Bandzoogle offers you the option to sell music and merch in advance of it being released. This is a great choice for gauging interest in a merch item, or for raising money in advance to fund a project or product. This option is only available to members on the Pro plan.

This Help article includes the following information:

  • How to set up an album for pre-order
  • Adding tracks to your album
  • Adding an individual track
  • Adding multiple tracks
  • How to test an album set to pre-order
  • Where to locate pre-order sales
  • How to release an album set to pre-order
  • How to set up physical merch for pre-orders
  • How to edit your pre-orders through your 'Selling Tools' control panel

For more information on uploading music to your site, please view the ‘Adding Music’ Help article.

Album pre-order set-up

The pre-order option in the 'Album' feature is available to Pro plan members.

  1. From the ‘Edit Content’ tab, click ‘Pages’ and open the page on which you’ll be working
  2. Click ‘Add feature’
  3. Click the 'Music' category and select the ‘Album’ feature — use the placement arrows to set the feature’s location on the page
  4. Click ‘Add a new album’
  5. Enter the album information

  6. In the 'Pricing & Availability' section, select ‘Accept pre-orders’ below the ‘Allow download/sale’ heading

    • Paid - fixed price: You set a purchase price for the file.
    • Paid - fans set price: Allow your fans to set the price they want to pay for the album. A minimum amount can be set here.

      Note: Pre-order albums cannot be set to ‘free’.

  7. In the 'Release date' field, click to open the calendar pop-out and, select the date of your album release

Notes:

  • This date will display on your website under the album image as ‘Expected release: [Date you selected]’. The album will not be released until you manually release it within your Bandzoogle account.
  • Sales for this album will not be reported to Luminate (formerly SoundScan) until the album is manually released within your Bandzoogle account.
  1. Subscriber pricing: Use the toggle to apply ‘Subscriber pricing,’ which offers the following options:
    • Lowest applicable tier: select the lowest tier to which the special pricing will beis available. to.
    • Subscriber purchase type: Choose from the following
      • Free
      • Paid - fixed price: You set a purchase price for the album.
      • Paid - fans set price: Allows your fans to set the price they want to pay for the album. A minimum amount can be set here.
  2. Linking and sharing: Use the toggle to'‘Allow direct linking' in this section. This option will create a unique page and URL for your album.
  3. Bonus files: Click 'Upload files' to upload liner notes, a lyrics booklet, sheet music, additional album images, etc., 'Bonus files' will be included in the emailed 'Album' zip folder contents. You can upload multiple files here.
  4. Click 'Save album'

Adding tracks to your album

Once you've created your overall album details, you'll need to add the tracks that will be included in the album download. You can upload MP3, WAV, or FLAC files for your tracks, but in the album format it’s best to stick to one file type overall. To add tracks to your album, follow these steps:

Note: Lite and Standard members can upload up to 250MB per individual track file. Pro plan members can upload up to 600MB per individual track file. The total file size for the album can be up to 1.6GB.

  1. In your 'Album' feature, scroll down to the 'Tracks' area Select from the following two options:
    • Drag and drop several tracks from your computer into the section of the page labeled 'Drag and drop your tracks here' - this will automatically upload all the tracks you dropped onto the page. Click ‘Add track’
    • Click 'Upload multiple tracks' and or drag a selection of tracks from your device

Adding an individual track

  1. Click 'Upload' in the 'Audio file' area. This prompt will open your device's file browser. You can upload MP3, WAV, or FLAC files.
  2. Enter the 'Track info' including the following:
    • Track name: Enter the name of your track.
    • Artist: This will default to your ‘Site profile’ name. You can adjust the artist name for the album without affecting your ‘Site profile’ name.
  3. In the 'Track preview' area, choose from the following options:
    • Preview clip: Set your preview clip range. Choose the start and end times of your preview clip using the dropdown options
    • Upload custom preview: You can upload an MP3 file with a custom preview you’ve created. This is useful if you have a watermarked preview clip
    • Play full track when shared: Choose this option if you would like the track to play in full when the direct link is shared
    • Use preview clip when shared: Choose this option if you would like the preview clip to play when the direct link is shared
  4. Set your 'Pricing & availability' with the following options:
    • No: Your album will not be available for download/sale from your website.
    • Yes: Your album will be available for download/sale under the condition of your 'Purchase Type'.

