Basic Channel Structure Guidelines
Channels are a useful tool to organize various components that fall under a broader concept. For instance, you can create Channels for a catalog, all ongoing projects, or new music releases. Each Channel can have its sub-sections, which are further divided into folders to store relevant playlists. This hierarchical structure allows for a more organized and easily navigable system.
Avoid creating an excessive number of Channels, such as dedicating one Channel for each artist in a catalog; this practice can clutter and overload the sidebar.
Rights Holders and Managers
Managing a Catalog
- Start by organizing your catalog with a single Channel titled "Catalog," "Artists," "Composers," or a relevant title to serve as the root folder. This will ensure a clear and structured layout.
- Create sub-folders for each artist, composer, producer, etc., under the main Channel.
- Organize the content of each artist, including albums, EPs, media assets, etc., into respective playlists and add them to the appropriate sub-folder in the Channel.
In this screenshot, you can see "Deadly Summer Sway," an album playlist by The Checks, located within The Checks folder inside the Catalog Artists Channel.
Production and Mix Tracking
Keep track of each artist’s current production output.
- Create a Channel called “Production Projects.”
- Add a folder for each artist.
- Consolidate all mix or master versions of songs into a single playlist, with each version of every song organized into distinct sections. This approach will help you store and manage different versions efficiently:
Pitch Log Channel
Keeping track of all your pitched playlists is a breeze with Channels. They also help to quickly run Reports!
Save every pitch into a monthly folder inside a Pitch Log Channel.
You can easily view all pitched items by clicking into any month's folder. Alternatively, you can generate a report with filters based on the pitch log Channel and specific dates to get a more detailed overview.
Artists, Producers, Composers
Organizing Your Music and Projects
Use Channels and folders to keep track of the music you've created and organize your projects.
Create two Channels: one called “My Music” for the music you own, and another for projects you are working on with other artists. This separation will help you to organize your music collection and differentiate between ongoing collaborations.
Mix Version Tracking
- Create a playlist for album mixes
- Add a section for each song.
- Upload each new version to its own section so you can A/B test mixes against each other.
- Share the playlist with your collaborators, band, label, publisher, manager, etc. to keep them up to date with progress.
Music Supervisors
Current Projects
Organize your active projects into one Channel.
Add a new folder for each project, season of each show, etc.
Keeping projects in subfolders makes it easy to move them into an Archive Channel at a later date, when you are no longer actively working on them.
Advertising Campaign Organization
- Add a folder to store all submissions.
- A common method is to create a new folder for each round of creative briefs.
- Save your WIP and client playlists directly into a main Advertising project folder.
TV Show Season Organization
- Create a folder for each season.
- Add sub-folders for each episode (add multiple folders as necessary).
- Generate a show code, along with season and episode codes.
- Example: The Simpsons, Season 4, Episode 3 = SIM403.
For ease of navigation, incorporate the project code into the title of each relevant playlist along with its corresponding folder.
- Once you've completed work on a season, drag its project folder into an "Archive" Channel to avoid clutter with active projects.
Season Playlists
- Create a playlist consolidating all tracks and cue sheets used in a single season.
- Separate each episode - along with its corresponding cue sheet - into a new section.
- Once episodes are finalized, add all approved final tracks (and corresponding cue sheets) to episode-level playlists.
Organize New Releases
Create Monthly folders containing Weekly subfolders.
Set aside a designated time each week to add all new releases to their respective weekly folder.
Collate Themed Playlists
Create playlists to group your favorite tracks around common themes and then save them in a Channel.
Broadcasters
New Releases
- Create a "Releases by Month" Channel.
- Add folders corresponding to each month or week.
- Add new music playlists from your Inbox into the relevant folder.
Syndicated Show Channel
Are your shows available for other radio stations to broadcast? You could use a shared Channel to make them available to other stations.
Create a Channel called “[Insert Radio Station Name] Syndicated Shows”
- Add folders inside the Channel corresponding to each show or show category.
- Add playlists into the relevant show folders.
- In this example, we include the audio file along with a document containing relevant show notes.
Shared Channel View:
Radio Promoters
Use a Channel to manage all your client promo assets:
- Create a Client Promo Assets Channel.
- Add folders for each client.
- Add their assets (organized in a playlist) to the folder.
- Another option is to bypass the folder and store all their assets in a playlist in the main Channel.
Share New Releases with Broadcasters
- Create a Channel called “[Insert Company Name] New Releases.”
- Add folders inside the Channel for each week’s releases (note the two menus where you can add folders).
- Add playlists into the relevant weekly folder.
- In this example, we create two playlists: one playlist for priorities and one with all the new tracks for that particular week.
- The playlists are broken up with sections for each album.
- Don’t forget you can include photos, documents, videos etc, in playlists!
Radio Station View of the Shared Channel
Broadcasters can open the folders to explore and download your releases each week:
