*NEW PLATFORM FAQ*

Getting Started

Ripping Help

Uploading Help

Record Label Help

New Platform FAQ

It is an exciting time at AirPlay Direct with the launch of our new platform. This system offers more control and more options on your profile page. If the FAQ below doesn’t answer your question, please log in to your account, click the “Support” link in the left-hand navigation, and click on “Help Desk” to submit a trouble ticket. There are some of the frequently asked questions we’ve noticed from the new AirPlay Direct platform.

How Do I Upgrade My Account?
Several upgrade options are available for our artist and record label profile. You can read about them here. To upgrade, you must first register for your free profile. When you login to your free account, click “Click here to upgrade your account” on your landing page. You can also navigate to the upgrade page by logging into your account and clicking “Artists” from your left-hand navigation, then selecting “Upgrade Account” from the drop-down menu.

How do I add tour dates?
1. Log into your artist profile.
2. Click on the Tour Dates link in the left-hand navigation.
3. The drop menu to add/edit/delete tour dates.

How do I add press releases?
1. Log into your artist profile.
2. Click the “Press Releases” link in the left-hand navigation.
3. The drop menu to create/modify/delete your press releases.

How do I see who downloaded my music?
1. Log into your artist profile.
2. Click “Tracking” in the left-hand navigation.
3. Click “Profile Statistics” from the drop-down menu.
4. Click the “Song Stats” Tab
4. You’ll see a bar graph of your downloaded songs. Click the bar of an individual track to view who has downloaded your track.

I have a radio station, how do I download multiple tracks at once?
1. Click the “download” button next to the song you’d like to download and a popup window will appear.
2. Select “Add audio track to playlist”.
3. If you wish to download the other artist information from their profile along with the song, select “Add audio track and artist/track information to playlist.”
4. Click the “Go” button at the bottom of the popup window and the window will close.
5. You’ll see a notification above the artist profile that says that the track has been added to your playlist. You can click the link following this text that will allow you to view your entire playlist and download the tracks with one click.
6. If you are logged into your radio account, you may click the “Download Playlist” button from your left-hand navigation at any time to download all your selected tracks with one click.

How do I add my social networking link?
1. Log into your artist profile.
2. Click on the “Edit Release Profile” link in the left-hand navigation.
3. Click “Edit Release Info”
4. Enter your social networking link into the “Social Networking Link”  field – enter the full link including the http:// (for instance http://www.myspace.com/YourArtistName)
5. Click the Submit button at the bottom.

What is a “Release”?
In the old platform, “Releases” were called “Artists.” Releases are other profile pages that you can build for various campaigns. For instance, if you’re an artist, you can create a profile page for each of your records, or create a profile page for your promotions company to use.

If you are a record label, you will create a Release for each of your artists – so each artist will have their own profile page. Note that your record label will have a Release as well that you can use to communicate general information about the label.

How do I edit information in different “Releases”?
You can only edit one release at a time. To change the release you’re viewing, please do the following:
1. Log into your artist profile
2. Click “Account” in the left-hand navigation.
3. Click “Select Release” from the drop-down menu.
4. Choose the release profile page you’d like to edit and click the “Submit” button.
5. You will be redirected to the landing page of the release you selected.
6. Use the links in the left-hand navigation to edit the songs, tour dates, photos, etc for that release.

How do I edit my account email address?
1. Log into your artist profile.
2. Click “Account” in the left-hand navigation.
3. Click “Edit Account Details” from the drop-down menu.
4. Change the email address listed and click the “Submit” button.

Getting Started

Welcome to AirPlay Direct – a new, revolutionary, efficient, and cost effective way to securely submit your music to radio industry professionals around the world.

AirPlay Direct is an easy to use digital file transfer system that was developed to streamline radio promotion activities for today’s music industry.

Using the power of the Internet, AirPlay Direct delivers broadcast quality music tracks, together with related promotional materials, directly to radio stations globally – quickly, securely, and inexpensively.

Now that you have registered as a member you can move forward with completing the set up of your AirPlay Direct profile by uploading your artist info.

Hopefully, by the time you finish reading this you will have a basic understanding of how AirPlay Direct manages your music, images and text for you; as well as how to create files for your profile.

Uploading Music

Please read our guide on how to rip music if you need more information on how to prepare your  MP3 files.

How do I add songs?

1. Login to your artist account.
2. On the left side, click “Songs” from the navigation.
3. Click “Add Songs” or “Modify Songs” from the submenu, then choose the song you want to update. Click Submit.
4. You’ll will see the various information fields associated with the account. You are able to upload a unique image for each track that will display in the player – so don’t forget this step.
5. When done, click the Submit button and the information will be saved

What do I write in the Song Information field?