      Note: Note: selling music requires that you have a PayPal and/or Stripe account connected in your 'Payment settings' tab, to accept payments.

  5. Choose your 'Purchase type' from the dropdown options:
    • Free
    • Free - require email address: Allows fans to download your album for free, in exchange for their email address, which will be added to your ‘Mailing List’ members.
    • Free - require member login: Allows fans to download your album if they login or register as your site member.
    • Paid - fixed price: You set a purchase price for the album.
      • Optional: Select ‘Is on sale’ to set a sale price or a discount percentage.
    • Paid - fans set price: Allows your fans to set the price they want to pay for the album. A minimum amount can be set here.
  6. 'Linking and sharing' option: Toggle on the 'Allow direct linking' setting to have a 'share' link displayed next to the track on your live page. This allows page visitors to easily share your track, using one of these four options: 'Share on Facebook' button, 'Share on Twitter' button, 'Share by Email' button, or by copying and sharing the direct track link (URL).
  7. Set your ID3 tags option:
    • Automatically generate: Creates the ID3 tag from the data in this track information
    • Leave tags as they are: will use your track's embedded ID3 tags. Select this option if you've generated your own ID3 tags.
  8. Create your 'Track details' (optional):
    • ISRC code: Enter your track’s unique ISRC code. To learn more about ISRC codes and Luminate (formerly SoundScan) reporting, review the ‘Reporting Sales to Luminate’ Help article.
    • Track notes (optional): Enter track notes. An 'Info' link will be generated next to your track name, which will link to a page containing the track and your notes.
  9. Click 'Save track'
  10. Repeat these steps for each track on the album

Adding multiple tracks

Upload your album’s tracks all at once with the following steps:

  1. In your 'Album' feature, select from the following two options:
    • Drag and drop several tracks from your computer into the section of the page labeled 'Drag and drop your tracks here' - this will automatically upload all the tracks you dropped onto the page. scroll down to the section titled 'Drag and drop your tracks here'
    • Click 'Upload multiple tracks' and select tracks from your device

Each track that successfully uploads will be listed. You can fill in the following options for track details:

  • Audio file lists the audio file name. You can click ‘Replace’ to replace the track file or click ‘X’ to remove the track
  • Track info lists the main track info including:
    • Track name: enter the name of your track
    • Artist: this will default to your ‘Site profile’ name. You can adjust the artist name for the track without affecting your ‘Site profile’ name
    • ISRC code: Enter your track’s unique ISRC code. To learn more about ISRC codes and Luminate reporting, please see: ‘Reporting Sales to Luminate (formerly SoundScan)’
    • Track notes (optional): Click on the dropdown arrow to enter track notes. An ‘Info’ link will be generated next to your track name, which will link to a page containing the track and your notes.
    • Lyrics (optional): Click on the dropdown arrow to enter lyrics. A ‘Lyric’ link will be generated next to your track name, which will link to a page containing the track and lyrics. If you have also added ‘Track notes,’ only an ‘Info’ link will appear.
  • Pricing and availability offers these options:
    • Allow download/sale:
      • No: your track will not be available for download/sale from your website
      • Yes: your track will be available for download/sale under the condition of your ‘Purchase Type’:
        • Free
        • Free - require email address: allows fans to download your track for free, in exchange for their email address, which will be added to your ‘Mailing List’ members
        • Free - require member login: allows fans to download your track if they login or register as a site member
        • Paid - fixed price: Set a purchase price for the track
          • Optional: Select ‘Is on sale’ to set a sale price or a discount percentage (pro-only)
        • Paid - fans set price: Allow your fans to set the price they want to pay for the track. A minimum amount can be set here.
        • Subscriber pricing: toggle on to apply special pricing for fan subscribers
      • Apply this pricing for all tracks: Applies the pricing and availability options to all tracks in this bulk upload
  • Preview settings:
    • Preview clip: Set your preview clip range. Choose the start and end times of your preview clip using the dropdown options
    • Upload custom preview: You can upload an MP3 file with a custom preview you’ve created. This is useful if you have a watermarked preview clip
    • Play full track when shared: Choose this option if you would like the track to play in full when the direct link is shared
    • Use preview clip when shared: Choose this option if you would like the preview clip to play when the direct link is shared
    • Apply these Track preview settings for all tracks: Applies your preview settings to all tracks in this bulk upload
  • ID3 tags:
    • Automatically generate: creates the ID3 tag from the data set on each track
    • Leave tags as they are: will use your track’s embedded ID3 tags. Select this option if you’ve generated your own ID3 tags.
    • Apply ID3 tag settings for all tracks: applies this ID3 tag setting to all tracks in this bulk upload.

