Comments on: Do you allow 30 second previews or full song play?

By: Bob

Bob — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 11:26:37 +0000

Why oh why oh why can’t they just give us the option to choose for ourselves!
Either 30 second, 1 minute, 2 minutes or full track.

Give use the option.. it’s our music and fans!

By: Dwayne Ford

Dwayne Ford — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 17:56:32 +0000

I am building a new website (not yet published) and have to decide whether to let visitors to my site listen to the whole song or just a snippet. Personally, I always feel a little angry when I hear a good song and then it ends before I want it to. I usually leave the site without buying anything. A lot of the music I have on my site is for film and television so I allow for the whole thing to be heard. Any self-respecting film producer is not going to rip off an MP3 to use in an expensive film production. I let them know on my site page that a broadcast quality audio file will be made available to them if they want a license, and I provide a direct email link so they can get in touch.

My pop albums are different. Once I posted full length tunes on my site, sales dropped off. I wasn’t getting rich from digital or hard copy sales of my albums anyway and I think that a pleasant experience on my website is more important than 1 or 2 more album sales. My site exists to showcase my music, not my marketing skills. However, most large digital distribution companies agree; 30 second snippets sell more songs. They are not artists. They are businessmen/women. Back and forth it goes. Somebody help me before I chuck the whole thing and take up fly-fishing.

By: Hardplainsdrifter

Hardplainsdrifter — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 01:22:07 +0000

Not sure how it is for you Oliver, but I have found that people have actually ripped my songs from the extremely low quality myspace player to have/ use in their DJ sets. And I am not even a big name, even in the already infinitesimal world of drum & bass. It could be more of problem in just DNB, but I would assume it is also a problem in more popular genres as well (I.e., people ripping low quality mp3s if the entire song is posted).

Sucks for me haha, as I’ve sold a whopping total of 10 mp3s on Beatport/ itunes/ & Juno downloads. But then again I obviously wouldn’t make drum & bass if I wanted to make money making music.

By: Jeremiah

Jeremiah — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 03:28:35 +0000

I allow full mp3′s to be downloaded.

I made this decision because I felt it was in my interests that directors (I do music for film/tv) have the full track to select pieces from. I work out licensing details later.

I have no idea if I’d get more placements with :30 previews, but I suspect not.

By: d_K

d_K — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:24:07 +0000

If you are doing sub-four-minute radio-friendly tracks where the groove, hook, or feel of the song are obvious within 30 seconds, go for the shorter.

If you are creating music DJs might purchase for clubs and whatnot, for the love of God, allow full song play. I can’t count the number of times I’ve bought a dance track from a 30 second snippet that turned out to be completely different then whatever random section of the song they chose to sample. It just doesn’t work with a small snippet.

By: Document 02

Document 02 — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 07:56:57 +0000

I think 30s is the best way to tease the listener into downloading the full song. At which stage he/she will already have a copy of said track in decent quality and not take the bother to go back to the site and buy it.
With full but lofi preview, at least the potential buy stays on the site to listen and has less hassle to go through if he/sha wants to conclude the transaction.

By: jojo

jojo — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 22:41:13 +0000

usually when I see something that says “snippet” I’ll leave that site… ;-)

By: Ilja

Ilja — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 17:19:32 +0000

Make the Preview as long as you want but for gods sake please dont cut it just after the break ends. I buy my Tracks mostly beceause of a long deep break that ends with a slap in your face and you start to fuckin dance…

By: Fitz

Fitz — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 14:30:44 +0000

It depends greatly on the type of music. Most people decide they like or dislike a pop song in the first 20 seconds so half a minute is more than enough. Longer classical, ambient, instrumental pieces are wholly another matter. For them I’d say at least a minute is needed, perhaps more.

By: Oliver Chesler

Oliver Chesler — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 11:26:09 +0000

Interesting article. Thanks for sharing it.