How to Create a Piece Listing

"Piece" is the PRX term for radio pieces, also referred to in the industry as programs, programming, shows, work, audio content. PRX has chosen "Pieces" as the simplest and most versatile term.

When you put a piece up on PRX, you make a "piece listing" – this is a web page containing all of the information about your piece, with your audio attached to it. You'll want to encode your audio first; then you can upload it either with the PRX Uploader or through your web browser when you make your piece.

To create a piece listing, first, you'll want to log in. From the tab "My PRX," click "Add a new piece" in the "Quick Links" box. If you haven't created any pieces yet, the first thing you'll see will be encoding instructions, which will lead you through using the PRX Encoder so that you are ready to upload in the next step.

1. Upload

If you have added pieces before, you will begin directly with the "Upload" section. You can either upload directly through your web browser by clicking "browse" and finding the file on your computer. It will look like this:

Or, if you've uploaded using the PRX Uploader (included in your PRX Tools download), your file is waiting for you here. Just click on the button next to the audio file(s) you'd like to attach to your piece.

Fill in the title of your piece and length of your audio, and click "upload and save."

Once you have attached the MP2 audio to your piece listing and made the piece public, PRX will automatically generate an audition MP3.

2. Describe

Now you can provide more details about your audio, such as producers, short description, full description and date produced. These are necessary to provide before you can make your piece listing live on PRX.

Optionally, you can:

Add an image, they make your listing look nice!

Add more audio, if you need to – just click the "add audio files" link.

Choose three topics, formats, and tones that you believe describe your piece. Check the boxes next to the options you'd like to select. This will add your piece to those search databases, so it's in your best interest to think carefully about the sort of categories your piece belongs in.

If your piece is timely for a given period (if it's a poetry piece, for example; National Poetry Month is April) you can also inform your listeners by filling that out. We often create features on our home page which are based on timeliness, so if you think your piece fits into a certain time frame, it's a good idea to make a note of it. It may give you some more publicity.

Information for stations: This section is highly recommended if you'd like your piece to be as easy to license as possible. Additional Credits (if you have them), Related Web Site, Broadcast History (important information), Timing and Cues (very helpful to stations), Transcript (you can also attach this as a separate document later as well) and Musical Works (legally required if you use copyrighted music in your piece) are especially important if you have them.

Make sure to declare any content advisories! (Not sure if you need an advisory? Click here for indecency guidelines.)

Upload image and file attachments. Have additional images, promotional materials, or transcript/timings and cues documents you'd like to provide? You can upload them here. Just click "browse" and locate the file(s) on your computer.

Customize your license. You can leave your license terms at the default settings: the default price for your work is fifty cents/minute (note: you will only be paid for licenses with a paid account.) You can change this if you like: some producers, for example, get funding for being non-profit, and have to set their price to 0. For more information about pricing, check out the PRX Economy page.

The default license terms allow a station to broadcast and Internet simulcast your piece unlimited times for the period of 1 year, and also to:
1. offer your piece as a free mp3 download/stream on their site, and
2. to edit/excerpt your piece only after asking for your permission.

You can adjust the latter two terms by selecting other options, and if you have any additional terms you can write them in the text box provided.

3. Preview

Now you can see how your piece listing will look on PRX. If everything looks right (and we recommend you check the audio using the Flash audio player), click "make it public" to make your piece listing live and available on PRX. If you'd like to make further changes, click the "edit this piece" link.

When your piece is done and live on the site, you will see the message: "your piece is public." Congratulations!