We suggest you first place track information that is useful to DJ’s. For example, “Quick fade at end of track” or “Begins in C major and ends in A minor”. Following this information, enter the track specific credits.

What is my Artist and Songwriter License?

Enter your sound recording copyright under the Artist License. For example, (P) 2009 YOUR ARTIST NAME. Enter the composition copyright and performance rights organization under the Songwriter License. For example, (C) 2009 YOUR ARTIST NAME, YOUR PERFORMANCE RIGHTS ORGANIZATION.

Why do I have to upload two different types of audio files?

You don’t, only one file is required. There are two upload areas at the bottom of the “Create Song” page – one for a HIFI song file, the other for a LOFI song file. You may upload your own HIFI and LOFI version if you have them. However, you may upload ONLY the HIFI file is you’d like and the AirPlay Direct platform will create the LOFI version for you automatically.

When uploading your HIFI track, you are required to use a 320 kbps MP3  which is lossless (very high quality). If you need help ripping an MP3 file from your CD, please visit our Ripping Help found here.

When I tried to upload, I received this error: ERROR! getMediaFile() the bitrate of the HIFI song (192) is LOWER than allowed (320)

Standard MP3’s have a low quality – 192 kbps. Radio programmers require a higher-quality file for broadcast. For this reason, we require a higher quality MP3 at 320 kbps. You received the error above because the file you’re attempting to upload doesn’t have a high enough quality. If you need help ripping a broadcast-quality file from your CD, please visit our Ripping Help found here.

How Do I adjust the length of my song streams?

1. Login to your artist account.
2. On the left side, click “Songs” from the navigation.
3. Click “Modify Songs” from the submenu, then choose the song you want to update. Click Submit.
4. At the bottom of the page, you can set the “LOFI Listener Access” from the drop-down menu.
5. Set the preview only streaming length in the drop down. This is how many seconds the player on the profile page will stream the track.
6. Click the Submit button to save your setting.

I am only allowed to upload one songs. How do I get more? The AirPlay Direct FREE artist package includes one song slot. You can upgrade your account to our PRO or PLATINUM PRO package to receive additional song slots.

1. Login to your artist account.
2. On the left side, click “Account” from the navigation.
3. Click “Upgrade Account” from the submenu.
4. Select the package you want to upgrade to and you will be forwarded to PayPal to complete the transaction.
5. Once your Paypal purchase is validated, you will be forwarded back to the AirPlay Direct website and your account will be upgraded.

Adding Profile Information

How do I edit my artist name, artist image, url, members, bio, website, influences, sounds like, genres, record label, social networking link?

1. Log into your artist account.
2. On the left side, click “Edit Release Profile”
3. Click “Edit Release Info” from the submenu.
4. Edit the various information fields associated with the account.
5. When done, click Submit and the information will be saved.

There’s a picture at the top left of my account that says “New Artist”. Can I add my picture in that spot?

1. Yes, log into your artist account.
2. On the left side, click “Edit Release Profile”
3. Click “Edit Release Info” from the submenu.
4. You can upload your artist image at the bottom of the page.
5. When done, click Submit and the image will be saved.

How do I change my contact information or account password?

1. Log into your artist account.
2. On the left side, click “Account”
3. Click “Edit Account Details ” from the submenu.
4. Edite the various information fields associated with the account.
5. When done, click Submit and the information will be saved.

My images don’t look right or don’t appear. What can I do?If you uploaded a GIF image, try saving it as a JPG and uploading it that way. ARTIST IMAGE should be SQUARE. Ideally: 300 x 300 pixels. Make SONG IMAGES SQUARE. Ideally: 150 x 150 pixels. Our servers will support displaying .GIF, .JPG, and .PNG files. There are a variety of free image editors you can download to change image sizes and file types. We recommend GIMP, which can be downloaded here.

Ripping Help

Ripping (definition) allows you to get music from a CD and into a digital format that can be uploaded to AirPlay Direct. AirPlay Direct allows  320 kbps MP3 files.

Can I Convert My iTunes 128k MP3 to 320k MP3?NOT RECOMMENDED! The song needs to be ripped again from your CD. iTunes only currently supports 128k or 192k MP3 files. These are not broadcast quality and “upsampling” will not make your music sound any better.

How To Rip Your CD

There are MANY programs you can use to rip your music. A list of ripping programs can be found on Wikipedia. Most programs are free. If all you want to do is rip music, don’t buy a program to do it.

AirPlay recommends the following programs:

On a Mac:

• iTunes is already installed.Read about how to rip music with iTunes.

On Windows:

• Windows Media Player is already installed. Read how to rip music with Windows Media Player

There are plenty of other option for ripping, here are two more free solutions:

iTunes can be downloaded for free.

MediaMonkey can be downloaded for free.

REMEMBER: Songs must be in MP3 format. AirPlay recommends you upload 320k MP3 files.

