What is the Indie College Record Label: Sync Department Starter Pack

When you are just starting out putting your catalog together, you need to organize. So where to start? Luckily just like Protools is the industry standard for audio engineering, Disco is the industry standard for Sync pitching. It is vital for organizing catalogs, creating playlists, organizing metadata, and ensuring you are Sync ready. 

How to use Disco? 

Adding and Sharing Music 

Sharing music on DISCO is effortless. Begin by adding your music and files using the Playlist Creator on the right side of your DISCO page. Simply drag and drop tracks from your hard drive or iTunes into the Playlist Creator. Remember, your uploaded tracks are automatically saved, but it's recommended to organize them into playlists. 

Add your music and files: Use the Playlist Creator to add tracks and create playlists. Upload the highest quality. Drag and drop tracks from your hard drive or iTunes. Metadata is vital to keeping organized during this process. 

Include this information: 

Name of Artist 

Song title 

Imprint Name/ If Applicable 

Contact information 

PRO 

Lyrics if applicable 

File Types: 

WAV - A high-quality format that a producer or editor will require for the final edit. MP3 - A medium-quality format that will suffice while the music supervisor is searching for the perfect song. 

Bespoke: 

MP4 

Videos are acceptable (doesn’t currently support HEVC files) 

Audio Quality: 

MP3 (Stereo, bitrate of 256kps or higher) 

WAV (Stereo, 44.100 kHz or higher sample rate, 16 or higher bit rate)

Save your playlist: After adding tracks, click "Save" in the Playlist Creator to save your playlist. Give your playlist a name and customize which songs, security, and preferences. You can make a playlist public, private and share the playlist. 

Share your playlist: Once saved, a share link will be generated for your playlist. 

Recipients can stream or download tracks based on the Content Settings you selected. 

Access your saved playlists: Find your saved playlists in the Browse section under the Playlists tab. You can organize playlists by genre, artists etc. 

Navigating DISCO 

The DISCO interface: 

The Explorer: Clicking on a playlist or track opens new columns to the right, facilitating intuitive navigation through your music and files. 

The Search bar: Located at the top of the app, use this bar to search through your DISCO at any time. 

The left sidebar: Access your Browse area, Starred content, Inboxes, Tools, and Channels from the left sidebar. (Note: Features may vary based on your subscription plan.)

The top right menu: Access additional features like DISCO Bulk Uploader, help resources, account settings, and more from the top right corner. 

The chat button: If you need help you can reach out to DISCO Support via the chat button in the bottom right corner. 

Editing and organizing your files: Keeping an organized catalog is vital. 

Stats, analytics, and reporting: You have the ability to see how many times your song has been streamed and other important details during this process. 

Contacts and Writers: One of the most important things is ensuring that you have all of the contributors' contact information. 

Mailing Lists and Email Creator: You can also send out email blasts to your contacts and network. You can highlight artists and include their songs. This is great for new signings and new music you would like to send out. You can customize each email and send it to contact groups you have created. 

DISCO Discovery Suite and Catalogs: This Discovery Suite is great for getting discovered by catalogs on Disco. 

Auto-Tagging: AI technology analyzes audio to add industry-standard tags for easy discovery. Lyrical theme tags can also be generated from track metadata. 

Similarity Search: AI feature compares audio to find similar tracks, useful for large catalogs and responding to specific sound requests. 

Instant Instrumentals: AI generates instrumental versions of tracks quickly. 

DISCO Catalogs: Curate micro-sites within DISCO for client access, enabling easy browsing and playlist creation. 

Music Supervisor Discovery Feed: Allows Music Supervisors to discover and access opted-in DISCO Catalogs. 

The Discovery Suite is available as a paid add-on starting at $10 per month for up to 250 tracks, with features like auto-tagging and DISCO Catalogs bundled together. 

Watermarking: 

What is Watermarking?: Inserting a unique digital fingerprint into audio files for traceability. 

Availability and Cost: Watermarking is a paid add-on with different pricing tiers ranging from $29 to $129 per month. 

Security: Watermarking is highly secure and survives re-encoding and alterations.

Functionality: Watermarking applies to both streamed and downloaded files.

File Types: Currently, watermarking is only supported for audio files. 

Implementation and Notifications: Recipients are notified that files are watermarked.

Playlist Level: Watermarking is applied at the playlist level, not for individual tracks.

Leak Tracking: DISCO facilitates tracking and reporting of leaked files through its platform.

The unglamorous part… the cost.. But it's not as bad as you think! It’s almost like paying for a Spotify subscription. 

The DISCO pricing plans are structured as follows: 

1. Lite Plan: 

● Cost: $10 per month 

● Users: 1 

● Tracks: Up to 500 

● Key Features: Unlimited playlists, embeddable tracks/videos/playlists, free catalog import, inbox for receiving files. 

2. Plus Plan: 

● Cost: Starting from $15 per month 

● Users: 1 

● Tracks: Up to 1,000 

● Additional Features (over Lite): Email Creator, advanced playlist stats, assigned URLs. 

3. Pro Plan: 

● Cost: Starting from $25 per month 

● Users: 1 

● Tracks: Up to 1,000 

Additional Features (over Plus): Custom fields, password protection, distributor ingestion. 

Enterprise Plan: 

● Users: Customized for enterprise needs 

Needless to say, there are countless videos on how to use DISCO. If you need more assistance you can always connect with a DISCO representative. You can connect to them through Linkedin, Disco and get your Sync Catalog going! 

Best of Luck! 

Laney