for creators

you make sound! let’s get it out there!

🚦

you don’t have an account? head to plyr.fm/login to create one.

on plyr.fm, you can share music, podcasts, sound art, ASMR, and anything else that makes noise — no distribution fees, no gatekeepers.

when you upload a track:

• its record is tied to your atmosphere identity; audio storage depends on your access choices and host
• choose who can listen and download, including public listening without an account
• you can embed a player on your website or blog
• you can gate tracks behind supporter status

public records can be read by other compatible apps. protected audio remains subject to its access rules; private Spaces require their host’s authorization. you can export your catalog from Portal → manage.

your first upload

1. sign in at plyr.fm with your atmosphere account (e.g. you.bsky.social)

   

2. upload — click upload in the header (or upload track in the portal), give the track a title, and choose your audio file: MP3, WAV, M4A, FLAC, or AIFF (.aif works too), up to 1.5 GB (1536 MB) per file. as soon as you pick it, the form shows what it knows about the file — format, size, length, a waveform for shorter tracks, and a play button to check it’s the right one — without sending anything. nothing leaves your browser until you press upload track, so picking the wrong file costs nothing.

   releasing several tracks together? switch the toggle at the top from track to album, give the album a title and cover art, and use choose files to add every track at once.

   

3. add details — the same form takes an optional description (liner notes, credits), an album, featured artists, tags, and artwork. see artwork guidelines for format and size recommendations

   under tags you can tick auto-tag with recommended genres — plyr.fm runs ML genre classification on the audio using the effnet-discogs model and adds the recommended genres as tags once classification finishes. whether or not you tick it, the track editor shows suggested tags you can add with a tap, and you can remove any tag you don’t want.

   if a track is AI-generated, tag it ai. listeners hide ai, ai-slop, and suno tags by default, so these tracks stay out of the latest feed and for you unless a listener chooses to see them, and radio airs them only on the slop station. they still appear on your artist page and in search.

4. choose who can listen — the form shows a one-line summary of your music access defaults. open change for this track to set this track differently. if the track contains sexually explicit audio, tick the content notice

5. publish it — confirm you have the right to distribute the audio, then press upload track. a progress notice follows the file through processing and ends with a view track link. MP3, WAV, M4A, and FLAC play right away; a public AIFF publishes immediately with your original kept, while a smaller streaming copy is prepared in the background — until it lands, browsers that can’t play the original show the track as still processing — playable shortly. protected audio stores its source on a compatible PDS and accepts web-playable files as uploaded

6. edit it later — find the track in the portal and choose edit track to change its details, artwork, access, or content notice. under audio & version history you can replace the audio or restore an earlier version

   

7. embed it — put a player on your website or blog using the snippets in embeds below

once you’ve shared more than 24 hours of audio, the upload page may show a card asking you to sponsor plyr.fm, with what your copyright scans have cost so far. it’s optional, never blocks uploading, and dismiss for 30 days hides it.

music access

set your defaults in Portal → manage under music access, then save profile. new accounts start with anyone able to listen and download. existing artists’ saved download choices are preserved.

uploads show a short summary and use your defaults. open change for this track (or change for this album) to set a specific work differently. album uploads share settings across their tracks; individual tracks can override them. when editing an album, applying settings preserves track exceptions unless you explicitly choose to replace them.

Portal defaults affect future uploads. changing them does not rewrite your existing catalog. use the track or album controls to change published works.

listening, downloads, discovery, and rights information are separate:

• listening controls who can play the track. unticking anyone can listen reveals the audience choices: only me, signed-in listeners, verified supporters, and — when your PDS supports it — my Space members.
• downloads controls who can obtain the original file. unticking anyone can download lets you choose only me or verified supporters. public listening with downloads off lets people hear your work without offering the master.
• show in feeds (under more options) controls public discovery. an unlisted track can still appear on your artist page, in albums, playlists, and search; unlisted is not private.
• attach rights information adds the rights metadata you set up in Portal. adding or removing it does not change listening or download permissions. this option only appears on accounts where the rights feature is enabled.

restricted listening with open downloads still allows people to download the original. choose both settings deliberately. ask for support before downloading (under more options) is optional; it does not enforce a payment or subscription.

protected audio

tracks with restricted listening or downloads store their audio in an app-restricted Space on your PDS when your host supports Spaces. that is the primary audio source. plyr.fm may keep a private playback copy and checks your chosen listening and download permissions before serving it. people can listen publicly without signing in when you choose anyone can listen.

if your host does not support Spaces, each protected upload requires you to explicitly accept storing its audio only on plyr.fm, without a PDS copy. this is an exception you choose for that upload. a host error, refused permission, or failed Space write does not silently switch to plyr.fm-only storage. you may need to approve the additional OAuth permission before uploading.

web-playable files stored in your PDS Space are accepted as uploaded; disabling downloads does not force a new encoding. audio that needs browser conversion keeps its original on your PDS while a playback version is prepared. the track editor identifies these Space sources as stored on your PDS, even without a public audio blob.

