed from the ‘Tracks‘ section on your SoundCloud account. If you go to ‘Tracks’ from there you can choose to view tracks sent to you ‘from people you follow’ and ‘from others’. By making the most of the follower aspect of this separation it is a helpful filter to separate submissions to other incoming audio. Tick the box saying “Only show tracks shared to my DropBox”

The tracks on this page will play one after another so from a label perspective you can leave the page open while you get on with other asks and listen through all the submissions. If one track hits you with a moment of inspiration then click through on the player for further info on the artist and to contact the individual via SoundCloud. Once you have finished with a track in your DropBox just press the delete icon on the top right of each player, as simple as you would with an email client. If you don’t want to hear any more tracks from a certain user then simply click the ‘mute’ option!
So if you’re a label, why not try this out? And let us know what you think in the comments. If you’re not a label then let us know if you’ve found any other interesting uses for your DropBox.

We’ve put together a nice little selection of screenshots from other labels using the demo DropBoxes to provide you with a bit of inspiration. How about trying to send me a track through my DropBox…

Send me your track

David 5 Extremely Powerful Ways for Bands to Use SoundCloud

You play in a band, have heard about SoundCloud but are not yet sure how it can help you? No problem – let’s take a closer look and dive into the different things you can do. We hope you’ll join and make SoundCloud your hub on the web, the control room for your tracks.

In short:

Upload your songs to your SoundCloud account, easily bring your tracks to where your fans are and have all the statistics around plays and downloads in one place.

In detail:

1. Player Widgets – Your tracks, well in shape.

We’re sure you put a lot of thought and energy into creating beautiful artwork for your songs and albums and obviously they deserve the best players available out there. Good thing we’ve got ‘em. We want to help you get the most out of your artwork when embedding your tracks to your blog, website or social profiles.

In addition to our classic waveform player, our Premium accounts come with two extra widget players: the artwork and minimal player. For artists and bands working with albums, we recommend using the artwork player. Here’s an example of a nice artwork player integration to a band website:

On the left, when you mouse-over the player, you see a preview of the player navigation: different options on the top and the album navigation including the waveform at the bottom of the player. Pretty cool: your album art and a big play button. Perfect for your discography page on your website.

2. BandPage by RootMusic – Your fully customized band page on Facebook

RootMusic’s BandPage app for Facebook has quickly become one of the most popular apps used by the SoundCloud community. Now there’s finally a way for bands to have all their info on one Facebook page: tracks powered by SoundCloud, tour dates, photos, your bands’ biography and wall posts. For fans, browsing your BandPage is a breeze as they can continue to listen to the streamed tracks while clicking through the page.

The fine folks over at RootMusic have created a series of helpful videos explaining in detail about how to get started. One promise: it’s extremely easy and intuitive to create your BandPage. Check out these two examples from Snoop Dogg and Tom Petty (click to enlarge).

3. Extensions – Push to where your fans are

Back in 1986, Salt-N-Peppa taught us to ‘push it, push it real good’. We took them at their word and added a nifty way for you to automatically push newly uploaded tracks and sets to your other social networks like Facebook, Twitter and MySpace. This saves you a lot of time when updating your different profiles and sends your new material straight into your fans’ timelines where they can discuss your latest creations. Plus, you can customize the text of the messages pushed to catch your fans’ attention:

Fans, on the other hand, can also use the same extensions to push the players of tracks they favorite on SoundCloud straight to their social network profiles (Facebook pictured on the left), thus helping you to promote your songs to their friends. Win-win, as they say in the biz.

Click here to read the step-by-step guide about how to set up your extensions or access them directly in your settings.

4. Mobile Roadie – Create your own iPhone or Android app

Mobile apps are hot, there’s no doubt about that.

Our partners at Mobile Roadie have built a framework and an easy-to-update content management system enabling you to create your own personalized iPhone and Android app in no time. Developing an individual app from scratch takes a lot of time, money and expertise. With Mobile Roadie, you sign up, get access to the platform, import your SoundCloud tracks, customize the app here and there and Mobile Roadie will submit your app to the app store in no time.

To learn about the full list of supported features, click here.

Artists and bands already using Mobile Roadie: Madonna, As I Lay Dying, The Doors, Black Lips and many many more.

5. Flavors.me – Speaking of websites. Need one?

Flavors.me allows you to create an elegant & dynamic website and aggregate your different profiles from around the web. Link up your Facebook page, Twitter, Flickr or SoundCloud accounts – you name it. You’ll have everything in one place on a page you can fully customize: background picture, fonts, size. Track the traffic statistics and learn about your visitors and to top that: if you already have an own domain, you can use it or buy a custom domain right when signing up with a Flavors account. Read more about the latest Flavors.me developments in a recent blog post about their current release.

Example? Here you go:

More features and tips that can help your band:

Buy Links: via your track/set settings, add a link to any offline/online store to point people to where you’re selling your tracks

Hack the player: there are many different ways to ‘hack’ the player, read what can be done here

Remix competitions: learn about how you can use the Groups feature to organize remix competitions

Promo & Digital PR: service your tracks to bloggers and journalists via the private sharing feature (works great for to collaborate between you and other members of your band)

Custom Player: with a little help from savvy developer friends, build your custom players like Band Of Horses or The Golden Filter.

As always, feedback & suggestions welcome in the comments below and thanks for the help sharing this blog post with friends playing in bands. Muchos appreciatos.