Notes:

  • Pre-orders are not available for individual songs, only albums.
  • For more information on our music features, please view the 'Adding Music' and 'Selling Music' Help articles.

Test your album pre-order

  1. From the 'Edit Content' tab, click 'Pages' and open the page where your album is posted
  2. Hover your cursor over the album, and click to open that 'Album' feature
  3. Select the 'Email a download' tab in the left-hand pane
  4. Select your pre-order album from the drop-down and enter an email address
  5. Click ‘Send’
  6. When you receive the email, click the ‘Download file’ button
  7. On the download page, click ‘Download now’
  8. View the download on your computer

Where to locate pre-order sales

To view all your pre-order sales use the following steps:

  1. From the ‘Edit Content’ tab, click 'Pages' and open the page where your album is posted
  2. Hover your cursor over the album, and click to open that 'Album' feature
  3. Select the ‘Pre-orders’ tab in the settings pane on the left
  4. View your list of pre-order album sales
    • Transactions will be listed only when the funds have cleared in your PayPal or Stripe account.

How to release an album set to pre-order

  1. On the release day of your album, start from the ‘Edit Content’ tab, click 'Pages' and open the page where your album is posted
  2. Hover your cursor over the album, and click to open that 'Album' feature
  3. Select the ‘Pre-orders’ tab in the left-hand pane
  4. You'll see a pop-up message asking if you'd like to release the album — click 'Release your album' button

Warning: There is no second step or undo button. When you click this link, an email containing the download link will be issued to all those who have pre-ordered the album.

After the album has been released, it will be available for purchase on your website.

Notes:

  • The 'Release' button will not display until the date entered for your release. If you’d like to release it early click the ‘Release your album’ link on the Pre-Orders page. Please note that clicking this link will release it without any confirmation or second step.
  • If a digital pre-order album is associated with a physical CD in the Store feature, the buyer won't receive the digital files until you click the release button in the Music feature.
  • Once you release the album in your account, anyone who pre-ordered the album will be sent a link automatically, by email, to download the digital album.

How to set up physical merch for pre-orders

We don’t handle order fulfillment for physical items, so you are responsible for shipping physical items. Because of this, our Store feature does not have an automatic ‘release’ option. You can still sell merch pre-orders through the following steps:

  1. From the ‘Edit Content’ tab, click the ‘Store’ feature
  2. Click ‘Add Product’
  3. Select ‘Product/Service’ from the drop-down
  4. Next to ‘Product name’ type “(Pre-order)” and then enter the product name
    • Example: (Pre-order) Band T-Shirt
  5. In the description box, enter your product description and mention that it’s a pre-order. Also mention the expected ship date.
    • Example: PRE-ORDER your band t-shirt! Each t-shirt is 100% cotton blend and made with quality printing materials. T-shirts are expected to be printed and shipped by [add expected ship date.]
  6. When your item is ready, ship the items to your customers using the mailing address in the emailed sales confirmation from Stripe or Paypal.

For more information about shipping confirmation and getting paid, please view the 'Getting Paid through Paypal and Stripe' Help article.

How to edit your pre-orders through your 'Selling Tools' control panel

You can access your store features through your ‘Selling Tools’ control panel. To learn more, read our Bandzoogle Selling Tools Help article.