Release
Usage
The Release block shows one release the way the top of its release page does: the cover, type and year, the title (linked to the release page), your artist name, the listen buttons, buy buttons and the player. Put it near the top of the home page to promote your latest single.
Left on Newest release, it shows the release with the latest release date, and switches by itself when you publish a new one. Before a release date it shows "Out" with the date and the Pre-save button, then the listen buttons and player on the day.
Which release
Show, at the top of the sidebar, picks the release. The help under it says what the block will show.
- Newest release (default): the release with the latest release date, upcoming ones included. It switches by itself when you publish a new one.
- Next upcoming: the soonest release whose date is still to come, to promote a pre-save. When none is coming, it shows your newest release that's out, so the block is never empty.
- Newest out now: your newest release that's already out. Upcoming releases are left out until their day.
- Pick one: always the release you choose under Release. Unpublished releases are listed with their status, and the block shows them once they're published. Edit this release under the picker opens it.
Next upcoming and Newest out now are worked out when the page is built, and pages are cached. So on release day the block keeps showing that release, now "Released" with its listen buttons, until the page is next built (when you update it, for example), and then moves on to the next one.
Listen buttons picks how the listen buttons look: Site default (Listen buttons under Music → Settings), Outlined buttons, Filled buttons or Icons only. In the editor the buttons show the style you pick.
Under it, turn off Buy buttons or Player to leave them out of the block, or turn on Track list to show the release's songs under it, as on its page.
Before release day
While the release it shows is still to come, the block:
- Puts an "Out Nov 11" badge on the cover.
- Shows "Out" with the date and the Pre-save button (when the release has a pre-save link), above the buy buttons.
- With Countdown on, counts down under the date: "Out in 12 days", then hours, then "Less than an hour".
On the release date (midnight in your site's time zone, under Settings → General), the badge and countdown go and the listen buttons and player take their place. It all happens in the visitor's browser, so you don't need to edit anything on the day. Countdown is off by default.
Layout
Layout picks how the release is laid out, with a small drawing of each:
- Site default (the default): whatever Release page layout under Music → Settings says. On a release or song, the sidebar names it.
- Split: on the release's own page, the cover stays in view on the left while everything else on the page scrolls on the right: this block, the track list, your story, the video and credits. Phones show one column, cover on top. Anywhere else, Split shows as Cover left.
- Cover left or Cover right: the cover beside the title and buttons.
- Stacked: the cover on top, with everything centred under it.
- Backdrop: the cover spreads across the block, blurred and darkened, behind white text and buttons, like your link page.
The editor shows the layout you pick. With Split, every block on the release moves into the right-hand column while you edit, and the cover stays in view on the left, as on the site (inside a group or columns, the editor shows it as Cover left). For a Backdrop that runs edge to edge, set the block to Full width in the toolbar.
On a release
New releases start with this block at the top, set to This release. There it's the release's page heading, and you edit the release right in it, as visitors will see it:
- Cover: click it to add or replace the cover art. Remove cover takes it off.
- Type and year ("Single · 2023"): click it for Release details, the Type and Release date. More details adds the Label, Catalogue number and UPC.
- Title: type in it. It's the release's title, so there's no separate title field.
- Artist name: comes from Music → Settings.
- Listen buttons: click one to change its link, move it or remove it, or drag it to a new place. + Add a link adds another. The service is named as soon as you paste the link.
- Buy buttons: the same, with the Format, Price and a Note. + Add a buy link adds another.
- Pre-save: before the release date, the block shows the "Out" badge on the cover, "Out" with the date (and the countdown, when it's on) and + Add a pre-save link (or the Pre-save button, once it has one); click it to set the link. Your listen buttons sit below it, ready for release day. After the date, Pre-save link (before release day) at the foot of the block still opens it. For a pre-save, publish the release with a future Release date: a release scheduled in WordPress stays hidden until its day.
- Player: the block shows the player box as visitors see it before they press play. The button under it ("Player: automatic (Spotify)") picks which service plays, or none. The player itself only loads on the live page. A Bandcamp album plays in Bandcamp's one-row player here, which keeps the top of the page short; the full track list is right under it.
- Track list: with Track list on, the songs show under the block as they will on the site. Change them in the Track List block.
The link page, video, credits and More details are in the sidebar's Release panel, a line each with an Edit button.
A release made before this block existed, or imported, keeps the automatic layout and its sidebar panels. Its Page layout panel offers Switch to editing on the page, which adds this block and the Track List to the top of the page. Nothing changes on the site until you update the release.
Tips
Settings
Release
Which release the block shows. Newest release (the default) is the one with the latest release date, upcoming ones included, and changes by itself when you publish a new one. On a release, the default is This release.
- Newest release default
- Next upcomingThe soonest release whose date is still to come, with its pre-save button. With none coming, your newest release that's out.
- Newest out nowYour newest release that's already out. Upcoming releases are left out until their day.
- Pick oneAlways the release you choose under Release.
Which release to show when Show is Pick one. On a release's own page, This release.
Site default follows Release page layout under Music → Settings. Split keeps the cover in view on the left while the rest of the release's own page scrolls on the right; anywhere else it shows as Cover left. Cover left and Cover right put the cover beside the title and buttons; Stacked puts it on top with everything centred under it; Backdrop spreads the cover, blurred and darkened, behind white text and buttons. For a Backdrop that runs edge to edge, set the block to Full width in the toolbar.
How the listen buttons look. Site default follows Music → Settings → Listen buttons. Outlined and Filled buttons show each service's icon and name; Icons only is a row of icons (a service without one shows its name).
The release's buy links, as buttons with their format and price, under the listen buttons.
The release's click-to-load player. Which service plays is chosen on the release itself. It appears once the release is out.
Which service the player uses here. Automatic keeps the release's own Player choice, else Spotify, then Apple Music, Bandcamp and SoundCloud (Music → Settings → Preferred player first). A service the release has no link to falls back to Automatic.
The release's songs under the block, numbered with their lengths, as on its page.
Before the release date: "Out in 12 days", then hours, under the date. It counts down in the visitor's browser and is gone on the day.