Question on making a free website

[Hook]

So I'm going to try to get some cover gigs this summer & wanted to make a site, easy, to post some covers. I've been messing around with a site in at www.wix.com, I like how its looking and it's been very easy so far but now I'm at the music page & it seems to only post soundcloud links. My question is can I post covers on soundcloud? I don't really have a desire for a soundcloud page but the player looks nice on the site & works on most media so if the consensus is yes that covers are fine on soundcloud then I will make an account and post what I want linked to the wix page there. If no then I guess I need a free site service that has it's own player I can attach my mp3 to like here at songcrafters. Any help or opinions would be appreciated!
Rock On!

[phantasm777]

http://www.cwahi.net/

I recommend this site for uploading your music so it will have a link. I use the same company, but this is the free version.  at least read about it if you would like a free place to store music files and far as I remember, they have no limits on storage! I do believe soundcloud does not like anyone posting any cover tunes.

[64Guitars]

I've never tried Wix but it looks pretty good. I did a quick search and found instructions for adding MP3s to your page:

http://www.wix.com/support/main/html5/wix-editor/media-images-and-galleries/adding-audio-play-button

It's really easy. Although, the player is quite basic. It's just a Play button. No progress bar, time display, volume control, etc.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFQcD7gGfo4


As for SoundCloud, it looks like covers are not allowed unless you get permission from the copyright holder of the song. Although, I don't know if they actually check. There seems to be lots of covers on the site.

http://help.soundcloud.com/customer/portal/articles/1480502-can-i-upload-cover-versions-of-my-favorite-songs-to-soundcloud-

http://help.soundcloud.com/customer/portal/articles/1480275-am-i-allowed-to-upload-any-audio-and-music-file-to-my-account-


The only other site I can suggest is Weebly.com. It's similar to Wix and has a decent MP3 player. Unfortunately, the MP3 player's not available in the free version. You have to get their Pro Upgrade.

https://weebly.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/202049368-Upload-Music-Using-Our-Audio-Player

[64Guitars]

One other option is to code your own HTML5 player. It's actually very simple if you let the browser display its own controls and you don't worry about browsers that don't support HTML5 audio.

Both Wix and Weebly allow you to insert your own HTML code into your web pages. Just add the following wherever you want a player to appear:

Code Select Expand

<audio src="MySong.mp3" controls></audio>
Replace "MySong.mp3" with the URL of your MP3 file.

If you want to display a message for people using a browser that doesn't support HTML5 audio, just put it between the tags like this:

Code Select Expand

<audio src="MySong.mp3" controls>
Sorry. You need a web browser that supports HTML5 audio to play this song.
</audio>
Here's an example of what it looks like. It will look slightly different in each browser but they should all be similar.

The code I used is:

Code Select Expand


<audio src="http://64guitars.weebly.com/uploads/3/9/7/9/3979195/dr64.mp3" controls>
Sorry. You need a web browser that supports HTML5 audio to play this song.
</audio>



[Hook]

Thanks for the responses guys! 64, I did see that play button last night but wasn't sure if it was an actual player. I'm going to give it a try & see how it works & looks. I'm tempted to (& might) just use soundcloud since it looks good and works on most devices (even the amazing iPhone). I don't want copyright trouble but I haven't encountered any through myspace, youtube or here. How does songcrafters justify the covers ? (feel free to immediately delete this message & all traces of me if I have compromised our safety by asking this!)
I do like that basic player & might give it a try, will it have the same issues on iPhone that the songcrafters players have?

For those interested, I will keep you abreast of this idiots attempt at web design, if that is indeed what you can call what I'm doing.
Rock On!

[Hilary]

I've got to bite the bullet soon and do a website - be warned everyone - I'm going to get very grumpy!

I'm really interested to see how you get on Hook . . .

[Hook]

The play button works great, & since it's just a demo site to get gigs with it's simple & perfect for my needs (perhaps your also Hilary, it's really easy!!). I started this last night & I'm super surprised at how quickly its going. Barring any unforeseen challenges I think I'll have it published this weekend!
Rock On!

[Oldrottenhead]

since it's just a demo site to get gigs

my friend stix diamond does cover gigs, i filmed him a couple of times, posted videos on youtube, and he emails the links to various venues, and got a lot of work as a result. despite the economic downturn over here, he still gigs regularly.

am actually going to see him tonight, tho this is in a band he plays in. if i don't get too drunk and they are not toooo loud i will try get some video's done. heavy rock cover band, doing thin lizzy , sabbath kinda thing, but hearing great things about them, i know them all and every band member are in my eyes all musical genii ( i think that is correct plural for genuis).

so get someone to film a gig and spread the word on youtube, i'm sure you'd go viral.

[IanR]

Sandy's web site looks very good.

http://alonetone.com/gritter/playlists/gritt-bits

[64Guitars]

I don't want copyright trouble but I haven't encountered any through myspace, youtube or here. How does songcrafters justify the covers ?

We believe that copyright holders have to contact you and ask that any infringing material be removed before they can sue you or anything like that. But we're not lawyers and, as a free website, we're not going to pay for legal advice, so I don't know if that's true in the eyes of the law. Our policy is that if a copyright holder contacts us to say we're infringing on their copyright, then we'll remove the specific songs for which they claim to hold copyrights. So far, that hasn't happened.

I think Songcrafters is relatively small compared to SoundCloud and other big music sites, and we're not selling anything, so I don't think we're on the music industry's radar.