Frequently Asked Questions

Gatefolded is a complete artist hub for musicians. It lets you share unreleased music privately with password protection and email allowlists, showcase released albums with streaming links, connect your social media profiles, and accept tips from fans—all from one beautiful, shareable page.

Unlike generic link-in-bio tools, Gatefolded is built specifically for musicians. You can actually host and stream your music directly on the platform, control access to unreleased tracks, and present your work in a professional album-focused layout. It's not just links—it's a complete music sharing solution.

Gatefolded is perfect for independent artists, producers, beatmakers, bands, and labels. Whether you need to send demos privately to collaborators, share advance copies with press, or give fans a single link to all your music and socials, Gatefolded has you covered.

Yes! Every artist you create gets a public page at gatefolded.com/artist/your-name. This page showcases all your albums with share links enabled, plus your bio, photo, and social links. It's perfect for your Instagram bio or anywhere you want one link to everything.

Your public artist page displays your artist name, bio, and photo at the top. Below that, visitors see all albums that have share links enabled, presented as clickable album cards. Your social media links (Instagram, TikTok, X, website) appear as icons. It's a complete hub for fans to discover all your music.

Yes! Gatefolded has built-in collaboration. As the artist owner, you can invite up to 4 additional members by email. Once they accept, they can upload tracks, edit album details, manage share settings, and do everything except delete the artist or manage members. Perfect for bands where everyone contributes to the release process.

Yes! As the artist owner, you can enable "Require approval for member changes" in the Members tab. When enabled, any changes made by collaborators (like editing album details or track titles) will be held for your review. You'll see pending changes in your dashboard and can approve or reject them. You can also rollback changes if needed. This gives you final control while still letting your team contribute.

Yes! If you manage multiple artist profiles, you can move albums between them. On the album page, click the artist name to see options: rename the current artist, move the album to another artist you own, or create a new artist for it. This is helpful if you started under one name and want to reorganize your catalog.

Link-in-bio tools like Linktree are designed for general creators—they're just lists of links. Gatefolded is purpose-built for musicians with features they actually need: stream your music directly on the page (no redirects), password-protect unreleased tracks, control downloads, display lyrics and credits, accept tips, and present everything in a professional album layout. Instead of sending fans to five different places, give them one beautiful page where they can listen, follow, and support you.

File transfer services work, but they're not built for music. With Gatefolded, recipients don't need to download anything—they can stream directly in their browser. You get password protection without sharing clunky folder links, a branded experience with your artwork and track listings, and listeners see a professional album page instead of a generic file list. Plus, you can add streaming links, socials, and tip options all in one place. It's the difference between emailing a ZIP file and sending a polished preview of your work.

Gatefolded works perfectly as a promo companion to streaming platforms. Use it to share music before it's released—send password-protected links to press, playlist curators, or collaborators for early feedback. Once your music is live, add your Spotify, Apple Music, and other streaming links to the same page. Fans get one link that lets them preview tracks and then click through to save on their preferred platform. It's your complete pre-release and post-release hub in one place.

Yes! If you want to share music directly with fans without going through a subscription-based platform, Gatefolded is a great alternative. Fans can stream your full tracks right on the page—no account required, no ads, no algorithmic recommendations pushing other artists. Add your Venmo, PayPal, or Cash App to let fans tip you directly with zero platform fees from Gatefolded. You keep complete control over the experience and your relationship with listeners.

Gatefolded gives you professional-grade access control that file sharing services lack. Set passwords that you can change anytime. Create email allowlists so only approved contacts can listen. Disable downloads to prevent leaks. Get a branded page with your artwork instead of a generic file browser. And because it's streaming-based, recipients can listen instantly on any device without downloading large files. It's built for the way musicians actually need to share work-in-progress.

No. Anyone with your share link can listen immediately—no sign-up, no app download, no subscription. If you've enabled password protection or email allowlist, they'll just need to enter those credentials. The listening experience is completely frictionless for your audience.

Yes! This is one of Gatefolded's core features. You can upload unreleased tracks, protect them with passwords, restrict access to specific email addresses, and control whether listeners can download the files. Perfect for sharing demos with labels, collaborators, or press before release.

When you enable password protection on an album, anyone who visits your share link will need to enter the password before they can listen. You set the password, and you can change it anytime. After saving, you'll see the password displayed once with a copy button—save it somewhere safe since you won't be able to view it again (for security, passwords are encrypted). Great for sharing with a select group of people.

The email allowlist lets you restrict access to specific email addresses. When enabled, visitors must enter their email and verify it with a one-time code sent to their inbox. Only emails on your allowlist will be granted access. This gives you precise control over who can hear your music.

Absolutely. You can enable or disable downloads on a per-album basis. When downloads are disabled, listeners can stream your music but cannot save the audio files. When enabled, they'll see a download button for each track.

Yes! You can set share links to expire after a specific date or after a certain number of plays. This is perfect for time-sensitive promo copies—send advance tracks to press with a 2-week expiration, or limit a link to 10 plays. Once expired, visitors see a friendly message that the link is no longer active.

