How does Somojo work?

There are various aspects to Somojo, either working independently from each other or in combinations depending upon how people want to use them.
Web Radio
Artists can have tracks included in our radio stream, giving them exposure to our worldwide audience.
Profile pages
Artists can have profile pages that can be used as your 'home' on the web. They are fully customisable, you can add custom banners, audio, video, upload photos, add blog entries, start discussions with your fans via your own forum and embed the audio/video player into other websites to promote your work or services.
Somojo charts
The Somojo charts can give a good indication to artists if their music is listened to on the internet. This can be either by visitors to the Somojo website, or, if artists choose to use them, combined with the plays via the audio player embedded in other websites.
The charts are completely independent of the radio shows on Somojo 'bradio and give no indication of how often a track has been included in any live programming.

How do I get my music on Somojo?

Getting your music on Somojo is very easy. The main thing to consider is that we listen to all tracks before accepting them, so please listen to some of the tracks we already play to see if your recordings are of the same standard. If you have any doubts, either send us a link to a webpage with some of your tracks on that we can either listen to or download or send a sample mp3 to artists@somojo.net for us to check.
If your music meets the required standard, we will create an artist account for you and send you the login details so that you can start uploading!
It is important to remember that Somojo isn't a 'music hosting' web site. Although we do offer similar services and functions to other websites that are 'music hosting websites' we are a 'radio station' and as such have certain standards that have to be maintained for us to provide the quality of service that our audience, the artists and companies we work with expect from us.

Which audio formats can I upload?

For music to be included in the live programming or to be included in the Somojo audio players, the audio must be in mp3. If you are uploading audio tracks to sell as a 'vault' item, these can be in any format you wish. Although you also have the option to sell the uploaded mp3 that will be available via the audio player if you choose to make any tracks available for purchase.
What audio format can I sell? - You can make available for sale individual mp3 files via the audio player, or you can upload other audio file formats to sell as vault items. You can also sell selections of tracks, whole albums or a combination of audio and video files in any format by creating a 'zip' file with your chosen contents and creating a vault item.
What bitrate should the mp3 files be in? - Any mp3s that you upload to Somojo should have a min bitrate of 128kbps and a max 256kbps. If you need any help with converting your existing files we are happy to help, but we will only convert to a lower bit rate, we will not alter a file with a bitrate of 128kbps to a 320 kbps file.

Video formats

All video files need to be in .flv format and preferably high quality 320 x 240 frame size as this is the best compromise in quality and streaming for people to watch via the internet. We are happy to help if you have any problems with resizing or file conversion.
How do I convert my video to .flv format?
You can use software like 'Free FLV converter' from Koyote soft on windows based systems or if your video is on websites like YouTube, you can check your computer to see if the .flv has been saved when you watched the video. To do this on a windows based system you need to open control panel > Select internet options > Select 'Browsing History - settings > Select 'View files'. If you have a 'Flash Video Files' in your folder, it is possible that this file is the .flv or your video. Select the .flv file, copy and paste into a folder on your computer and rename. If you have more than one .flv showing, it may be best to empty your temporary internet folder and watch your video file again and look for the .flv file again. This should ensure that you have the correct file. YOu can check the .flv by inserting the file into a web page and then viewing in a web browser.
I don't feel confident enough to do this, can you do this for me?
We can help with file conversion and 'grabbing' files from other websites, but due to the time it takes we have to charge for this service.

Somojo charts

The chart positions are calculated by the number of 'plays' a song has across the Somojo website and external links using the embedded audio player. This includes fan created play lists, individual plays from artists profile pages and 'plays' via audio players embedded in other websites.
The chart pages show the current 'live' position based upon the number of plays for the last 7 days (168 hrs), 1 month (720 hrs) and 1 year (8760 hrs) for the most popular songs from any artist for the 'Official' Somojo chart and for all other charts.
Selecting the '24hrs' option shows the 'plays' for up to 5 tracks from each artist, if an artist has more than 5 tracks in the system only the 5 most played will be displayed.
To avoid artists 'fixing' the charts with constantly playing a track to boost the chart position, we randomly adjust the amount of time needed between each play for it to register in the system from one IP address.
As the chart can change drastically from day to day depending on the traffic the website may or may not have at any moment, we have the 'Official' Somojo chart which is viewable online every Monday around mid morning UK time.
Why do some artists and tracks always appear at the top of the charts?
The Somojo charts are based upon the number of 'plays' a track has within a 7 day period. Sometimes visitors to the website will play the tracks at the top of the charts, which will keep them there, some artists are better at 'self' promoting and get their fans to visit Somojo and play their tracks and some artists use the audio players and embed them in other websites, blogs and forums around the internet giving their music more exposure and thus getting more 'plays' that helps maintain chart position.

