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Metablocks Widgets New Features & Fixes Update (2017-04-11)

New features and bug fixes in today’s build:

  • Introduced “The Optimizer” feature that sorts module links based on traffic or revenue.
  • Improved SEO support for widgets including a dynamic sitemap for the platform and other meta tag enhancements.
  • Flyt.it supported (via OAuth) completed and Flyt.it tab added
  • Added “Drag and Drop” support for changing the order of modules for Chrome and Safari users.
  • Added support for deep linking with the management console
  • Added RSS support for widget galleries, accounts, plus custom RSS feed for groups of modules (see more…)
  • Added new dynamic backgrounds include Glitch, Mesh (Dark and Light), Starscape (see more…)
  • Spotify URI support added in the management console for links and Spotify embeds.
  • Pre-save to Spotify module integrated with the Pre-Save platform.
  • Billing and referral program pages added and available for testing.
  • Import feature for Smarturl, Linkfire and Tonden pages updated.
  • Amazon S3 Secure download module added (users can download a secure file in exchange for their email)
  • Photo slideshow/gallery module and support added (see example…)
  • Administrators can now upload photos directly to their photo galleries and moderate them.
  • Minor CSS changes to improved mobile support for both widget and photo galleries.
  • Bit.ly OAuth support added.
  • Embed code (with and without background) for widgets now available from widgets page.

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RSS Feed Support

We have recently introduced RSS Feed support for accounts and gallery on our platform. This means you can syndicate your widgets using RSS and access them using an RSS reader. There are a lost other applications for RSS as well. Here are some examples:

  • End-users can subscribe to your widget updates via RSS
    • Fans can get alerts every time a new widget is added
    Marketing automation and alerts using IFTTT or Zapier
    • You can send an email or perform any other IFTTT or Zapier action when a new widget is added to your gallery or account

    You can find the RSS Feed to your Music or Book Widgets in one of several places.

    Gallery Page
    If you are the administrator of a Gallery, you’ll be able to get your RSS Feed directly from your Gallery page (example: Features ) by clicking on the actions icon (wrench)  and selecting RSS Feed.

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History of Link Shorteners and the Music Industry

History of Link Shorteners

Before there were music retail landing pages, like the ones from Metablocks, Linkfire and Gupta’s Smarturl, there were only link shorteners. URLs play a big role on the Internet.  They are the connectors of the web.  URLs have come a long way since their inception over 20 years ago. Especially with the creation of the URL Shortener, which has come to play an important part in retaining the importance and usefulness of the URL in our ever-evolving digital landscape.  URL Shorteners have moved from simply being a tool to shorten your link, to an integral tracking tool used to refine marketing initiatives and drive brand growth, and now have lead to the creation and evolution of retail link pages. Here is where link shorteners step it!  Kevin Gilbertson, created the first URL shortener, TinyURL, in 2002. The popularity of TinyURLs quickly influenced the creation of at least 100 similar websites. As the web has developed, URLs are becoming longer, so URL Shorteners were becoming really useful, especially when it comes to music!

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What are Retail Landing Pages?

Retail landing pages are a type of landing page, popularized by companies like Metablocks, Smarturl (Gupta Media), Linkfire and others. These pages are used primarily by the music and publishing industry to sell products available from multiple retail sources.  As a way of more fairly promoting purchase and streaming option, these pages have gained massive popularity.

The Rise of Retail and Streaming Options

The number of companies selling or streaming music continues to rise and has created a fragmented marketplace.  Major internet companies like Apple, Google, and Amazon all have music purchase/download (iTunes, Google Play and Amazon Music) offerings as well as music streaming services (Apple Music, Google Play Music, Amazon Prime) in addition to leading streaming providers like Spotify, Deezer, Tidal, Rdio, Soundcloud, Napster (Rhapsody) and a growing number of smaller services. Add to the mix, traditional retailers like Target, Walmart, Barnes & Noble and many others, consumers have 100’s of options to choose from.  Retail landing pages (and specifically Metablocks Widgets) are designed to help solve this problem.

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Most Popular Link Shorteners Used in the Music Industry

Here are some popular link shorteners that are used in the music industry by music labels and artists.

Smarturl.com
This was probably the first link shorter offering aimed at the music industry from Gupta Media.  SmartURL was designed to help simplify the process of marketing online and enable smarter marketing. Features and functionality include Geo-Aware Links, Live Redirects, Collaborative Management, Real-Time Stats and Simpler performance tracking (IQid).  The company is a service of Gupta Media, based in New York.

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Welcome to the Metablocks Widget Blog

What is a Music or Book Widget?

A music or book widget is simple, easy to build, microsite that allows music labels, artists, book publishers and even service providers to create attractive retail link and marketing landing pages used to promote music, books and other products or services. Our music and book widgets support all common retail links but also include advanced features and functionality such as sharing, social links and even application level services such as Spotify Pre-save campaigns, sweepstakes support, email capture, video and a broad range of embeddable players.

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