Adding your catalogue/ licensing platform on your website

[edmondredd]

I don't know if it's the right place to ask this kind of things, but I'm curious to see how you guys promote your unsigned/ signed cues and how do you organize them.
Most of us are on SoundCloud, but I'm of those who still believes that all the social platforms are here to support you, and help you spread the word about your work.
And that your works should be on your website, your main communication hub.

So for those who actually have their cues on their own websites:
I'd like to know if you guys have a way of organizing them. I've seen a couple of websites where the cues are arranged by genre, and underneath a SC playlist.
Is there a way, we could arrange them say like any search query: tick on the genre, or the tempo and you'll have the tracks that are matching the filter?
Would it be too much for a "personal" website?

Is there a licensing platform sort of plugin that you could add to your website and could do that?

I really would like to know how you guys do it

[Paulie]

You can certainly create a search feature on a web site, it will take a little bit of work. My site is about to get redone completely, but take a look how I've got things broken down: http://www.yopauliemusic.com

Other guys do this on their soundcloud page, but you can only have a maximum of five promoted playlists. Here are a few links to guys I respect:

http://andygabrys.com
http://sensawehr.com
http://www.vanderboegh.com
http://www.sethlittlefield.com
http://www.10westmusic.com
http://www.chrisballonline.com

As you can see, there are lots of ways to do this. I plan on rolling out a Wordpress site in the next month or so in prep for the Rally. What I learned last year at the Rally is that supervisors want it to be easy to listen to AND download your music if they like it. I think it's important to break things down by genre and include a brief description of the track to help people decide what to click on.

Hope this helps.

[Cruciform]

Edmond, yes there are ways to add a searchable licensing platform to your site. One in particular, I will see if I can find the details to pass on to you. It was developed as the platform for a very successful royalty free site and the owner has made it available as a free package for others.

[edmondredd]

@Paulie
Thank you for compiling all of these sites.
I've noticed that some of them still use flash, and the rest are mainly Soundcloud playlists, which in turn are not necessarily "searchable"
You're probably right, I guess it would take some work to build your own thing.
Which platform are you using btw to built your site?

@Rob,
Thanks a lot

[shorttonpro]

Take a look at https://composerly.com/ (free). It is based on your Soundcloud library, but creates a searchable and embedable database based on your tags/genres.

[hummingbird]

Hostbaby allows you to create titles and put tracks in different sections, and organize the tracks as well. That's what I use, with a maximum of 3 tracks per genre by choice as I don't want them scrolling through hundreds.

I have looked at Composerly but haven't used it. I'm leery of Soundcloud and its terms of service so I tend to only post things there privately unless they are works in progress.

[ochaim]

A search function is built into wordpress. A tag system is also built into wordpress. Both are readily available even in the the thousands of free templates that are available.

there are wordpress plugins that will present these tags in a flexible way. You could even list the tags manually in the sidebar as a "widget" if you want more control.

There are wordpress plugins based in html5 (not flash) that will allow your music files to be played with its own play button etc.

The tags are attached to "posts" so theoretically if you create posts for each track with related tags you create a searchable catalogue with wordpress' stock functions.

to make them presentable may need some tweaking in the wordpress css code depending on which template you use. though it is possible finding the right template you may not have to tweak anything.

if you're interested, get a free account at wordpress.org to see what the post/tag thing is about and what options are available for html5 media players.

scott's composerly looks pretty good. especially without the tinkering, and its free for now while its in beta.

hope that helps.

[edmondredd]

Scott, Vikki and Owen,
thank you so much for your posts.

Composerly looks like a good starting point. I mean, this is the kind of 'searchable' database I'd be interested in.
But then again, I'm with Vikki, regarding SoundCloud hosting the music. I quite don't like it.
So, I guess the best option would be trying to built it in WP, as Owen said. Unfortunately, the web platform I'm with, doesn't allow any WP integration.. would have to check on how take things from there,

again thanks a lot

[ochaim]

Hey Edmond,

Just wanted to share a revamp of my site that includes some of the features you mentioned. perhaps i should have had this done professionally but i just needed something simple and straight forward that doesnt depend on soundcloud.

www.owenchaim.com

I used wordpress and a free theme (template) that i customized using css.

The audio player, waveplayer, i had to buy. there is a free version of it but it looks really ugly. it cost $16.

I also used a wordpress plugin to include "tags" in each track/post. but you can call the tracks anything you want whether it be keywords, moods, etc.

there is a search function but i'm thinking unless you have a way to handle search terms semantically, any seaches for terms not in the track post or tags will show zero results. ie. search wont show tracks with related keywords.

so instead i have whats called a "tag cloud" in the right sidebar so you can look through there for a keyword that might work.

hope this helps.

[cassmcentee]

Your site is clean and looks good O!