Posting Songs & Demos

You're here to write songs! So the website has been designed keep track of them for you. Amongst other things, it will:

• Keep a tally of the number of songs you've posted
• Give you a cute winner icon when you reach the 14-song goal
• Create a song page for each of your new songs
• Embed an audio/video player for your demos so others can listen and give feedback
• Let you know when people have left a comment on your songs and collabs

This page goes over the technical details of posting songs. You may also want to read the community guidelines regarding posting songs and leaving comments.

When can I start posting songs?

The ability to post new songs unlocks at midnight February 1 at the International Date Line (UTC+12). At this point in time, it is finally February everywhere in the world.

If you want, you can use timeanddate.com to help you figure out when the site unlocks in your local timezone.

Adding a new song

You can find the Add New Song button in the navigation menu on the left sidebar in in your browser. On mobile, access this menu with the [] "hamburger" button in the top left.

If song posting has not yet unlocked (i.e., it's still January somewhere in the world), the button is disabled. Instead it will display a "countdown clock" until song posting is open:

Similarly, if February is over (after midnight March 1, UTC+12), the button will be disabled.

If song posting is open, though, get ready! Clicking this button will take you to the song form where you can enter all the details of your latest creation...

Title

Title. What is your song called? This is the only required input.

Demo and privacy

Upload demo file. If you have FAWM hosting for your demos (see below), simply click the "Choose File" button ("Browse" in some browsers) and select the MP3 file on your computer. If you do not have FAWM hosting, this input is disabled.

When you submit the song, your MP3 will be uploaded and embedded automatically. This is very cool and a good reason to donate to FAWM for file hosting!

Song privacy. Choose between making your song:

• Public (viewable to anyone on the Internet, including bots).
• Restricted (viewable only to logged-in fawmers).
• Private (viewable only by you).

This defaults to the same as your profile privacy setting. See safety and privacy for details.

Demo URL. If your song is using a third-party, video, or direct-linked demo, simply paste the URL (a web address beginning with https://) into this input. If using FAWM hosting, you can ignore this. For more details, see demo hosting options below.

Allow downloads. Toggle to the right if you would like to give fawmers the ability to download your demo. By default, this is disabled. Note this only works for FAWM hosting or direct-linked MP3s. If using a third-party player (e.g., SoundCloud, Bandcamp, or YouTube) you need to allow downloads on the source platform.

Liner notes and lyrics

Liner notes. Use this optional input to describe how the song came about or any production details you'd like to share. If the song is part of a skirmish or weekly challenge, you might describe the journey that the prompt took through your brain to arrive at the final song/demo.

You are encouraged to use #hashtags to "label" your song, and the first 3 tags you use will be previewed with the song listing on your profile and the songs page. Tags are very open-ended and can be: genre, instrument(s) or equipment used, mood, and so on. If responding to a forum challenge, it's common etiquette to include the hashtag prescribed by the fawmer who issued the challenge (e.g., #CommentsFirst or #PostcardChallenge).

Lyrics. Use this optional input to share the lyrics to your song, if it has any. For a variety of reasons, some fawmers may have difficulty making out your lyrics, so providing them in writing can be very helpful indeed. You are likely to get more comments on a song if you post its lyrics.

Note: Character limits

There is an 2,000 character limit on liner notes, and a 8,000 character limit on lyrics.

Metadata and collaborators

Skirmish. If this song is part of a skirmish, use this drop-down menu to see all active skirmishes and select which one. Skirmishes are sorted with the most recent first. If this is not a skirmish song, you can ignore this input (leave it "–").

Weekly challenge. If this song is in response to a weekly challenge, use this drop-down menu to see all active challenges and select which one. Challenges are sorted with the most recent first. If this is not a weekly challenge song, you can ignore this input (leave it "–").

Feature on profile. Toggle this to the right to "highlight" the song on your profile in a different color and move it to the top of your song list. (This will replace any previously featured song.) A featured song is a good way to showcase what you think is your best work, or what you want the most feedback on. You don't have to have a featured song, of course—it's up to you!

NSFW. Toggle this to the right if the content of your song includes material that is "Not Safe For Work," small children, in-laws, or sensitive animals.

Note: Obscene language detector

The website tries to automatically flag a song as NSFW if it detects obscene language in the title or lyrics, even if you don't toggle this option. It isn't perfect though. Beware if your title is "Scunthorpe Blues," for example.

Collaborators. If you've created this song with other fawmers, add their @username (beginning with the "@" character) in this field. You can add multiple collaborators (up to 14). This input will "autocomplete" with suggested usernames as you type to make the process easier, but double-check to make sure you selected the right one(s)!

