Collection Launch Guide

STAGE 1: Planning, Configuration, Branding

In this first stage, your end goal is to launch your MUSICat site (it won’t have artist or album content in it yet, but it will have your branding and copy), and open your first submission round.

Create an Artist License

It’s good to start working on this as early as possible. Check out our artist license guidelines.

Pick a Collection Name, URL, and email address

Example URL formats:

playback.spl.org (integrated with library domain)
librarymusicproject.com (entirely custom domain)
hclib.musicat.co (musicat integrated domain)

Your email account will be used to send artist emails from MUSICat (e.g. to thank artists for submitting, invite artists to the collection, etc.). We recommend setting up an email account using your library’s domain, like: playback@spl.org

Unless you chose a musicat.co domain (or, if you chose a custom domain and a domain integrated with your library’s domain), put Rabble in touch with the team member who handles DNS for the library, and we’ll coordinate setup with them. Detailed DNS instructions are here.

Branding

Get started on a name, logo, and brand identity using the Designer Guidelines here.

Guidelines for Marketing and Promotion are here.

Juror/Community Curator Outreach

Best practices and guidelines for building your Community Jury guide here

Artist Payments

Determine how to pay artists with your finance department or work with Rabble to set up artist payments through us.

Instructures for configuring your site logo and “no collection banner” are in the Admin User Guide here

Colors and Favicon

Provide Rabble (via email) with 5 RGB values for 5 brand colors that will populate the loading graphic, highlighting, and text on your site. See PlayBack and Capital City Records for two different approaches.

If you want to customize your site’s favicon (optional), share a PNG file (via email) that’s approximately 150x150 with us.

Configure Site Elements

Walk through the settings in your Configuration guide here with us to get a sense of the options there including genres, optional site sections, artist information collections, and jury settings.

Create FAQ, About, and Curator Pages

Create these pages in Site Page Templates, guide here.

Create emails that go to artists

Create these in the Email Templates, guide here.

Set up your license

Set up your artist license in the License Templates, guide here.

STAGE 2: Run your first submission round

In stage two, your goal is to build your first collection of albums and artist profiles.

Configure and Open Submissions

Open Submissions on your Configuration page, guide here.

Jury Submissions

After you’ve collected submissions and closed the submission round, you’re ready to start curating your collection with your community jurors. This happens in the “Jury” stage, guide here.

Invite and Defer Artists

Send invites and deferrals to artists, guide here.

Complete Submissions

Monitor the Complete Submission stage and send payments as artists sign licenses, guide here. .

STAGE 3: Prepare for your collection launch

Almost there! Your goal for this final stage is to publish your collection and promote it to your community.

Review and Publish your Collection

Review and Publish album and artist pages, guide here.

Note: In Configs, Public Site Configuration, as long as the “Open site to the public” box is unchecked, your site will continue to display the landing page you set up during your first submission round. Leaving this box unchecked allows you to publish album and artist pages, and review them live on your site, without creating any links to those pages.

Set up Authentication

Rabble will work with library folks to set up library card authentication for your collection. We’ll need a contact about 4 weeks in advance of a collection launch.

Community Member authentication via single SSL web service call with 1 or 2 factors — either card barcode alone (preferred) or barcode and pin from MUSICat API servers to a web-reachable Library authentication endpoint — is best. SIP 2 is also supported by default. For authentication endpoints that require custom integrations, 4 hours are included Additional hours are billed at $125 rate per hour. No custom authentication integration is required to configure and run the Library’s MUSICat Collection.

Set up your Carousel Banners

Image guidelines for these banners are in the Designer Guidelines.

Set up your carousel banners using instructions in the Admin Guide.

Open Site to the Public

When you’re satisfied that your carousel banners, artist and album pages, and authentication are all ready to go, head to your Configs page, check “Open site to the public” and save your new configuration at the bottom of the page.

Congrats! You’ve launched your MUSICat collection!

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