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
The easiest way to export a spreadsheet of your library from PowerGold is to use the Automation menu. In that menu, you'll navigate to Setup and click New and name your "automation system" something like "Tether Export."
Under Type of Output File, choose Comma Quote Delimited, and under Extension, choose csv.
Under Directory, determine where your Tether exports should be saved.
On the right side of the screen, add the fields needed for your playlist. Futuri VIP Support can help you to determine what those fields should be.
When you're done, your new Tether Export should look like this:
IMPORTANT: After saving your Tether Export, remember to change your Automation System drop-down back to your real automation system so that your music logs will export correctly.
Running the Export
Each time you want to create a new playlist, open the Automation Files menu, navigate to Setup, and choose your "Tether Export" under Name of Automation System.
Click Create Database and choose the categories you want to include (as shown in the screenshot below).
Follow the rest of the prompts until your playlist has been created and saved on your computer.
Once you've generated your playlist, you'll upload the list to the Tether dashboard (see below).
IMPORTANT: After saving your Tether Export, remember to change your Automation System drop-down back to your real automation system so that your music logs will export correctly.
Uploading the Export to the Tether Dashboard
For instructions on uploading and managing your playlists in the Tether dashboard, please click here.