Uploading Help

What happens when an upload fails or partially fails?The system will show that the song is there, but there will be no links to download or stream the song. You will probably saw an error message that says one or both of the following:

“ERROR: A downloadable version of this song was not found. “

“WARNING: A streamable version of this song was not found.”

That will be followed by: “This account is using XXXMB of the YYYMB allowed. Please switch to an MP3 to save space or buy more song slots/space or try to upload again.”

Why does this happen?

1. The file may have been of the wrong quality level (320k MP3 only allowed) and was rejected, but as a convenience, we do not delete the other information you entered about that song. This leaves the song information on your site without a downloadable or streamable version avaiable.
2. Your site ran out of space. This is the #1 reason a streamable version is not available. AirPlay enforces number of song slots AND number of MB used. So if you have 3 song slots, we give you 175MB of space. If you put up a 20 minute song that is 160MB (for example) and use up all the space, then a streamable version CANNOT be created because it will push your account over the quota.

How to fix the problem:

There are several ways. 1) If you are out of space on your site you can either buy some more space or delete some other songs before trying to upload again. Or 2) you must fix or re-rip the MP3  file and try uploading it again. Or 3) you can just delete the song. To do this, you must login and choose “DELETE SONG” from the left menu.
Read our online guide about how to rip music above.

NOTE: Due to the high volume of emails and songs being uploaded, any songs sent directly to ANY email account at airplaydirect.com cannot be accepted!

Record Label Help

“I am a manager for 3 Artists and I’d like to have each use AirPlay Direct. I’ve already signed up my Label, and would like to add 2 more Artists. But I can’t find the link to let me add to my account.”

Answer: If you manage multiple Artists, you have 3 options:

1) Register the Label Only

• You can create a record label account here. Once your Label is registered, add songs from ALL of the Artists that the Label represents. Your Label account will function like a compilation CD – all your artists tracks will be stored and tracked in the same place.
• If you only have one Artist, then only create a Artist site; there is no need to have a Label site, as it will just be redundant.
• Please note: It will be difficult to track which downloads are for which artist tracks with this setup.

2) Register the Artists Only

• Another option is to create a separate artist account for each artist.
• Doing this will allow you to keep each Artist’s songs separate and will provide better searching capabilities (users won’t have to search for your record label, they can search for the artist.
• Additionally, you can track each Artist’s streams and downloads separately.

3) Register the Label and Create Artist Releases

• You can also register your Record Label account, then create a release for each of your artists. Read below for more information in “Releases.”

What is a “Release”?
In the old platform, “Releases” were called “Artists.” Releases are other profile pages that you can build for various campaigns. For instance, if you’re an artist, you can create a profile page for each of your records, or create a profile page for your promotions company to use.

If you are a record label, you will create a Release for each of your artists – so each artist will have their own profile page. Note that your record label will have a Release as well that you can use to communicate general information about the label.

How do I create “Releases”?

1. Log into your label profile
2. Click “Account” in the left-hand navigation.
3. Click “Add Release” from the drop-down menu.
4. Name each Release with your artist’s name.
5. Click the submit button. The new Release you created will now have its own profile page and DPK.

How do I edit information in different “Releases”?
You can only edit one release at a time. To change the release you’re viewing, please do the following:
1. Log into your artist profile.
2. Click “Account” in the left-hand navigation.
3. Click “Select Release” from the drop-down menu.
4. Choose the release profile page you’d like to edit and click the “Submit” button.
5. You will be redirected to the landing page of the release you selected.
6. Use the links in the left-hand navigation to edit the songs, tour dates, photos, etc for that release.

When I try to set up a new account it tells me my email address is already in use for another account.

AirPlay Direct requires a unique email account for every account (regardless of whether it is an Artist or a Label account). Each Artist and Label must be registered using different email addresses. Sorry, its a security thing. We do have ways of allowing a single login (and email address) to handle multiple artist accounts.

When I log into my account it says artist name, members, etc… it says for artist “Turbo Records”. Turbo Records is the label, not the artist.

Although it supports both Artist and Labels, AirPlay Direct was originally designed for Artist sites. We’ve chosen to use the term “Artist” as much as possible instead of “Artist/Label” which our user tests revealed was more confusing and cluttered up the screen. Future versions of AirPlay Direct will make the distinction between Label and Artist more clear – with separate site templates for each type of account. If you have further suggestions or issues, please contact our support department.

I have setup multiple Artist sites and I want to manage them all from one login. Can I do that?

Yes, once you have signed up all the Artists and your label account has been created, simply contact our help desk and tell us what artists you want to link to your label account. Pleae provide the artist and label names so we can locate your accounts. The next time you login, you will see a list of your Artists – all manageable from one login.

To upgrade your account: