Creating a digital album pre-sale landing page is a great way to engage fans and promote your upcoming album.

This Help article includes the following:

  • How to add a Digital album pre-sale Landing page
  • How to populate your Image feature
  • How to create a Digital album
  • How to set your album for pre-sale
    • Adding tracks to your album
    • Adding your payment settings
    • Track your album pre-orders
  • How to release your digital album

How to add a Digital album pre-sale Landing page

The Digital album page template is a pro feature. To add ‘Digital album pre-sale’ landing page to your website, follow these steps:

  1. From the ‘Edit Content’ tab, click ‘Pages’
  2. Select ‘Add a page’
  3. In the ‘Page types’ area, click on ‘Landing page templates’
  4. From the dropdown options, select ‘Digital album pre-sale’
  5. Name your page in the ‘Title’ field (defaults to ‘Digital album pre-sale’ if unchanged)
  6. Adjust your ‘Menu settings’
    • Note: If you’d like to use this page exclusively as a promotional link, select ‘Not in menu’ and it will not appear in your website’s main menu. You can provide the page url to your fans.
  7. Adjust your ‘Page options.’ To learn more about ‘Page options,’ please read the ‘Adding Pages’ help article.
  8. Click ‘Create my page’

How to populate your ‘Image’ feature

Use the ‘Image’ feature on this page for a press photo of your band, a photo of you in the studio, or additional album artwork.

To populate your ‘Image’ feature, follow these steps:

  1. On your ‘Digital album pre-sale Landing page,’ click on the ‘Image’ feature in the left column
  2. In the feature options, choose ‘My Uploads’, ‘Stock Imagery’, or ‘Dropbox’

    Note: The ‘Image’ feature includes the option to upload an image from your computer, select a previously uploaded image, choose a stock photo from our gallery, or import an image from your Dropbox account.

    • My Uploads: In the ‘My Uploads’ area, you’ll see your previously uploaded image and a prompt to ‘Upload images’. Click ‘Upload images’ to upload a new image from your device.
      • Once you’ve selected the image from your device, click ‘Open’ in your browser. The image will be added to your ‘Image’ feature library
    • Stock Imagery: Click on a stock image, then click ‘Apply Image’ for it to appear in your ‘Image’ feature.
    • Dropbox: To choose images from your Dropbox files:
      • Click ‘Dropbox’ and login to your Dropbox account
      • Select an image from within your Dropbox account. When selected the image will be added to your ‘Image’ feature library.
  3. Click on the uploaded or stock image
  4. Click ‘Apply Image’
  5. Select your image options:
    • Replace Image: Choose a different image.
    • Crop Image: Zoom or choose a preset crop size. Click ‘Apply’ Alignment: Click the Left, Center or Right icon. This will align to the available column space
    • Rotate: Click the Left or Right rotation icon.
    • Link: Select the link type in the ‘Link’ drop-down
      • No link: Does not redirect from your image
      • An external page: Directs the visitor to a page that is not on your website
      • Enter the URL for the external site to which you want visitors directed
      • Check the ‘Open in new window’ option so visitors will keep your website tab open while they visit the external page
      • One of my pages: Directs the visitor to a page on your website
        • Select the site page from the Page drop-down menu
      • A file: Downloads a file onto your visitors computer
        • Upload the file from your computer or import it from your Dropbox.com account
        • Choose an existing file (Select this option for a file already uploaded to your account. Files are stored in the ‘File manager’)
        • An email address: Opens the visitor’s default email program so they can send you an email
        • Note: If the visitor is using an online email program such as Gmail, Yahoo, etc. this link will not work
      • A pop-up version of this image: When the image is clicked, the image will pop-out of the page
      • Download original image: When clicked this will download onto the visitors computer
      • Album: Directs the visitor to your album page
        • Select the desired album from the ‘Album’ drop-down menu
      • Track: Directs the visitor to one of your audio tracks
        • Select the desired track from the ‘Track’ drop-down menu
    • Image Filter: Choose a filter for your image (similar to Instagram filters) and click ‘Apply’
    • SEO: Enter ‘Alt text’, click ‘Apply’
      • Note: This text appears inside the image container when the image cannot be displayed. It helps search engines understand what an image is about. Alternate text is also very helpful in case images on a page cannot be found.
    • Reset Image: Clears any image options previously selected
  6. To save these changes, click anywhere in the content area outside of the ‘Image’ feature

How to create a Digital album

The ‘Digital album pre-sale’ landing page uses the ‘Album’ feature to display music. With this feature you can create a new album, add your digital tracks, and set it for pre-sale. Once the release date arrives, you will be able to issue the album to fans who purchased the album with just one click.

Here’s how to create your pre-sale album:

  1. On your ‘Digital album pre-sale Landing page,’ click on the ‘Album’ feature in the right column
  2. Enter the ‘New album’ description, including the following: Album name: enter the name of your album release Enter the ‘New album’ description, including the follow:
    • Album name: enter the name of your album release
    • Artist: this will default to your ‘Site profile’ name. You can adjust the artist name for the album without affecting your ‘Site profile’ name
    • Release year: choose your release year from the dropdown
    • Add image: add your album cover art. You can add additional images in the ‘Bonus files’ options
    • Description: provide further details about your album. For liner notes, include them in your ‘Bonus files’ options
    • UPC code: enter the UPC code for the digital album. To learn more about UPC codes and Luminate (formerly SoundScan) reporting, read our Reporting Sales to Luminate (formerly SoundScan) Help article
  3. Select your ‘Pricing & availability’ 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’ Accept pre-orders: allows fans to purchase your album in advance. Your album will be sent on the release date. Learn more about [Music and merch pre-orders]
  4. Choose your Purchase type from the following 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’
    • 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: Allow your fans to set the price they want to pay for the album. A minimum amount can be set here.
  5. Subscriber pricing: Use the toggle to apply ‘Subscriber pricing,’ which offers the following options:
    • Lowest applicable tier: select the lowest tier the special pricing is 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: Allow your fans to set the price they want to pay for the album. A minimum amount can be set here
  6. 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
  7. 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 contents. You can upload multiple files here
  8. Click ‘Save album’

Setting your album for pre-order

When you’re creating your new album, you’ll be able to set the release date in your album setting and offer pre-order sales. To set up your album for pre-order, follow these steps:

  1. In your ‘Digital album’ settings, scroll to the ‘Pricing & availability’ options
  2. Next to ‘Allow download/sale’ select ‘Accept pre-orders’
  3. In the ‘Purchase type’ options, select one of the following options:
    • 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: Allow your fans to set the price they want to pay for the album. A minimum amount can be set here.
  4. Set the ‘Price’ for your album
  5. In the ‘Release date’ field, 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.
      • Sales for this album will not be reported to Luminate (formerly SoundScan) until the album is manually released.

Adding tracks to your album

Once you’ve set up your 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:

  1. In your ‘Album’ feature, scroll down to the ‘Tracks’ area
  2. Click ‘Add track’
  3. Choose from the following options:
    • Add a new track: allows you to create a new track
    • Use existing track: allows you to use a track you’ve already added to your website. You can re-use tracks created in other ‘Music’ features. The same metadata contained in the original track will apply
    • Import from Soundcloud: Importing tracks from Soundcloud requires updates to your permission settings in Soundcloud. To learn more, please review the ‘Importing Soundcloud Tracks’ Help article.

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 1.6GB.

To learn about bulk uploading tracks, please read the ‘Selling an Album’ help article.

Adding your payment settings

In order to accept payments for your album sales, you’ll need to connect to PayPal or Stripe:

  1. In your Bandzoogle control panel, click on ‘Selling tools’
  2. In the list of options on the left, click on ‘Settings’
  3. In the ‘Settings’ pane on the left, click ‘Payment settings’
  4. Select the ‘Currency’ in which you’d like to receive payments
  5. Select the ‘Country’ where your store is based
  6. Select Connect to PayPal or Connect to Stripe, then follow the steps to connect to the payment processor.

To learn more about setting up your payment methods, please visit the ‘Getting Paid Through PayPal and Stripe’ help article.

Track your album pre-orders

When a fan pre-orders your album you’ll receive a notification via your account email. To view a comprehensive list of your album pre-orders, follow these steps:

  1. Login to your Bandzoogle website and click on the ‘Selling Tools’ tab
  2. In the left panel of options, select ‘Transactions’
  3. In the filtering options, click on the ‘All’ and select ‘Purchases’
  4. In the ‘Search’ field of your filtering options, write the name of your album and hit enter on your keyboard to reveal the list of transactions for your album

How to release your album

On the release date of your album you’ll receive an email notification. To release the album to your pre-order purchasers and set the album for general purchase (immediate release), you’ll need to login to your Bandzoogle account and follow these steps:

  1. Log in to your Bandzoogle website
  2. A banner will appear at the top of your editor, notifying you that your album is ready to be released
  3. Click on the ‘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 regular purchase on your website.

Note: 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.