HOW TO ADD MUSIC TO A PAGE ON YOUR SQUARESPACE WEBSITE / Spotify, mp3, Soundcloud, & album examples

In this video I cover how to add music to your Squarespace website in various ways:
• Spotify song (single)
• Spotify playlist (album)
• mp3 track
• Soundcloud playlist (album)
• Full album page (mp3s)
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KATHERINE FORBES
Katherine Forbes is the founder of Nashville based website and brand design company, Designing the Row, whose client roster includes multiple Grammy winning and nominated artists. She is also the creator of a community of thousands of female musicians and industry professionals from around the world called Music Biz Besties. She’s served as co-producer for the International Bluegrass Music Awards, self-published a marketing workbook for musicians, and hosts a worldwide meetup series for women in music. Katherine believes that "your success depends on you taking action" and she's passionate about motivating and encouraging others to do just that! www.katherineforbes.com

[@Tinykooandmikey]

THIS!!! I need this method to host mp3 tracks on my dream website project.

[@TheCooliHighh]

Thanks so much !

[@WavyFBaby]

How would I add background music to my square space website, without being able to see any music images or players? Thank you.

[@courtney36]

HI Katherine, Thank you for taking us through setting up a music player on Squarespace. I wondered if you could further direct me to how to autoplay the song once the viewer opens my site? Thanks

[@KatherineForbes]

It's actually not best website/SEO practices to autoplay audio (and not something Squarespace can do with it's built in features), sorry! You can autoplay a video easily, but the audio won't play with it.

[@AceHardy]

🎶🔥

[@EmilyMcVicker]

Thank you so much!! This is a great guide. I would also like to make the downloadable music require the visitors to give their email address. is there a way for a pop up to ask for their email when they click a download button?

[@KatherineForbes]

I'd suggest using the newsletter block to accomplish that! (It's not possible to do it through the music/audio track download option)

[@apostolis_23]

Hello Katherine! Thank you for your video. It was Super helpful! Having a squarespace website my self and thinking to add audio files, i would like to ask you why choose the option of an Album with my content instead of adding my spotify channel with my content? Thank you once more and greetings grom Greece!

[@KatherineForbes]

You can do it both ways or whichever way seems best for you! When adding a Spotify embed, users won't be able to listen to the track all the way through on your website (they will have to open the Spotify app), so adding it as an album on Squarespace allows people to listen all the way through. Just depends on what you're trying to achieve.

[@apostolis_23]

@@KatherineForbes great point. Thank you once again!

[@ShimonDC]

Hi Katherine! Wow! This video is super helpful! I am in the process of deciding to use Squarespace or not, and also which plan. If I go with Squarespace, I prefer the personal plan since it is lowest cost and I think has what I need. My confusion has been with what Squarespace says about code requiring a business or commerce plan. But based on your video, it looks like I could use the personal plan and if the embed code doesn't work, I can always use the link and then modify the size. I assume your video is done on a plan that is above the personal plan? Thank you!

[@KatherineForbes]

Hey Shimon, yes I use the Business plan BUT also keep in mind that this is on an older editor version of Squarespace and the "album" option isn't available anymore. If you'd like a Squarespace discount, you can get my code here - www.designingtherow.com/squarespace

[@ShimonDC]

@@KatherineForbes thank you so much. I did the trial and figured out how to get my podcast episodes on there, but it doesn't allow for the level of customization I'm looking for, so I'm going to go with Dreamhost and WordPress when I'm ready. It might take a little longer to create, but I will be able to have the look and features I envision.

[@roymoyeiii]

This was a super helpful video! I do have one question....How can you add multiple albums on a single page. Currently I have a page with 3 photos of each album and the songs listed under each album as audio blocks. I’d love to have three albums that look and function like the 1 album you made at the end of the video. Any suggestions on how I could do this?

[@KatherineForbes]

Unfortunately the album pages only allow for one album and won't go into Indexes (so you can't stack them). Sorry! You'd have to create each album as its own page, then maybe put them in a drop down menu?

