Using Media Types to Help Build Your Playlists

Sarah Osborne -

Many internet radio stations provide a variety of content for their listeners: music, talk, commercials, jingles, and promos. Live365 provides five Media Types for categorizing content. From there, it is essential to label each track in your Live365 library with the correct Media Type so that you can manage your library with ease.


Media Types

Media Types are a Live365-internal way of categorizing the tracks in your library. Media Types are pre-defined categories within Live365. Each track can be labeled with a maximum of one Media Type. There are five static Types to choose from:

  • Music - Used for copyrighted content, including music.
  • Talk - Used for live recordings and spoken word content like podcasts, sermons, interviews, and storytelling.
  • Promo - Best used for promotional tracks and tracks only to be aired for a limited time, such as concert announcements, sponsor mentions, contest information, etc.
  • ID - Used for tracks that help your listeners identify which station they are listening to. Station IDs are also sometimes referred to as jingles or sweepers.
  • Ad - You cannot label anything as an Ad, but you might see this Media Type in the search feature. Ads are controlled by Live365.

* Note that Track Categories (Tags) are different from Media Types.


How Do I Assign Media Types?

You can assign Media Types while uploading tracks to your library, directly from the upload pane. If you forget to assign Media Types during the upload process or if you want to change the Type of a track already in your library, changes to Media Types can also be made individually or in bulk in your library. Check out our step-by-step guide for more info on Types.


Benefits of Media Types

With a large library of tracks, it can sometimes be difficult to find the perfect track to add to your playlist. If you're looking for a jingle but can’t remember the exact title, you can filter by the "ID" Media Type and see all of your available options.

Media Types are also an important part of the AutoDJ track mix. With the AutoDJ settings, you can simply select what Media Types should be included when AutoDJ is running (e.g. just Music and IDs, in addition to the necessary Ads). You can read more about the AutoDJ feature here.


Discover thousands of free stations from every genre of music and talk at live365.com/listen. Keep up with the latest news by following us on Facebook (Live365 Official and Live365 Broadcasting) and Twitter (@Live365 and @Broadcaster365)!

Article Image: Fabien Barral via Unsplash.