How to send demo album?

[Jimi2]

I have 10 at-home recorded original songs that I’ve ordered into an album, and I’ve put them into my own Apple Music account, so I can listen to them start to finish. But I stupidly don’t really know how to share the album with others (mostly just friends until I can get some better recordings done). If I share them on Google Drive, they come up as 10 separate mp3s, and have to be selected one after another. I also tried sharing an Apple Music playlist, as my friend couldn’t access the songs on her account.

Short of going old school and burning a cd, what am I missing here?

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by Jimi2

I have 10 at-home recorded original songs that I’ve ordered into an album, and I’ve put them into my own Apple Music account, so I can listen to them start to finish. But I stupidly don’t really know how to share the album with others (mostly just friends until I can get some better recordings done). If I share them on Google Drive, they come up as 10 separate mp3s, and have to be selected one after another. I also tried sharing an Apple Music playlist, as my friend couldn’t access the songs on her account.

Short of going old school and burning a cd, what am I missing here?

I don't know what the current status is, but in the past many folks have opened Bandcamp accounts to do exactly what you're looking to do. Songs can be arranged in albums and you can set your songs or albums to be freely listened to.

Soundcloud might be another option, but I'm not sure how uploaded material is organized for consecutive streaming.

[rick-slo]

On soundcloud all the separate recordings of yours can be listed. Don't know about autoplay one after the another but a simple click on one of the recordings will play it.
If you want one recording to play automatically after the other you can yourself combine all of your recordings into a single wav or mp3 file and upload that to such as
soundcloud (whose file size limit is four gigabits).

Personally I have my own webspace and also use youtube.

[Jimi2]

Thanks guys, I definitely have my eye on uploading to Bandcamp or SoundCloud once I get the aforementioned better recordings done. But I was going to wait to to establish a presence online until I’m more satisfied with my songs, as well as recording quality. I didn’t want to put out anything subpar….so I was hoping there was a way to just directly share the album with a few people right now.

[jim1960]

Originally Posted by Jimi2

...I was hoping there was a way to just directly share the album with a few people right now.

You can get a free Dropbox account and set up a folder. Then you can email the link to whomever you want and they can download the music from their computer.

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by Jimi2

Thanks guys, I definitely have my eye on uploading to Bandcamp or SoundCloud once I get the aforementioned better recordings done. But I was going to wait to to establish a presence online until I’m more satisfied with my songs, as well as recording quality. I didn’t want to put out anything subpar….so I was hoping there was a way to just directly share the album with a few people right now.

Yes, Dropbox them or simply send them the "album" on a flash drive, they are cheap. You can even get flash drives that are slightly thicker than a business card so they can be stuck in an envelope and mailed.

[Jimi2]

Originally Posted by Rudy4

Yes, Dropbox them or simply send them the "album" on a flash drive, they are cheap. You can even get flash drives that are slightly thicker than a business card so they can be stuck in an envelope and mailed.

Not a bad idea re:the flash drives.

I’m wondering with Dropbox though, will the tracks still show up as independent mp3s?

[jim1960]

Originally Posted by Jimi2

I’m wondering with Dropbox though, will the tracks still show up as independent mp3s?

Yes, they will be independent mp3s if you upload independent mp3s.

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by Jimi2

Not a bad idea re:the flash drives.

I’m wondering with Dropbox though, will the tracks still show up as independent mp3s?

The problem is you have to consider what "technology level" your intended listeners are at. It's tough enough for folks who are fairly tech literate, but if you're target is the casual listener then your sequenced songs might not be easy for them to listen to and navigate around.

For "easy consumption" it might be best to simply load a single Youtube "video" with all the sequenced tracks in proper playing order. You can use a single jpg image, song lyrics, etc. as the "video" portion of your upload. You can even index each song title in the Youtube information box so listeners can instantly move to whatever song they wish to listen to.

The Youtube preferences can be set when you upload so the video is "private" and only viewable by those that you provide the direct link to.

You can do all of the editing and sequencing in something as simple as Reaper, which I use for my Youtube video editing.

[MikeMcKee]

I'd probably upload them on Soundcloud and then organize them in a playlist. Then just share the link to the playlist.

[Jimi2]

Originally Posted by Rudy4

The problem is you have to consider what "technology level" your intended listeners are at. It's tough enough for folks who are fairly tech literate, but if you're target is the casual listener then your sequenced songs might not be easy for them to listen to and navigate around.

For "easy consumption" it might be best to simply load a single Youtube "video" with all the sequenced tracks in proper playing order. You can use a single jpg image, song lyrics, etc. as the "video" portion of your upload. You can even index each song title in the Youtube information box so listeners can instantly move to whatever song they wish to listen to.

The Youtube preferences can be set when you upload so the video is "private" and only viewable by those that you provide the direct link to.

You can do all of the editing and sequencing in something as simple as Reaper, which I use for my Youtube video editing.

Yeah, a private link to a YouTube video would probably work well

[rick-slo]

Originally Posted by Jimi2

Yeah, a private link to a YouTube video would probably work well

For youtube I keep it simple and use Windows Movie Maker (free), load a picture into it and a sound track (wav or mp3) file.

I do not use a video but load in a picture that is the right size for youtube (you can crop and resize the picture before hand if you wish).
Make the picture display the length of the soundtrack. With a bit of practice it just takes a few minutes to do. One thing about youtube
is that they often stick ads in there before your music starts.