Music Visibility Settings

Music visibility settings let you control who can see and listen to your tracks. You can make tracks public for everyone, restrict them to friends, or offer exclusive access to paid subscribers.

Visibility Options

When creating or editing a music track, you can set one of three visibility levels:

• Public (Visible to All): Anyone can see and play your track
• Friends Only: Only users who are friends with you can access the track
• Paid Subscribers Only: Only users with active paid subscriptions to you can access the track

Public Visibility

When a track is set to "Public" (Visible to All):

• Anyone Can See It: The track appears in the global Music index at /music
• Anyone Can Play It: Logged-in and logged-out users can listen
• Searchable: The track can be discovered through browsing and searching
• Shareable: Anyone can share the track with others

Best For: Releasing singles, promoting your music, building your audience, or sharing work you want maximum exposure for.

Friends Only Visibility

When a track is set to "Friends Only":

• Limited Access: Only users who are friends with you can see and play the track
• Hidden from Public: The track won't appear in the global Music index for non-friends
• Private Sharing: Perfect for sharing work-in-progress, demos, or exclusive content with your inner circle
• Friends Can Share: Your friends can still repost or share the track (but only friends will be able to access it)

Best For: Early demos, work-in-progress tracks, exclusive content for your close circle, or tracks you're not ready to make fully public yet.

Paid Subscribers Only Visibility

When a track is set to "Paid Subscribers Only":

• Exclusive Access: Only users with active paid subscriptions to you can see and play the track
• Premium Content: This creates exclusive, subscriber-only music content
• Monetization: Encourages subscriptions by offering exclusive tracks
• Hidden from Others: Non-subscribers won't see the track in the Music index or on your profile
• Tier-Based: Works with both "paid" and "premium" subscription tiers

Best For: Bonus tracks, exclusive releases, early access to new music, premium content for your supporters, or creating value for paid subscribers.

Note: Users need an active paid subscription (not just a free subscription) to access these tracks. Free subscribers won't have access.

Setting Visibility When Creating a Track

To set visibility when creating a track:

1. Activate Music Mode in the Posts composer
2. Fill in your track details (title, audio, etc.)
3. Use the visibility selector to choose who can see the track
4. Select one of the three options: Public, Friends Only, or Paid Subscribers Only
5. Publish your track

Changing Visibility After Publishing

You can change a track's visibility at any time:

1. Navigate to your track
2. Click the three-dot menu (⋯) and select "Edit"
3. Change the visibility setting in the editor
4. Save your changes

Note: Changing visibility is immediate. If you make a track more restrictive (e.g., Public → Friends Only), users who previously had access but no longer meet the criteria will immediately lose access.

How Visibility Affects Discovery

Visibility settings affect where and how your tracks can be discovered:

• Global Music Index: Only Public tracks appear in the main Music page for non-friends/non-subscribers
• Your Profile: All tracks appear on your profile, but access is controlled by visibility settings
• Feeds: Tracks appear in feeds based on visibility - subscribers see subscriber-only tracks, friends see friend-only tracks, etc.
• Search: Only Public tracks are fully searchable; restricted tracks are only visible to users with proper access

Mixed Visibility Strategy

Many artists use a mixed visibility strategy:

• Public Singles: Release popular or promotional tracks publicly to build audience
• Friends-Only Demos: Share early versions with friends for feedback
• Subscriber-Only Exclusives: Offer bonus tracks or exclusive releases to paid subscribers as a perk

This approach lets you balance audience growth (public content) with community building (friends-only) and monetization (subscriber-only).

Visibility and Play Counts

Play counts work the same regardless of visibility setting:

• All Plays Count: Plays from friends, subscribers, and public listeners all contribute to play counts
• Your Own Plays Don't Count: When you play your own tracks, it doesn't increment the play count
• Visible to You: You can always see play counts on your own tracks, regardless of visibility setting