Share my audio files with members

This article will take you through the steps of uploading audio and attaching audio files to any of your posts.

How to upload audio posts 

You can upload audio files directly to Patreon from your device. These uploads will show up as an audio player. The uploaded audio will also populate in members' RSS feeds if you enable audio RSS for your members.

Here's how to upload audio for a post:

Make sure you follow this guide while in your creator profile. You can switch to your creator profile by clicking on your name in the bottom-left corner of the home screen and selecting your Creator profile from the menu

1. Click on Create from the left-hand navigation;
   • If you also sell digital products, you’ll need to select Post from the drop-down list
2. Select the Audio post
3. Select Audio at the top of the post editor, then drag and drop your audio file or browse your computer to upload it
4. Add a title to your post (this is required). You can also start typing the description of your post (optional)
5. To customize your player box thumbnail, click the player box image and upload your own artwork
6. If you’re a podcaster, you can use the Add to podcast option to include this post in your RSS podcast feed, making it available to listeners on their favorite platforms. Learn more about Enabling audio RSS feeds for your members 
7. You can schedule your audio as a drop, allowing fans to experience the content together with real-time chats. To enable this feature, make sure the Make this a drop toggle is turned on. Learn more about scheduling Drops
8. You can organize your work by adding Tags or adding your post to a Collection to help fans find more of what they want
9. Click Next to add additional publishing options like Post access, Preview settings and Fan activity
   

   When you create an audio post by uploading an audio file from your device, you may be able to turn on audio previews for your post. Learn more about enabling and customizing audio previews.

10. On desktop, you can preview your post before publishing or scheduling your post by clicking the View Post button

Audio file specs

• File upload size must be 5 GB or less per image
• File attachments must be 5 GB or less
• File formats: .mp3, .mp4, .m4a, and .wav

By default, members can click the More actions button on your audio posts to download audio files.

How to remove the download link on your audio post

The ability for members to download files from your audio posts is enabled by default, however, you can disable this feature at any point. To disable audio file downloads, go to the Posts and products settings of your Page builder, scroll down to the Audio Settings, and uncheck the box.

To learn more about your audio link settings, please visit hide download links from audio posts.

How to make an audio post with an embed URL

You can link to audio players hosted on sites like Soundcloud via the link field. Follow these steps to share your hosted audio with members.

Here's how to make an audio post with an embed URL:

Make sure you follow this guide while in your creator profile. You can switch to your creator profile by clicking on your name in the bottom-left corner of the home screen and selecting your Creator profile from the menu

1. Click on Create from the left-hand navigation
2. Select Audio at the top of the post editor 
3. Click on the Embed Audio URL link
   • If you do not see this option, make sure the Make this a drop toggle is turned off. When this feature is enabled, you can only upload audio posts from your device. For more details on scheduling Drops, refer to our Drops guide
4. Enter your URL in the textbox field. An audio player will populate
5. The artwork on your audio player is dictated by whatever artwork you’ve uploaded to the third-party audio host. You cannot change the thumbnail artwork directly from Patreon
6. You can organize your work by adding Tags or adding your post to a Collection to help fans find more of what they want
7. On desktop, you can preview your post before publishing or scheduling your post by clicking the View Post button

We use embed.ly for embedded audio players. You can test your URL to ensure that your player will work. Add your URL in the field and click the arrow button. If you find an error in the type field, your URL will not post properly. 

Attaching an audio file to any post

You can add audio file attachments to any post, no matter the featured media type.

What audio file types can I attach to posts?

Your audio file must be 5 GB or less, and in one of the following file formats:

.mp3, .mp4, .m4a, .x-m4a, .mpeg, .aac, .ogg, .wma, .wav, and .x-wav files. 

To attach your audio file, use the Upload button near the bottom of the post creator/editor. You’ll know your attachment is ready to post when the upload arrow disappears. 

Your attachment will show as a link at the bottom of your published post. 

If you have custom RSS feeds enabled for your members not all audio posts will populate in your members’ RSS feeds. You can learn more about how to Enable audio RSS feeds for members. 

How do I post for certain members only?

You can set post access by creating/editing a post under Who can see this post? You can set your post access to:

• Public: Anyone can access your post — Free and paid members, as well as non-members, whether logged in or not
• All members:  All free and paid members will be able to access your post. Non-members will see the content as locked
• Paid members only: Everyone with a paid membership, regardless of tier, can access the post
• Free members only: Only free members can access your post. Paid members won't see these posts in their feeds, but the post will still be visible for non-members, locked and with an option to Join for Free to access the content
• Selected tiers: You can manually choose which membership tiers have access
• For purchase only: When you sell a post, you can choose the audience to be For purchase only. This means it does not have to be associated with a tier to sell, and both new fans and paid members can purchase that post

If you’re a per-creation creator, you cannot simultaneously charge members and make a post for specific tiers. You can find more information about how Posts work a little differently for you in the following article: How per creation billing works.