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We really want you to benefit from your membership, to create your profile with the greatest of ease, to grow and be self-sufficient on the web. But if you're having problems, the quickest and easiest way is to send Bryan the pic(s) or the mp3(s). Within a day or two, he'll make them behave for you; think of him as the profile whisperer.

General Profile Layout Info
Your profile is divided into 3 columns; left, middle and right.

Left Column: is for your artists info, picture 1 on top and picture 2 below.

Middle Column: is for picture 3 atop your mp3s and links. You can also install widgets here such as calendar, mailing list, etc. We do not recommend placing videos there since it's only 200 pixels wide and anything wider will disappear under the right column.

Right Column: is for quotes about you, your bio, host recommendations, pitch dates, and videos or larger widgets.

We like pictures with faces, smiles, and instruments. Especially for picture 1, which is what comes up when users do searches based on your keywords, descriptions, styles, locations, etc. The less background you have in the picture, the more of you will show up after it gets resized. Small text on your picture may become illegible.

My picture won't upload
It's probably too big, no matter what Windows Explorer, Mac Finder, or your email program is telling you. They usually compress jpg, bmp, gif, tif, png files there, causing their true size to be displayed incorrectly.

If you have access to a photo editing program, then resize your picture to 225 pixels wide and 225 pixels tall. If your picture is not square, set the longest side (height or width) to 225 pixels. The other side will be smaller, and will create some blank space around your photo in your listing. No big deal. Choose "save for web" if you have that option in your program (you probably do). That option will allow you to change the quality/file size, but the default (suggested) will usually give a good result. Make sure, however, that the file size (it should be indicated) is less than 100k. Give it a proper name, save it to your desktop, and try to upload again.

When naming your picture(s) don't use odd symbols/punctuation and spaces in the name.

The database only accepts .jpg, .bmp, .gif, .tif, .png files for your picture(s).

If this all sounds like less fun than the bulls of Pamplona voting you off the street, please send Bryan your original pic(s) -- be sure to include your act name in the email -- and within a day or two he'll give you a free picture makeover. You'll receive an email to let you know your pictures are resized and posted, and they'll be attached: use those new pics if you want to change their display order, or use them elsewhere.

My picture is distorted
Most pictures are square so our database is setup to downsize square images. If your original picture isn't square, you will likely appear to gain or lose a lot of weight when your pic hits the profile. You can use a photo editing program to crop or pad your picture, which gets resized to 225 pixels square once it's uploaded.

If this all sounds like less fun than several simultaneous root canals for you, please send Bryan your original pic(s) -- be sure to include your act name in the email -- and within a day or two he'll give you a free picture makeover. You'll receive an email to let you know your pictures are resized and posted, and they'll be attached: use those new pics if you want to change their display order, or use them elsewhere.

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My admin upload page still shows me my older pics after I hit "Save Changes" for new pics
Sometimes our database requires you to "refresh" (key F5 in IE and Firefox, command R in Safari) that page to see your latest pics on your admin uploads page. Easier and better: click the blue "See Me" button at the top of your admin box and your profile appears refreshed in full.

My mp3 won't upload
Make sure it is less than 5 minutes long. Open it in your computer's mp3 player, and check the length of the song.

Make sure your song is in mp3 format, and coded at 128k. 128k is the resolution/quality of the sound file, and the most common default for music programs. If your MP3 is not at 128k, then you need to create a new mp3 (in iTunes, winamp, or whatever you use) from your original, CD-quality source. That is usually a .wav, or .aif file.

Choose 128k encoding, usually in the preferences menu of your program.

Give it a proper name (leave out odd symbols/punctuation and spaces) save it to your desktop, and try to upload again.

If it doesn't work, send Bryan your file, and be sure to include your act name in the email. Allow a day or two for us to take care of it. We'll send you an email to let you know when it's done!

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My mp3 is uploaded, but doesn't show on my profile.
If your CIYH admin "uploads" test player is playing the song, then make sure you added the title of your song also. This will bring it forth from the internetherworld.

My video doesn't display
To post a Youtube/Vimeo video, the URL link address won't work; you must get the "embed code" from it's Youtube/Vimeo page. The embed code is an "Embed" button below or near the video. When you click it, a dialog box opens. There are some different size boxes there - choose the one that says "480 x 385," or put 480 in the "custom" width box. Then click in the code box, select all, copy and paste it (there may be a "copy" button for that) into your CIYH widget box on your admin "links" page.

Can I have more than one video?
Of course you can. To place 2 (or more) videos there, get all their embed codes (see question above), place a between each of them, and paste all the embed codes at one time into your video widget box to upload. Without the between each of them, the videos will overlap each other.

We don't recommend videos in the middle column of your profile: it's only 200 pixels wide and a wider video will disappear under the right column. The middle column is better for calendar, mailing list, etc widgets.

Keep in mind that too many videos will slow down your page loading in for viewers. Consider creating a Youtube Channel and linking to that. They also offer widgets where the viewer can choose from a "menu" of your videos.

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My video is stretching the page out
Copy and paste the "embed code" from under the video on its Youtube/Vimeo page. The embed code is an "Embed" button below or near the video. When you click it, a dialog box opens. There are some different size boxes there - choose the one that says "480 x 385," or put 480 in the "custom" width box. Then click in the code box, select all (there may be a "copy" button for that), copy and paste it into your CIYH widget box on your admin "links" page.

My videos are overlapping
If videos are overlapping in the right column, chances are you left out the when you uploaded several embed codes at once. See more on this topic above.

In the middle column, a widget must be under 200 pixels wide to work. Otherwise it will be obscured by what is in the right column.
In your widget's codes you can set the "width" to 190 and it should always fit well in the middle column which is only for calendar, mailing list, etc widgets.

My links aren't showing
You must add a title to your link or it won't show up.

My links aren't working
When adding your Facebook, Reverbnation, CDBaby, etc links, please leave out the "http://" part since it's already there. Otherwise your link sinks into the internetherworld.

My bio is just one big paragraph
Even though you left spaces for it, are there no paragraph or line breaks showing on your profile? Here's the quick fix; place a where you want a paragraph to appear, and a where you want a line break. This one works great for a discography or any kind of list.

These tags, like spaces and punctuation, all count as part of your bio character limit.

My brain is melting
Whether it feels like it's melting, or it's frozen and locked up, we call it a brain E-freeze. You're learning so much at a breakneck pace. It's time for a donut or some meditation. Normal functions will return soon.

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