Putting your MP3s on Lemonrock means that they can be heard by thousands of other people - essential if gig-goers want to know what you sound like before they set out to your gigs, or if you are trying to attract record company or publishing interest. We have a MCPS-PRS Alliance licence that permits licensed covers, and originals, on Lemonrock.


Record your song(s) and get them onto your computer. The format of each song may be one of the following:

• WAV (extension .wav) - This is a huge, uncompressed audio file. You must create an MP3 version of it (see below).
• MP3 format (extension .mp3) - This is a compressed version of an original recording. It is suitable for putting onto Lemonrock directly.
• Windows Media (extension .wma) - This is a proprietary compressed format invented by Microsoft. Again, you must create an MP3 version of it (see below).
• Real Audio (extension .ra) - This is a proprietary format invented by Real Networks. Again, you must create an MP3 version of it (see below).
• CD audio format (extension .cda) - This is a representation of a CD audio track. If you put a CD into your PC's CD-ROM drive, each track on the CD will show up as a small .cda file. You can't just copy .cda files to your computer using Windows Explorer or another regular file manager. You will need a 'ripping' program to convert the CD tracks to MP3.

Skip this step if your files are already in MP3 format (see Step 1).

To convert your song into MP3 format, you must use a program that can read the original format and create a copy in MP3 format. The conversion process is often termed 'ripping' if you are converting directly from a CD into MP3 (or other format) files. See below for a list of suggested programs.

1. First login to Lemonrock. If you have forgotten your password, we can send you an automated reminder - see: www.lemonrock.com/remind.php
2. In your 'edit' page, click on 'my MP3s'.
3. To prepare for uploading a new MP3, click on the 'New' button. You will see a new blank form, coloured light green, labeled 'New recording'.
4. Select the MP3 file on your PC using the 'Browse' button. Add the song title and select the Band/Artist.
5. Click on the 'Create new recording »' button.
6. Depending on how big the MP3 file is, and on your Internet connection speed, you will have to wait for up to a few minutes while your browser sends the MP3 file to Lemonrock.
7. When the MP3 file has been received, you will see that the form has changed to dark green, labeled 'recording'. You can view the Band/Artist page by clicking the 'View page' button next to the Band/Artist selection box.

New trial members are allowed a maximum of 5MiB of MP3s on Lemonrock. Paid-up members get 100MiB, enough for over an hour of music at 128k quality, which is very good, although not quite CD quality.
You may have as many MP3s as you like up to this file size limit.

• iTunes from Apple Computer, Inc. (www.apple.com) This is free to download, and not only can it rip your CDs into MP3s (as well as other formats), but it also integrates with your web browser so that all your Lemonrock MP3s download into its library and onto your iPod.
• Windows Media Player (this comes bundled with Windows XP - however, to 'rip' CD tracks to MP3 you may need to pay extra money to Microsoft).
• Winamp (www.winamp.com) - a free player for PCs with limited ripping ability. You may need to pay extra money to Winamp for faster ripping.

Lemonrock accepts no responsibility for the quality, performance or suitability of any program. You should always exercise caution when downloading software from the Internet. You do so entirely at your own risk. You are encouraged to search the Web yourself for 'CD to MP3 rippers' using Google (www.google.co.uk). Please note that not all converters can rip CDs to MP3.


Protected Windows Media Audio (WMA), Real Audio (RA, RAX), Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) aren't supported by most converters for copyright reasons.


Some converters add the correct MP3 tags if they can find your tracks listed in an Internet database (e.g. CDDB, FreeDB) of CD tracks. Most allow you to enter the ID3 tagging information yourself. Tagging information is useful to include in the MP3 file but is not mandatory. Lemonrock automatically adds the Artist, Song Title and Genre MP3 tags to your tracks (in ID3v2.3 format), which will over-write any existing tags.

Lemonrock accepts MP3 files from browsers that send the MP3 file as any of the following MIME types:

• audio/x-mp3
• audio/mpeg
• audio/mp3
• audio/x-mpeg
• audio/mpeg3
• audio/mpg

The MIME type sent to Lemonrock during the upload process will depend on the type of Web browser you are using.

You may have a choice of bitrates when creating your MP3 file(s). The higher the bitrate, the better the sound quality, but the larger the file. We recommend using a bitrate of 128k upwards.