Important: Get permission for collabs!

You must have permission from any collaborator(s) before incorporating their work into a song that you post. Make sure you read and understand the collaboration guidelines before starting a collab!

Submit

All done? Then you're good to go! Click on the big Submit button and the site will create the song page for you, add then it to your profile, the songs page, and search features, and so on.

You should be redirected to the song page once upload is complete.

It's worth going through this page to check that the demo plays correctly and that there aren't any typos in your lyrics or liner notes. (Don't worry, we've all done it. Some of us EVERY. DANG. TIME.). If you spot a mistake, simply edit the song (see below) to go back to the song form we've just explained, fix it, and click Submit again.

If you encounter problems, see the troubleshooting area below to diagnose common issues!

Tip: Private "placeholder" songs

It's not uncommon to create a Private song as a "placeholder" in case you're worried that the final demo might not be ready before song posting closes at midnight March 1. These songs songs still count toward your 14-song total, but are not viewable by other fawmers. A few example uses are:

• The final skirmish on the last day of February.
• A collab that is running late (e.g., postal service delays).
• Any other in-process song that you're pretty sure will be done the first day or two of March.

You can edit the song to make it Public or Restricted at any time, even after song posting closes March 1.

Editing a song

To edit an existing song, click the button in the top right corner of the song page.

This will re-open the song form. Editing has all the same options and inputs as "Add A New Song" described above, plus a Delete button.

You may edit any song marking you as a collaborator, even if you weren't the first to post it!

Demo hosting options

One of the great things about writing a new song is letting other people hear it. Even if it's just a nascent lo-fi acoustic one-take demo.

FAWM offers several ways of hosting demos for your new songs.

FAWM hosting (recommended)

As a thank-you benefit to "fawmstars" who donate $25 or more, you may host your demos on FAWM's file servers, and upload them directly from the song form!

As a bonus (new in 2025), you can choose a custom audio player as well:

FAWM hosting custom player options

Choose which player to use for your FAWM-hosted demos on your Settings page.

To host a demo with FAWM, simply go to the Upload demo file input, click the "Choose File" dialog (labeled "Browse" in some browsers), and select the MP3 file from your device. You can ignore the Demo URL input later (that is for other hosting options described below).

A few important caveats about FAWM hosting:

• We currently only support the MP3 format (due to cross-browser compatibility).
• There is a 10MB file size limit.
• We recommend encoding with a 192 kbps bitrate, which is a good compromise between file size and audio quality. A 10MB MP3 at this rate can be up to 6:56 minutes long. If your file is too large, see troubleshooting below.

FAWM hosting has become the most popular choice among fawmers, it helps support the project, and it is the only option we can actually fix if something is broken.

Note: FAWM hosting is not permanent

The FAWM website goes dormant after each songwriting event, and FAWM does not permanently store your demos. Make sure you have a backup of all your recordings when you archive once FAWM is over!

Third-party players

If you opt not to use FAWM hosting, we support embedding for few third-party audio players from other platforms. These platforms are really intended for selling or streaming "finished" recordings, whereas FAWM encourages demos (which can be less polished works in progress). Still, we support them as a convenience if that is your preference.

Audio platforms we currently support are:

• SoundCloud: soundcloud.com
• Bandcamp: bandcamp.com
• BandLab: bandlab.com

We also support a few decentralized, open-source alternatives if that's your jam:

• Funkwhale: funkwhale.audio
• Faircamp: simonrepp.com/faircamp

Simply copy the song page URL (e.g., https://soundcloud.com/burrsettles/i-am-a-nightingale) and paste it into the Demo URL field of the song form. FAWM will take care of embedding it for you!

Tip: Check third-party permissions!

The most common problem with third-party players is a privacy/permission setting on that platform.

For example, with SoundCloud you need to set "Privacy" to Public under the song's "Basic Info" tab, and check Enable app playback under the "Permissions" tab. Otherwise, FAWM cannot embed your song.

Video demos

Some fawmers post demos in video form. These can be live solo (or band) takes, lyric videos, or full-on productions! There is even an annual video collab challenge most years. If your video also includes an unexpected appearance by a household pet, even better.

Songs with video demos appear with a icon and have a filter on the songs page.

Video platforms we currently support are:

• YouTube: youtube.com
• Vimeo: vimeo.com

Simply copy the video page URL (e.g., https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5u09ksYPO9k or https://youtu.be/5u09ksYPO9k) and paste it into the Demo URL field of the song form. FAWM will take care of embedding it for you!

