When you send an unreleased track to a label, a publicist or a collaborator, you think about the person you're sending it to. It's easy to forget everyone else: the colleague they forward it to, the group chat they paste it into, the person who glances at their screen.
A password stops those people from pressing play. But a private link can still give a lot away before anyone types anything: the release title in the browser tab, the cover art in a link preview, your name above the password box, the release sitting on your public artist page.
In Gatefolded, a protected release is built to show nothing to anyone who hasn't been let in. Here is how it works, what an outsider sees, and where the protection stops.
Protect it before it goes live
You can set up a password, an invite list and an expiry date before you turn the link on. The settings take effect the moment the release goes live, so no one can open it unprotected in the meantime.
When you turn the link on for the first time, Gatefolded asks you to confirm you own or have the rights to share the music. It's one question, asked right at the switch, once for each release.
Two ways to lock a release
Password. Anyone with the link and the password can listen. It's quick, and it suits a share with one person or a small team.
Invite-only. You add the email addresses of the people who should hear it. When they open the link, they enter their email and get an eight-character code, valid for 10 minutes. The email says which release the code is for, so it doesn't look like spam. The code works in upper or lower case and can be typed on a phone keyboard.
Invite-only is the stronger option. A password can be passed along with the link; an invite code only goes to an address you added.
You can use both on the same release. Visitors then need the password and an invited address.
What an outsider actually sees
When you turn on a password or an invite list, Hide Details Until Access Granted turns on with it. You can switch it off if you want people to see the title before they unlock it. While it's on, someone who hasn't unlocked the release sees:
- On the page: "Private release" in place of the title and your name. No cover, no track titles, no credits or metadata, no streaming or social links.
- In the browser tab: "Private release".
- In a link preview (the card iMessage, WhatsApp, Slack or a social site builds when the link is pasted): "Private release", a generic description, and no cover.
- In search engines: nothing. Protected releases ask search engines not to index them.
- On your artist page: nothing. Protected releases are never listed there, so the only way to reach one is the link you sent.
- After the link expires: a message that the link has expired, with no cover, title or artist.
Once someone unlocks the release, they see everything as you designed it.
Letting people ask
Links get forwarded. That isn't always bad: an A&R might pass your demo to their head of A&R. On an invite-only release, someone who isn't on the list can ask for access from the release's page.
- They enter their email, and optionally their name and a note.
- You get an email and see the request in your dashboard.
- If you approve, their address is added to the invite list and they get an email telling them they're in. If you decline, nothing is sent.
The page never says who is already invited. Every address gets the same answer whether it's on the list or not, so someone holding the link can't use the form to find out who else you sent it to.
Links that end on their own
A demo you sent in the spring doesn't need to be playable at Christmas. You can set a release's link to end:
- On a date. After that, visitors see an expired message.
- After a number of plays. The count includes every play since the release was shared, not just plays from when you set the limit. Gatefolded tells you the current count and won't let you set a limit that would end the link straight away.
Downloads start off
New releases are streaming only. If someone needs the files, say a label that wants WAVs for a meeting, you can turn downloads on for that release.
Where protection stops
No private link can stop someone who can hear your music from recording it. What protection controls is who gets to hear it and what everyone else can learn. A few more things worth knowing:
- Previews that already exist stay cached. If a link was pasted into a chat before you protected it, that app may keep showing the old preview for a while.
- Anyone you invite can listen as often as they like until the link expires or you take them off the list.
- A password travels with whoever has it. For anything you'd hate to see forwarded, use invite-only.
A checklist for your next private send
- Upload the release and add the cover and credits.
- Before you go live, pick Invite-Only for anything important, or a password for a quick share.
- Leave Hide Details Until Access Granted on.
- Set an expiry date if the ask is time-sensitive.
- Leave downloads off unless someone needs the files.
- Turn the link on, confirm your rights, and send it.
- Watch your inbox for access requests.