We’re looking for ways to optimise every campaign. One area you can help ‘oil the wheels’ is in how you share music ahead of release. Putting your best foot forward with A&R, press, Store editors and your favourite journalists is important.
So... we spoke to BYTA who are experts on this area to explain why one would use a platform like theirs to optimise sharing tracks.
Why worry about using a third party service for sharing tunes ahead of release at all?
There are several areas we can support at Byta. From making sure links expire and aren’t shared inappropriately to how you monitor engagement from the people who you’re sending your music to. We can also help you manage the metadata (ensuring the recipient sees the correct track information) and assets within your growing team.
What should we be worrying about in terms of security?
It’s easy for audio files to get into the wrong hands when sharing pre-release. “Private” links’ on many platforms aren’t actually private, and certainly not secure. Anyone with that link can play or even rip that music.
Music is most often leaked accidentally, with no malicious intent. When you share, others can reshare without requiring permission. You’ve then lost control of your music and your artist narrative.
Byta is built specifically for music, simplifying the secure exchange of digital audio. Artists can share streams and downloads, in multiple audio file formats, quickly and easily. Links are quick to create and simple to share. We provide unparalleled security, particularly when it comes to streaming. Unrippable links and multiple sharing options allow you to stay in control of your narrative and share in any way you want.
What are the benefits of using a platform like yours as far as day to day work goes?
Byta’s features help to streamline workflow on any single or album campaign: from our Mailchimp Integration feature helping you with promotion, to advanced sharing options such as stream-only or downloadable links. You choose if and when those links expire.
Creators and their teams can quickly collaborate with each other from a distance. Keep track of your shared or received audio within ‘Activity’. No more looking for old links!
To keep it real… “Byta helped us to deliver our music to our pre-listening crew, with an easy and very professional way, along with having every single play under control.” - Enrico, Artist (The Moor)
What are the best practises around sharing music?
No one wants to download an mp3 file called “TRACKNAME0001[MASTER]”. Chances of listening are low, and finding it again? Even lower!
Having the correct metadata on your music is essential. Correct labels of track title, artist name and album titles give your music it’s correct identity. Byta’s goal is to increase the chances of your music being listened to.
Byta reads and writes audio file metadata. When users upload audio, the artist, track, album and artwork information is pulled directly from their files. From then on our users can be certain the information displayed on screen is the same as embedded in their files. You can also edit this information at any time inside the platform.
We also support you in managing all the assets. You can upload in a lossless format (WAV, FLAC, ALAC, AIFF) and share in a lossy format (MP3, AAC). So if you need an MP3 for radio play but your distributor or label needs a WAV, each can be quickly accommodated to save time with a platform like Byta.
What else should we know?
Most importantly… Think about the recipient!
Know who it is you are sharing your music with and what file format best suits their needs. Get your music heard as quickly as possible. With Byta quickly choose to share either streams and/or downloads.
Correctly labelled metadata enables the recipient to know what they are listening to, and if downloading, to easily find the audio file in their library.
“I released a mixtape for my collective 'WorkingSzn' on the platform for fans to hear and have access to for 7 days only, and thanks to BYTA's flexible options for uploading, my music feels better protected and it's been a much more creative approach when sending music out” (Tee Peters, Artist)
What should users be monitoring once they’ve shared the links?
You can track statistics within the Byta platform, including numbers of Streams, and Downloads of albums or single tracks. Click ‘Get Report’ to view inside the platform, or download a .CSV file.
With a ‘Direct’ share or ‘Protected Link’, you can gain statistics on exactly who streamed or downloaded your music, and how many times.
Byta’s statistics help you measure promotional efforts whilst keeping track of who is listening to your music. If it’s gotten into the wrong hands, you can easily kill the link. Control your narrative.
If more security and monitoring is required, artists and their teams can choose one-click watermarking*.
“Byta is super simple to use, and therefore helps my artists and myself keep our music organised. It’s also incredibly useful in terms of media and label outreach early on in artists careers, as I can track who’s received music and when it’s been listened to, which then enables me to time any follow up communication accordingly.” (Tom Macpherson, Artist Manager - Yes Artists)
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Thanks a lot to the BYTA team for the insights here on how you might use their platform to optimise how you share your music with people ahead of release day. Below are a couple more reviews from users (including Deezer 🔥).
As an member of the AWAL community you can get the first two months for free if use the code AWAL-2MONTHS
That's All Folks. ✌️
Testimonials from users
“We’ve tried out a lot of services before that offer pre-listening and preview links and were left feeling unsatisfied. When it was time for us to share a link of our Deezer Originals projects to the media, we went with Byta. Unlike other services, Byta offers an easy-to-use functionality that matches its sleek design." (Deezer)
“Byta helped us to deliver our music to our pre-listening crew, with an easy and very professional way, along with having every single play under control.” (Enrico, Artist (The Moor))
*Watermarking is the process of embedding undetectable information into an audio file in a way that is difficult to remove. If the signal is copied, then the information is carried in the copy, enabling you to track your audio files back to their original recipient.