[@roymoyeiii]

@@KatherineForbes No worries! Thanks for the response!

[@olman80zz2]

Thanks for the video. I was wondering if there is a way to have a song play on the home screen automatically

[@KatherineForbes]

None of these options default to automatically play because that actually causes higher bounce rates (people leaving your site quickly because music starts playing) which in turn hurts your SEO.

[@KatherineForbes]

I'll follow that up by saying - I like to use background videos because they automatically play but without sound so you get the movement and can capture their attention with visuals... then I overlay a "watch video" button on top so the viewer can CHOOSE to listen if they'd like :-)

[@olman80zz2]

@@KatherineForbes thanks very much for the quick reply. Great video, look forward to seeing more.

[@courtney36]

@@KatherineForbes I have just seen this response. Could you do a tutorial on this?

[@KatherineForbes]

@Cortney Bolek Hey! Are you referring to background videos? I actually have on my to-do list today to come up with my next KZbin topics, sooo you asked at the perfect time. PS. I'm sharing Squarespace tutorials over on my other channel now at kzbin.info

[@mimimillionss2086]

Thank you for this info... Is the option to add music using the third option only available on certain templates? I can't find it under collections on a site I'm building.

[@KatherineForbes]

The code, embed, and audio blocks should be available on all sites... what is it that aren't you seeing on your end?

[@mimimillionss2086]

@@KatherineForbes I’m just now seeing that you replied, I was able to find the audio block! Thank you again

[@lostboyjay]

@@KatherineForbes im unable to find it i have no idea where or how to get it

[@GlobalSydyMedia]

Hi! Your tutorial helped me to add my spotify playlist to my Squarespace site. It seems to only play a preview of the song then asked to sign in to spotify for the rest of the song. Is there anyway to get the pull song to play? Thanks!

[@KatherineForbes]

So glad to hear this! Unfortunately, this is a Spotify thing... they used to allow full song to play through embeds but it's changed in the past year-ish (literally no one is a fan of this) haha

[@GlobalSydyMedia]

Omg I knew I couldn’t be the only one! I am Going to try to upload through SoundCloud instead. Thanks so much for the reply

[@danielagalasso1687]

Hi @KatherineForbes ...thanks so much for this video...do you know if the Album page feature is still intact? I don't see it on my Squarespace account but I'm also using the Personal version rather than Business, so I'm not sure if that's why. I'd really like to use that feature to create a private link when getting ready to promote my single to blogs etc. If you have any tips or if there are other page layouts that would be beneficial let me know!

[@KatherineForbes]

Hey Daniela, I believe the Album feature is no longer available on the 7.1 version of Squarespace. Sorry! Maybe instead add your songs to Soundcloud and then embed that. Or (not as useful/pretty) you can upload individual audio tracks to a page.

[@TheWayOutside23]

Hi Katherine, I have a squarespace site but hate how the soundcloud block looks. I've found a template that displays the soundcloud block in a much neater way using a markdown block. I've tried to copy the syntax text from the demo site and I can't figure out which part of the code I need to replace so it links to my own soundcloud track. Are there any tutorials you're aware of that I could watch to figure this out? Thanks in advance :)

[@KatherineForbes]

Hey Stephen, hard to know without seeing the example! If you can link to it maybe I can decipher what they've done.

[@annareeves5229]

Hi there, when I try to put my playlist link it says "sorry couldn't find that".

[@KatherineForbes]

Hmm! Are you doing a Spotify LINK with the Squarespace EMBED block or the Spotify EMBED code with the Squarespace CODE block? You can do it either way. I will say, sometimes recently when I try to use the video block it says it can't find it, so I delete it and try again and it's fine...? Not sure what the issue is with why it's hit or miss.

[@Cola8377]

Is there a way to add music to site without the music bars showing up on the site?

[@dinaridha7086]

Is there a way to add background music automatically when you visit the website? Your way still requires the user to press play. thanks

[@KatherineForbes]

Automatic background music is actually not recommended for SEO/user-friendly purposes!