Yes! You can enable recipient feedback on any album. When enabled, listeners can leave their name, email (optional), and comments after listening. You'll see all feedback in your dashboard—great for gathering reactions from collaborators, labels, or press before release.

Yes! When you have a public artist page, visitors can request access to your gated content. They submit their name and email, and you'll see pending requests in your dashboard under the "Requests" tab. Approve to add them to your allowlist, or deny to reject. You can also pre-approve emails before they even request by adding them to your allowlist in advance.

Yes! Enable "Hide details before login" in your share settings. Visitors will see a locked placeholder instead of your cover art, track titles will be hidden, and the artist name won't be shown until they enter the password or verify their email. This adds an extra layer of privacy for unreleased material.

Yes! Instead of a random token, you can set a custom slug for your share link like gatefolded.com/s/my-album-name. This makes links more memorable and professional when sharing with press or on social media.

Yes! Every share link has a downloadable QR code. Just click the QR code button next to your share link in the dashboard. Perfect for posters, business cards, or merch—fans can scan and instantly access your music.

Yes! You can add links to Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Bandcamp, and SoundCloud. These appear as buttons on your share page, making it easy for fans to listen on their preferred platform.

You can add links to Instagram, TikTok, X (Twitter), and your personal website. These appear alongside your streaming links, giving fans a single place to connect with you everywhere.

Yes! In addition to the built-in streaming and social links, you can add up to 5 custom links per album. Click "Add Custom Link" in the Links section to add any URL with a custom label. Great for linking to your merch store, music videos, press kit, or any other page you want to share.

Yes! You can add your Venmo, PayPal, or Cash App handles to your album pages. Fans will see support buttons and can tip you directly without any platform fees from Gatefolded.

Gatefolded costs $49 per year for one artist profile with unlimited albums and tracks. Additional artist profiles can be added for $15 per year each.

Yes! Every new account gets a 7-day free trial with full access to all features. No credit card required to start.

Your subscription includes: 1 artist profile (invite up to 4 collaborators), unlimited albums and tracks, custom theme builder with eyedropper, 7 preset themes, analytics with real-time alerts, streaming and social media links, fan support/tip links, password protection, email allowlist with OTP verification, download controls, share link expiration, recipient feedback collection, custom share URLs, QR codes, and lyrics & credits for each track. See the full breakdown at gatefolded.com/pricing.

Yes! If you manage multiple artists or projects, you can add additional artist profiles for $15 per year each. Each profile gets its own page, albums, and settings.

Yes, you can cancel your subscription at any time. Your account will remain active until the end of your current billing period. We don't offer refunds for partial periods, but you'll never be charged again after canceling.

Yes! Every account has a unique referral code you can share with other musicians. Find your code in Settings under "Referrals." When someone signs up using your link, they're tracked as your referral. Share it with your network to help grow the community.

Gatefolded tracks three main metrics for your shared music: page views (when someone visits your share link), plays (when someone starts listening to a track), and downloads (when someone downloads a track). We use privacy-friendly tracking—we don't store personal information, just anonymous visitor counts. Each unique visitor is only counted once per day per action to give you accurate engagement numbers.

Your analytics dashboard shows total plays, views, and downloads across all your music, plus a breakdown by artist and album. You can filter by time period: last 7 days, 30 days, 90 days, or all-time. Each album page also shows its individual stats so you can see exactly how each project is performing.

When someone listens to your music, we track detailed playback events: when they press play, pause, skip, seek to a different part of the track, and when the track ends. This lets you see not just that someone played your track, but how much of it they actually listened to. You can identify which tracks hold attention and where listeners might be dropping off.

Yes! On the analytics page, select an album from the dropdown and click "CSV" or "JSON" to download your data. The export includes daily statistics (views, plays, downloads, unique visitors) and per-track breakdowns. This is great for reporting to labels, tracking promo campaign performance, or keeping your own records.

Yes! Each album's share settings page shows a "Recent Access" log. This displays when someone unlocked your share via password or email verification. For email allowlist access, you'll see the verified email address. For password unlocks, you'll see that someone entered the correct password and when. This helps you track who's actually listening to your private shares.

When you enable "Real-time Alerts" for an album, you'll see instant pop-up notifications in your dashboard whenever someone accesses that share link. Great for knowing the moment a label A&R or press contact starts listening to your submission. You can enable this per-album in the share settings under "Notifications."

Email notifications send you an email when someone accesses your share—good if you're away from the dashboard. Real-time alerts show instant pop-ups while you're browsing your dashboard—perfect for knowing immediately when someone's listening. You can enable both, either, or neither depending on your preference.

Yes! Each album has its own notification settings in the Share Settings > Notifications section. You can enable email notifications and/or real-time alerts independently for each album. This is useful when you want to closely monitor a new release while keeping older albums quieter. You can also set album-specific message templates for notification emails.

Only you and the people you choose to share with. Your uploaded music is private by default—no one can access it until you create a share link. Even then, you control exactly who can listen through passwords, email allowlists, and expiration settings. Gatefolded staff do not listen to or access your music. Your files are stored on encrypted servers and served through secure, expiring URLs.

