Sell Your Music on e-Shop Cape Breton

The e-Shop Cape Breton marketplace is ideally suited for the sales and promotion of music by local Cape Breton talent.  As more and more musicians add their songs to the marketplace, the platform will rise to the top position for Google searches related to Cape Breton music.

Digital music has a dedicated section in the e-Shop marketplace where visitors can browse through the entire marketplace inventory of music. Likewise, each musician will have their own dedicated store, exclusively featuring their own music, with the ability to notify their followers of new releases.  

Each individual song is displayed with full details on its very own product page including:

• playable preview of the track
• high-resolution artwork
• complete details about the artist and the recording
• other songs in the same genre
• Full purchasing functionality

Start Selling Your Music!

1. Login to your e-Shop Seller account (or register for an account)
2. Go to your Seller Dashboard
3. Click Products …
4. Click Add new Product. This will create a container page for your song.

5. Fill in all fields:

• Product Name:  The song title ending with “(MP3)”.  Example:  “My Song Title (MP3)”
• Price:  This is the regular selling price of your song. We suggest $1.99 for a single.
• Short Description:  One sentence, followed by Genre(s). Be sure to include some keywords.  Example, “Most requested song by Cape Breton musician John Doe, recorded at his studio in Baddeck. Genre: Folk, Blues, Maritime”
• Category:  Always select “Music and Downloads”
• Tags: Single words or phrases that add searchable identifiers to your track.  Use tags that best describe your song. Separate each tag by a comma.  Example:  “piano, rock,
• Description: this is the long description for your track.  Don’t be shy here. Describe your song, list the musicians, where and when it was recorded, etc., etc.
• Click Upload Product Image. This will open the media manager window …
• Click the Upload Files tab (in the upper left)
• Click the Select Files button, and browse your computer for your track’s  cover art. 

NOTE:  Recommended artwork size is 1000px square. If your MP3 has an embedded image (i.e. cover art) it MUST NOT exceed 1920px or the upload will fail. Artwork must comply with our e-Shop standards – which includes: no nudity or overtly sexualized imagery; cannot depict acts of violence; must not promote or condone homophobia, xenophobia, racism, misogyny; proof of parental consent must be provided if the artwork includes images of minors.

• After you upload your artwork, be sure to add some Alt Text. 

Alt Text is a written description of your image. It is used by search engines to help make images more easily searchable – and therefore will help to make your track rank higher in Google and Bing. Example of a good Alt Tag: “Album cover art for Song for the Mira by Cape Breton songwriter Allister MacGillivray”

• After you have entered the Alt Text, click the Set Featured Image button (bottom right of screen).   This will close the media manager window and return you to the Add New Product screen.  

6. Click the Create Product button.  This creates your product container, and the screen will change to open the Edit Product page. 

Edit Product page

Once you’ve completed the steps above and created a product, you can now add all the necessary fine details.  If your product is an MP3 (digital music for download), you will have to complete the following steps:

7. Check the Downloadable checkbox.

8. Scroll down to the Inventory section and create a SKU.  Follow a consistent format. We suggest the first 6 letters of your song title followed by MP3.  Example:  MYSONGMP3
9. In the Downloadable Options section, click Add File … Enter the File Name (use the Song Title) and click Choose File … Upload your MP3 file. Depending on the size of the MP3, and your connection speed, it could take up to 3 minutes for the upload to complete. When done, click the Insert File URL button (bottom right).

• Set limits:  The Download Limit  sets a maximum number of times the purchaser can download the same song (we recommend 4). The Download Expiry will disable the purchaser’s ability to download the file after a specified number of days (we recommend 30).

10. In the Shipping and Tax section, un-check This product requires shipping.  If you are an independent musician and do not collect sales tax, set the Tax Status to None.
11. In the Linked Products section, we do not recommend using Upsells.  However, if you have already added other tracks to your store, you can add them as Cross-Sells. 
12. The Attributes and Discount Options sections are unused for digital music downloads.
13. In the Other Options section, ensure your Product Status is set to Online,  and Visibility is set to Visible.  Add a Purchase Note regarding any download limits you set in Step 9.  Example:  “You may download up to four copies of this song. The download link will expire in 30 days.”.  Check/un-check the Enable Product Reviews box to enable/disable purchasers’ ability to leave reviews of your music.  We recommend enabling reviews. 
14. When you have finished, click the  Save Product button.

Advanced Edits

In the current build of the e-Shop platform, there is no way to add a playable sample (teaser) of your song from within the Seller dashboard.  To add the teaser, follow the steps below …

15.  Open the e-Shop dashboard by hovering your mouse pointer over the e-Shop Cape Breton dashboard icon (upper left of screen). The word Dashboard will drop-down … click it.

16. Then, click Products …

17. In the product list, mouse-over the name of the track that needs the teaser, and click Edit …Click Edit …

18. Scroll down to the Product Short Description section. Click Add Media and upload a 30-60 sample version (MP3, 192kbps) of your track.

This will open another media-manager window. Click the Upload Files tab (in the upper left), then click the Select Files button (center of screen). Browse your PC for your teaser MP3 file, then click the Insert into Product button (bottom right).

You should now see the player in the description field …

19. Scroll up, and click the Publish button.

Your music is now available for sale on the s-Shop Cape Breton marketplace!