Tether offers several voting features that allow listeners to engage with a list of songs in order to determine what will play on the air (including Takeover, Top Song, and FaceOff). The available songs are determined by you, and there are two ways to populate one of these playlists:
- CSV Upload - You can provide a spreadsheet (as a .CSV file) of your active library with any attributes you'd like to use for separation (i.e. category, sound code, era, vocalist), which is generated from your music scheduler and uploaded to the Tether dashboard each time you update your rotation.
- "Autopop" - The top X songs played over the last Y days (with X and Y determined by you) are made available for voting. Because this type of playlist is based on your Now Playing feed, complicated separation goals such as category, sound code, and era are not possible. However, basic artist and title separation are still possible. You may find that an "autopop" list is easier to manage, especially if your station doesn't schedule music locally. Click here for more information on "autopop" playlists.
NOTE: These same instructions can be used to generate playlists for Top Song, Takeover Countdown, and FaceOff, though we advise against complex sound-code-related goals for those features.
This article will focus on generating the playlist export needed to supply your playlist via CSV Upload.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Configuring the Export for the First Time
- Running the Export
- Uploading the Export to the Tether Dashboard
Configuring the Export for the First Time
In the Library tab, choose which Filter will be used for Tether (or create a new one). If there is already a Filter for your active categories, that's probably the best one to use.
In the Interface tab, select Export and then Songs (you're probably used to using Interface > Export > Schedule, and "Songs" is next to that).
Click the green + sign in the top left corner of the Songs window and name the Format. This Format will be used every time a Tether export is generated.
Select a Folder of your preference into which to save the file.
The Filename should probably contain the date and needs to end with the extension .csv.
Under Style, choose Delimited by and select Semi-Colon from the drop-down.
The Encoding is likely ANSI by default and can be left that way.
Under Filter, select the Filter you decided to use earlier under the Library tab.
In the Format menu on the right, you'll see another green + sign. Click that and choose the fields you'll export. These fields should include Artist, Title, ID (or whatever field your cart number/cut ID/Zetta Internal ID uses), Category, and Sound Code. If your automation system is Zetta, the "Automation Systems" field is required as well. If your station uses other significant attributes for separation (such as Era), those fields should also be included. You should not need to adjust the Line Number or Offset of any of these fields.
Finally, Save the Export Format in GSelector so that it can be used again.
Running the Export
Run the Export using the Export and
After your first export, you can just come back to Interface > Export > Songs and then select the Format and the Filter, adjust the Filename as needed, and then Export. Then, upload to the Futuri Control Room (see below).
Uploading the Export to the Tether Dashboard
For instructions on uploading and managing your playlists in the Tether dashboard, please click here.