downloads off controls the direct download action. listeners can still save or record playback. restricting an existing track cannot recall files that were already public or downloaded. a compatible PDS becoming available does not automatically move earlier plyr.fm-only audio into Spaces.

adult audio and content notices

if a track contains adult or sexual audio, tick contains sexually explicit audio under content notice when uploading it. You can change the notice later under content notice in the track editor.

the notice is stored with your track in your ATProto repository. On plyr.fm, noticed tracks are hidden from discovery feeds, search, and radio unless a signed-in listener has enabled sensitive audio in their settings. Your own artist page still lists them, and a direct link still follows your listening permissions — the notice changes where your track surfaces, not whether someone you send it to can hear it, and not how your catalogue looks to someone who came to find you. You always see your own noticed tracks, whatever your own settings say. See moderation for exactly which surfaces are affected.

removing your notice removes only your own assertion. If a plyr.fm moderator independently labeled the track, that operator label and its default-hide policy remain until the moderation decision is reversed.

artwork guidelines

track artwork is displayed as a square across the app — in lists, the player, and on track pages. for best results:

• use square images (1:1 aspect ratio) — at least 500 × 500 px for clarity at all display sizes
• supported formats: JPG, PNG, WebP, or GIF
• max file size: 20 MB

non-square images are automatically center-cropped to fit a square frame. if your artwork is wider than it is tall, the left and right edges are trimmed; if taller, the top and bottom are trimmed. there’s no manual crop tool, so square images give you full control over what’s visible.

album and playlist covers accept the same formats except GIF.

embeds

share your audio anywhere with embed iframes. plyr.fm supports track, playlist, album, artist, and radio embeds. there’s no copy-embed button yet — paste a snippet below and fill in the id from the page’s address: plyr.fm/track/{track_id}, plyr.fm/playlist/{playlist_id}, or plyr.fm/u/{handle}/album/{album_slug}.

track embed

<iframe
  src="https://plyr.fm/embed/track/{track_id}"
  width="100%"
  height="152"
  frameborder="0"
  allow="autoplay; encrypted-media"
  loading="lazy"
></iframe>

playlist embed

<iframe
  src="https://plyr.fm/embed/playlist/{playlist_id}"
  width="100%"
  height="352"
  frameborder="0"
  allow="autoplay; encrypted-media"
  loading="lazy"
></iframe>

album embed

<iframe
  src="https://plyr.fm/embed/album/{handle}/{album_slug}"
  width="100%"
  height="352"
  frameborder="0"
  allow="autoplay; encrypted-media"
  loading="lazy"
></iframe>

artist embed

your latest tracks, with your avatar and a link back to your profile:

<iframe
  src="https://plyr.fm/embed/u/{handle}"
  width="100%"
  height="352"
  frameborder="0"
  allow="autoplay; encrypted-media"
  loading="lazy"
></iframe>

radio embed

a live widget for plyr.fm radio with a tuner dial for flipping stations:

<iframe
  src="https://plyr.fm/embed/radio"
  width="100%"
  height="220"
  frameborder="0"
  allow="autoplay; encrypted-media"
  loading="lazy"
></iframe>

add ?station={slug} (e.g. ?station=fresh) to pin the initial station — an unknown slug falls back to the default station. iframes shorter than ~184px hide the tuner dial but keep the pinned station.

autoplay

every embed accepts ?autoplay=1 to start playback as soon as it loads:

https://plyr.fm/embed/radio?station=fresh&autoplay=1

two caveats:

• the embedding page must grant permission with allow="autoplay" on the iframe (all the examples above do).
• browsers may still block audible autoplay until the visitor has interacted with the embedding site. when blocked, the embed stays paused — no error, just the normal click-to-play state.

the full radio page also accepts ?autoplay=1, useful for browser-source overlays (e.g. OBS) where nothing can click play.

oEmbed

plyr.fm supports oEmbed for automatic embed discovery:

https://api.plyr.fm/oembed?url=https://plyr.fm/track/{track_id}

paste a plyr.fm track, playlist, or album link into any oEmbed-compatible platform and it will render a player automatically. private tracks never resolve through oEmbed.

supporter-gated tracks

experimental

this feature is early and has limitations — see below.

plyr.fm lets artists gate tracks behind supporter status, verified through attested.network payment attestations and ATProtoFans. when a listener tries to play a gated track, plyr.fm checks whether they support the artist — if they do, they get access; if not, the track is locked.

today this is a binary check: a listener either supports you or they don’t. there are no tiers, amounts, or expiration windows. listening and download permissions each use the audience you selected.

how it works

1. in Portal → manage, set your support link to atprotofans (choose set up first if you don’t have an ATProtoFans profile yet), so listeners have a way to support you
2. choose verified supporters under who can listen? (and, if you like, who can download?) for the track, or in your Portal music access defaults
3. when a listener hits play, plyr.fm checks their support status — an attested.network payment attestation first, then ATProtoFans. results are cached for up to five minutes, so a brand-new supporter may need to wait that long
4. supporters get access; everyone else sees a lock

how gated audio is stored

new gated audio uses the protected audio path: a compatible PDS holds the source in an app-restricted Space, with an optional private playback copy on plyr.fm. hosts without Spaces require explicit acceptance of plyr.fm-only storage. existing managed tracks remain in private storage. listening checks still apply before delivery; downloads follow their separate policy. choosing open downloads makes the original available even when listening is supporter-gated. supporters do not need a Spaces-enabled PDS.

we’d also like to support more expressive gating — tiers, time-limited early access, per-track pricing — as the ecosystem matures.

private tracks

experimental

private tracks appear only when your PDS supports the evolving ATProto permissioned-data proposal. Most PDSes do not support it yet.