Direct-linked MP3s

If you have your own website, you can also upload an audio file to your server and "hot-link" it from there. (This is in fact how all FAWM demo sharing happened in the early days!)

Simply paste the full URL into the Demo URL field of the song form, and FAWM will render it with a basic HTML5 audio player. The song URL must begin with https:// and end with .mp3, .ogg, or .wav. Not all browsers support the OGG format, however; MP3s are recommended.

This also works with audio files in a Dropbox folder.

We do not support Google Drive anymore. Google changed their API too often, which broke things for FAWM, and fewer than 1% of fawmers were using it anyway.

Tip: Naming your files

Avoid spaces in your filenames, as this can cause problems for some browsers and operating systems.

The best practice among fawmers is also to include a song number and your username in the filename. That way, if a fellow fawmer downloads it and find it years later, they'll know whose it was!

Example: 06_helgatheduck_QuackAttack.mp3

External demos

If you paste any URL other than those described above, FAWM will simply provide a link on your song page. Such songs appear with a icon to indicate that they are hosted exernally, and include a disclaimer that FAWM takes no responsibility for the contents of the link.

Troubleshooting

I can't see where to post songs! Look for the big Add New Song button in the navigation menu on the left, or in the [] menu on mobile, as explained above. If this button is disbled, it is either before song posting has opened February 1, or after it has ended on March 1.

The "Upload demo file" input is disabled. This is used for FAWM hosting, which is available as a thank-you benefit for "fawmstars" who donate $25 or more to support the site. If you have not done this, you must use another option. See above for all demo hosting options.

The "Upload demo file" input won't let me select my audio file. FAWM hosting only supports the MP3 format for now (explained here). If your demo is in WAV, OGG, or some other format, it will not be recognized by the "Choose File" or "Browse" input.

I get a "413 Request Entity too Large" error when uploading. There is a limit of 10MB for FAWM-hosted MP3s, which accommodates most songs. If your file is too large, you may try exporting it from your DAW or recording software at a lower bitrate (we recommend 192 kbps).

If you need guidance, here is a table that summarizes the trade-off between audio quality and song length for MP3s with a maximum file size of 10MB:

Bitrate	Audio quality	Max length (mm:ss)
320 kbps	Crisp, hi fidelity	04:10
256 kbps	Clear, full	05:12
192 kbps	Good, balanced	06:56
128 kbps	Acceptable, flat	10:25
64 kbps	Thin, grainy	20:50

You can maybe squeeze more runtime with a variable bitrate (VBR) encoding, although that confuses some browsers when guessing your track length (see next issue). If your song is a 40-minute prog-rock opus... you might need to resort to a third-party option? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The FAWM player song length seems wrong. This is tricky, because the player just reports how your browser interprets the MP3 file, and that depends on what bitrate you used to encode it (see previous issue). As long as your song plays in full without glitches or other problems, please don't worry about it too much.

My SoundCloud/YouTube/etc. demo doesn't appear. Make sure you paste in the full URL for the song/video page (e.g., https://youtu.be/5u09ksYPO9k) into the Demo URL input on the song form. No not paste in the <embed> HTML markup that some sites provide.

My SoundCloud/YouTube/etc. demo isn't "valid." Make sure you set permissions properly for the audio/video in SoundCloud/YouTube or any other third-party service. The song must be publicly viewable or able to be embedded on other websites. This is not in FAWM's control, so you'll need to consult the documentation for whatever service you are using.

My song page says "The demo for this song cannot be embedded." If self-hosting demos or using dropbox, make sure the URL you paste into the Demo URL input begins with https:// and ends with .mp3, .ogg, or .wav. Links that are not secure (begin with http:// only), or point to something other than a supported audio file cannot be embedded. Note that we no longer support embedding from Google Drive (read more).

My song keeps getting marked NSFW when it's not! If the website detects obscene language in the title, notes, or lyrics of a song, it will automatically flag it "Not Safe for Work" (NSFW). This happens even if you don't toggle the NSFW input. This is meant to prevent embarrassing incidents involving small children and/or a meeting with the Human Resources department. However, it isn't perfect. For example, if you misspell "shiitake mushroom" in your lyrics, or tag a song with #FinishIt, you might get flagged. You can edit accordingly.

I shared my song outside FAWM but no one can see it! Song pages are only viewable to non-fawmers if their privacy is set to Public (which isn't usually the default). Otherwise, visitors will be prompted to log in to FAWM, or get a 404 error (read more).