Absolutely. You own 100% of your music. Gatefolded never claims any rights to your content. We're simply a hosting and sharing tool—think of us like a secure locker for your files. You can delete your music at any time, and it's permanently removed from our servers.

Yes. Our Terms of Service explicitly state that you retain all ownership rights to any content you upload. We only have a limited license to host and serve your files to the people you authorize—nothing more. You can review the full terms at gatefolded.com/terms.

No. We never sell, license, or share your music with anyone. Your content is only accessible to you and the specific people you choose to share it with. We don't use your music for AI training, marketing, or any other purpose.

If you cancel, your account remains active until the end of your billing period. After that, your share links stop working but your data is retained for 30 days in case you resubscribe. After 30 days of an expired subscription, your files are permanently deleted. You can also delete your account immediately at any time from Settings, which removes all data right away.

No. We will never use your music, artist name, or artwork in any marketing or promotional materials without your explicit written permission. Your content is yours alone.

Yes. When you disable downloads for an album, listeners can only stream—they cannot download the audio files. While no streaming platform can prevent all screen recording or ripping attempts, we make casual downloading impossible and don't expose direct file URLs. For maximum protection, combine disabled downloads with password protection and email allowlists.

Gatefolded is built with multiple layers of security. All data is encrypted in transit (HTTPS/TLS) and at rest on our servers. Audio files are never publicly accessible—they're served through signed URLs that expire within minutes, so even if someone captures a URL, it stops working almost immediately. Passwords are hashed using industry-standard bcrypt (we never store plain text). Authentication uses secure, HTTP-only cookies that can't be accessed by JavaScript. Our infrastructure runs on Vercel and Supabase—enterprise-grade platforms trusted by thousands of companies. Row-level security ensures users can only access their own data at the database level. We don't have a "browse all music" feature—there's no way for anyone to discover your uploads without your share link.

We support MP3, WAV, FLAC, AAC, and M4A audio files. For best results, we recommend uploading high-quality files (320kbps MP3 or lossless formats).

Yes. All files are stored on secure, encrypted servers. Audio files for protected albums are served through signed URLs that expire, preventing unauthorized access or hotlinking.

Yes! Gatefolded offers 7 preset color themes (Dark, Light, Warm, Cool, Minimal, Bold, and Vintage) plus a custom theme builder. With custom themes, you can pick your own background, accent, and text colors using color pickers or an eyedropper tool that extracts colors directly from your album artwork. The system also automatically generates a color palette from your cover art that you can click to apply.

Yes! Press spacebar to play/pause, left/right arrows to skip tracks, and up/down arrows to adjust volume. These work on both share pages and in your dashboard when previewing tracks.

You can delete your account from the Settings page in your dashboard. Click "Delete Account" and confirm. This permanently removes all your data including artists, albums, tracks, and uploaded files. This action cannot be undone, so make sure to download any files you want to keep first.

No! You can start your 7-day free trial without entering any payment information. We'll only ask for payment details when you're ready to subscribe after the trial ends.

Some in-app browsers (Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, Twitter/X, Snapchat) block Google sign-in for security reasons. When we detect you're using one of these browsers, we show a warning with instructions to open in Safari or Chrome instead. On iPhone, tap the "..." or share icon and select "Open in Safari." On Android, tap the menu and select "Open in Chrome." Once you're in a regular browser, sign-in will work normally.

Yes! Gatefolded works as a Progressive Web App (PWA) for a faster, app-like experience. On iPhone, open gatefolded.com in Safari, tap the Share button, then "Add to Home Screen." On Android, tap the browser menu and select "Install app" or "Add to Home Screen." You'll get a full-screen experience, faster loading, and easy access from your home screen.

Yes! On any album page, click "Bulk Upload" to select multiple audio files at once. They'll be uploaded and added to your tracklist in the order selected. You can also use "Bulk Add Titles" to quickly name multiple tracks—just paste a list of titles (one per line) and they'll be applied in order. Drag and drop to reorder tracks after uploading.

Yes! Each track has optional fields for professional metadata including ISRC code, composer, publisher, and PRO (Performance Rights Organization) affiliation. At the album level, you can add a UPC/barcode, catalog number, record label, and copyright info. This metadata is useful for keeping your releases organized and can be included when sharing with labels or distributors. Click the expand arrow on any track to access these fields.

Yes! Use the search bar at the top of your dashboard to quickly find any album or track across all your artists. Just start typing an album title, track name, or artist name and results appear instantly. This is especially helpful if you manage a large catalog across multiple artist profiles.

Yes! You can set one album as your "Featured Album" on your public artist page. The featured album appears larger and more prominently at the top of your album list, perfect for highlighting a new release or your most important project. Just click the star icon on any album to make it featured.

Yes! You can export your analytics data in CSV or JSON format from the Analytics page—just select an album and click the export button. This includes daily stats, per-track breakdowns, and listener engagement data. For your account data, contact us and we'll provide a full export of your artists, albums, tracks, and metadata.