What is the difference between the 'live' feed and the music on www.somojo.net website?

They are 2 different environments working within the same website.
All of the tracks that are uploaded and accepted into the system are available to be played via the artists pages, the embedded audio players, the chart pages, play lists generated on the website and any other pages on the website. These all count towards the chart positions.
The 'live' feed plays the same mp3s but is not connected and has no effect on the chart positions. All tracks you can find on the Somojo website are, at some time included in the 'General Rotation' play lists and we select tracks for the various 'shows' that we have on Somojo which we update regularly.
The radio stream or 'live feed' also includes tracks that are not on the website as the artists have chosen not to have a profile on the Somojo website, but still wish their music included in our radio shows.
How are the tracks chosen for the 'live' feed?
For all of the 'live' shows, the music is chosen by 'humans' here at Somojo HQ, or by the very nice people at Manilla PR for 'Manilla Mnnday'.

I've uploaded a track and it has been rejected. Why?

There could be a number of reasons. The most common problem we have is the volume level of the tracks are too low. When the tracks are checked, they are listened to on a computer that is set up for the music to be on at a 'background' level, the same as if someone was working at the computer while listening to music. Obviously if people are working, they don't want to be constantly adjusting the volume. If we can't hear the track, or the volume would need to be adjusted to hear, it is normally rejected. There are exceptions as some musical styles do have softer volumes. This is taken into consideration when we review any tracks that are uploaded.
Another problem we sometimes get is that at the beginning of the track there is too much silence before the music begins. This can give the impression that there isn't any content and it also gives people the impression that there is a problem with the website when they are playing the tracks from the artists or chart pages. Please keep the silence at the beginning of a track to between 1 and 2 seconds.
When you have uploaded a track it, listen to it, check to make sure it has uploaded correctly. Sometimes files get corrupted when uploaded to servers.
We appriciate that it isn't nice having any of your songs rejected, but if you have a track or tracks rejected, please do not email us and ask us why. We have 100's of emails every week with music that we are asked to listen to and we don't have the time to reply to everyone who asks why their tracks have not been approved.

How can I advertise my music, band, album or EP on Somojo?

All artists on Somojo can use the website and 'live' stream for promoting their music.
You can have your album or EP promoted on the front page page of www.somojo.net, just send us the artwork/CD cover and the URL you would like it to link to and we will add it for you for free

You can send us a recorded message in mp3 format that we will add to the 'live' stream for you, again this is free of charge.

You can promote your album or EP across most pages of the Somojo 'bradio website, as well as on our 'family' of websites, Somojo Magazine, Somojo2, Bandcloud and Kats Kradle.
This is done under a 'Pay what you like' arrangement, for a pre-determined number of weeks. This doesn't include a 'free' option. Please contact us or any of the websites for details.

Please contact us if you have any questions.

Image information

Only solo artists, bands and other performers currently have the option to add a custom banner.
To change the banner you need to be using either the 'Somojo ver.1' or 'Theme 2' page themes. You will find these options under - Profile > Profile Themes.
To include your cutom banner, you need to insert the 'url' of the image you wish to use in the 'Band Header Img' box on the 'Modify artist' page.

The profile images for the 'Theme 2' layout need to be 349x 249 pixels or only the top half of the image will be displayed.

Blog information

The artist 'blogs are there to enable artists to promote news about gigs, record releases and general artist news items.
Any 'blog entry that promotes other radio stations, either online or offline, or other websites that might be considered as 'competition' to Somojo, will not be approved.
This does not mean that we do not want to help you promote interviews and live radio performances on other radio stations, just that the Somojo website is not the right place.
When you have anything to promote that involves what might be considered as 'competition' to Somojo, please send the news to editor@somojomagazine.com and we will include the item on the Somojo Magazine, Bandcloud and Somojo2 and if appropriate Kats Kradle websites. These websites are automatically linked to the Twitter and Facebook pages for each website and will get your news out to a larger diverse audience than posting a 'blog entry here on Somojo.
It's like having your own PR company working for you.