[@themichellecantrellgroup838]

I'm trying to add audio files of radio ads. I would like to have an image of the celebrity and then the audio file under the image. Right now if I add the audio it won't let me size left to right so I can position under the image. It has them by length of the file.

[@KatherineForbes]

Hey Michelle, it's hard for me to follow without seeing what you're talking about. Feel free to drop a link to your page here if you want me to take a look :-)

[@AdrianTruth]

whats the symbol after

[@KatherineForbes]

Hey Adrian, it's insert your code here

[@AdrianTruth]

@@KatherineForbes Thank you, I appreciate the reply!

[@adamwohl]

Katherine, forgive me if I missed this in the video, but is there a way to employ a spotify playlist on the home/landing page of my squarespace site under the following conditions: 1. Play the playlist songs at random and/or repeat the playlist? 2. Start playing (random song from playlist) automatically when users arrive at the home/landing page, meaning they do not have to press play? 3. Have the music stop after advancing to ANY OTHER page on the site, meaning it is only designed for the home/landing page? 4. Lastly, that the "music player" is hidden, meaning the user/visitor has no control over or even visibility to the music player itself - it is in the background, playing music on the home page, ideally underneath a video (with no sound) that plays continuously? THANKS!!!!

[@KatherineForbes]

The Spotify playlist embed isn't going to give you this many advanced features. It will simply be an embedded playlist that the user can click to play if they'd like.

[@kalinascollon9260]

Hello! I would like to make my music available for sale as a digital download directly on my website. Can that be done through the album page? The only option I have found so far is to create a digital product and use a zip file to compress all your tracks into one album, but I've read that isn't very compatible with smart phones (which is where I think most of my fans would prefer to download the songs anyway).

[@KatherineForbes]

Hey - wondering what the difference might be as a download on the album page vs a digital download product? I agree that the zip file isn't mobile friendly, but would argue the same about a downloaded track in general. Maybe you could use the new Member Area feature and offer your music streaming through a paid "membership" where people can listen directly on your site after paying?

[@kalinascollon9260]

@@KatherineForbes That's a very interesting point! I'll look into that! Thanks 😁

[@GonzalezH10]

If I add music through spotify, will the visitors need a spotify account to play the music? Or is there any limitations if visitors dont have a Spotify account?

[@KatherineForbes]

Hey Hector, the embeds will play 30 seconds for anyone (with/without a Spotify account)... then if the person wants to listen to the full song/album, it will prompt them to open the app (on desktop too).

[@KatherineForbes]

Here's an example of one of my client's sites if you want to test it out as a user... (scroll past first album and the rest are Spotify embeds) www.steepcanyon.com/music

[@amirsberlo]

Hi Katherine. I have several audio tracks on my site as mp3's. People have reported back that when they listen to them on their phone and the screen locks, the track stops playing. Is there a way to avoid this? Thanks!

[@KatherineForbes]

Yeah this is pretty annoying but unfortunately I haven't found a workaround!

[@amirsberlo]

@@KatherineForbes Dang that's a bummer! So there's no fix?

[@KatherineForbes]

@@amirsberlo if there is I don't know about it!

[@TheChamberRoomExperience]

Why is this so blurry??

[@danpotruch]

i'm a total "Boomer" so, how did you even make that whole music/spotify menu??? Help!

[@KatherineForbes]

Haha which part? If you go to Spotify and click on the 3 dots next to the song, it'll give you options to copy song link, copy embed code, etc. That's what you'll need to grab to put into Squarespace.

[@danpotruch]

@@KatherineForbes no, i was referring to all the edit panels on the left when you're building the site

[@KatherineForbes]

@@danpotruch could you give me a time stamp? At 6:50 I'm in the Pages section and add a new "Album" page... but note that this was almost a year ago and in the Squarespace 7.0 version so things might look a little different if you're in the new Squarespace 7.1.

[@danpotruch]

@@KatherineForbes at the very beginning! there's the "designing the row" heading. Where is THAT? AND you're a CODER too so, that's amazing but naturally that went way over my head.

[@KatherineForbes]

@@danpotruch That's my website logo ;-)