The social web and discovery

Mirlo is one part of a wider network of independent music tools, alongside projects like Faircamp and FairPlayer. There are two separate settings that connect your artist profile to that network, and they do different things:

• The social web lets people follow you. Fans on Mastodon and other fediverse apps can follow your artist profile and see your posts.
• Discovery lets people find your music elsewhere. Your catalogue is listed on FairPlayer and other allied music discovery sites, which point listeners back to you.

You can turn on either one without the other.

The social web

When the social web is on, your artist profile becomes an account that people can follow from Mastodon and other apps on the fediverse. Posts you publish on Mirlo show up in their feeds, the same way posts from people they follow do.

Turning it on

1. Go to your artist page and click "Profile settings" in the bottom left corner.
2. Scroll down past "Default platform cut" and toggle "Enable The Social Web".
3. Press save.

Labels

If your label profile has the social web turned on, that doesn't turn it on for the label's artists. Each artist profile has to turn it on separately.

Discovery

Discovery is cross-listing: your catalogue appears in more than one place, the way a podcast feed can be picked up by lots of different podcast apps. Your music stays on Mirlo, and your Mirlo page is still where people buy it and support you.

The first site to take part is FairPlayer. Think of it as a search bar and listening outpost for musicians using Faircamp and Mirlo. It's a way for more people to come across your music, and it has nothing in common with corporate streaming services.

Turning it on

You can turn on discovery when you create a new artist: the step where you choose your artist page's URL has a "Discovery" toggle.

For an artist you've already set up:

1. Go to your artist page and click "Profile settings" in the bottom left corner.
2. Scroll down past "Default platform cut" and toggle "Discovery".
3. Press save.

Your catalogue usually appears on FairPlayer within an hour. Occasionally, when other maintenance is happening, it has taken up to 24 hours. You don't need a FairPlayer account.

Turning it off

Toggle "Discovery" off and press save. The next time partner sites check Mirlo, they're told that your catalogue has been withdrawn.

Working with other services

We're collaborating with other developers, including FairPlayer, to make a better experience for listeners and musicians. For example, we're looking at ways for a catalogue uploaded to one service to show up in the others' search, to bring more of the independent music ecosystem together.

We rely on the goodwill of our community to make this happen. If you're able to, you can support us here.