Choosing my Space members under who can listen? stores the track record and audio in an artist-owned permissioned space on your PDS. There is no public record or R2 copy. The track is hidden from feeds, search, profiles, albums, and playlists. You and the people you add under private tracks in Portal → manage can view and play it through plyr.fm; listed people need an account on a PDS that supports permissioned data and must have signed in to plyr.fm.

Private audio is stored exactly as uploaded, so it must be web-playable — MP3, WAV, M4A, or FLAC. convert an AIFF before choosing this audience. private tracks are not copyright-scanned or auto-tagged, have no listener downloads yet, and can’t be part of an album upload.

The first time you choose private media, the upload button reads approve private media and plyr.fm asks you to approve an additional OAuth permission; your draft is kept and the upload continues once you approve. Playback is proxied through plyr.fm because browsers do not hold the short-lived space credential needed to fetch the blob directly.

This is not the same as unlisted (metadata remains discoverable and listening follows its own policy) or supporters only (active supporters can play it). Broader permissioned sharing and third-party catalog interoperability are still being designed against ATProto Proposal 0016.

copyright detection

every upload (except private Space tracks) is automatically scanned for copyrighted audio, and replacing a track’s audio scans it again. if the scan finds a likely match, your track gets a yellow ⚠ marker in the portal — tap or hover it to see what was matched.

what a match means

a match is a flag for review, not a takedown. your track stays up and playable. the marker is there so you (and plyr.fm) know the audio resembles a known recording — it’s a heads-up, not an accusation.

matches can be wrong. common false positives:

• samples and loops reused across many songs
• covers, remixes, and mashups — legal gray areas, not necessarily infringement
• similar chord progressions or drum patterns
• coincidental audio artifacts

that’s why a match is flagged rather than auto-enforced — a human decides whether anything actually needs to happen.

how the scan works

after your upload finishes, plyr.fm scans the audio against AudD’s recognition database in short segments. the more of your track that consistently matches the same recording, the stronger the signal. a match that carries an ISRC code (a unique recording identifier) is strong evidence of a specific recording, not just similar-sounding audio.

if you believe a match is a false positive, or you hold the rights to the matched work, get in touch — nothing about the flag is automatic or final.

sensitive content labels

plyr.fm uses the global AT Protocol labels sexual and porn for adult audio. They are content warnings, not takedowns: the track and its ATProto record remain in place. plyr.fm hides the track from discovery by default, while artist pages, collections, and direct links still follow the work’s visibility and listening permissions. Shared radio and jams exclude adult-labeled audio. The creator can always manage it in the portal.

tick contains sexually explicit audio during upload, or change the content notice later in the track editor. The notice is stored with your track as a standard ATProto self-label and immediately participates in plyr.fm’s default-hide policy. It remains separate from any independent moderator label. See sensitive content for the listener behavior.

downloads

listeners can download a track when its saved download policy permits it. album ZIPs require permission for every included track; they do not bypass a track’s restrictions. files are named after you and your titles, preferring the lossless original when available.

downloads can be open to anyone, limited to you (only me) or verified supporters, or open with an optional ask for support before downloading prompt. rights metadata does not itself forbid downloads. native private Space tracks currently support playback, not a separate listener download.

your data

every track you upload is tied to your account — you can inspect your records in a PDS viewer, and they travel with you if you move to a different host.

your PDS is the source for public audio blobs and native private Space works. some older uploads, and public files your host could not accept, exist only on plyr.fm. protected audio stores new protected uploads in your PDS Space when supported, with explicit per-upload acceptance required for plyr.fm-only storage otherwise. moving your account does not automatically move earlier managed audio into a Space.

Portal → manage offers a bulk export under your data → export tracks — it packages your tracks as a ZIP (using lossless originals when available) that you can download directly.

FLAC uploads stream as uploaded. for AIFF uploads, plyr.fm keeps the original alongside the MP3 streaming copy. either way, listeners whose browsers can play the lossless file get it and see a lossless marker on the track.

see the lexicons overview for the full record schema.

leaving

you can leave plyr.fm at any time. download your tracks as a ZIP from Portal → manage, then choose delete account under your data — this removes all data from plyr.fm’s infrastructure. your atproto records stay on your PDS by default, but you can choose to delete those too. for the full technical details, see the offboarding documentation.