If you’ve selected a LicenseQuote plan with audio file tracks hosting included, you’ll have a number of options and flexibility to maximize your catalog’s presentation in your Licensing Store. First, let’s cover the basics and then move on to some of the more advanced tips & tricks.

Supported formats
The supported formats for audio files are: AIF/AIFF, MP3 and WAV
The maximum audio file size is 150 MB. That’s about 15 minutes of recording in non-lossy AIF or WAV format or about 60 minutes of recording in 320 kbps MP3 format; which is the highest level of quality available for the MP3 compressed format.

Our integrated track files storage platform
We are using the Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Solution) service for all our track files hosting.  This is a very robust, reliable and secure solution for all our audio digital files uploading, downloading, storage and streaming. There is no access to any master files until after the license purchase from registered Store users and clients.

MP3 (lossy) vs WAV (non-lossy) for your master files
By the way, if master and encode with the right settings, a high-quality MP3 can sound “near CD” for many kinds of music recordings. This is often good enough for many smaller video and web-based projects, while higher end projects like TV, film and studio mixing work clients will demand perfect quality (non-lossy) files, so think about your primary target and plan uploading your master files accordingly. The advantage with MP3 is that they’re very popular and fast to upload, download and backup because they’re very compact, about 2 MB per minute. The advantage with non-lossy is that they deliver perfect quality audio and can’t be used for public streaming, so this also makes them more secure.

You can change master file formats if you change your mind
If any of your clients download MP3 master files and then contact you to request a download link for the WAV files, simply accommodate them and then consider uploading more non-lossy files to your files bank (on the Upload/Files page) and then select those from your Edit Track page from the Select File button. In other words, it’s no problem to switch from one format to the other, and then delete the tracks you don’t need so you’ll have enough space to accommodate all your master and preview files within your plan’s limit.

What quality of Preview file?
We recommend you use a fairly high preview quality, starting with at least 128 kbps or higher. We’ve experienced that most of our clients are in the 224 to 320 kbps range. These files will only be available for streaming, but if you are concerned about additional security, you can add a track of audible (voice over) watermarks to repeat each 20 – 30 seconds. You can also alternate the message, for example: preview, your publisher name, domain name. There could be about 20 – 30 seconds of silence between each voice over message. This gives you additional promotional exposure while also protecting your files from being recorded or “hacked” for any unauthorized commercial usage. After uploading a few Preview (MP3) files, open your Store (from the Licensing Store admin page) and test some track previews by clicking the “Play” button.  Our flash player is very high quality, so you should hear your songs in the same quality as you heard in your studio (recording or mixing) software.

Uploading a “batch” of tracks
You can upload one track, dozens or even hundreds at a time with our batch upload feature. Simply click the Upload button and then from the Upload manager, select the tracks from the folder on your local hard drive (computer). If you change your mind, you can remove tracks added to the list, and then continue to upload. You’ll see an upload status, and when completed, you’ll be returned to the Files/Upload page. Normally we recommend you start with smaller batches (5 – 10 tracks) to get familiar and get a “feel” for how long it takes to upload various WAV or MP3 files. You can also mix file formats, so you can upload sets of master and preview files at the same time, regardless of the audio file format.

Using videos for your song previews
If you have music previews in video format, you can link to them! This is an optional way to demo a featured song or artist. For example, if you have a video on your website or YouTube, you can use the link which goes directly to the video player page. You can also adjust the height and width of the Preview page on the Advanced Settings page of your account. When you click the Play button in the Store, the track’s video page will open (in a new window) where your clients can preview the recording. You can be creative, for example, adding subtitles to display the lyrics or showing a live recording session of other presentation of song, etc.