For Labels
Pre-release material should not travel as an email attachment. DropCue delivers promos as branded links that play instantly with no login, carry password protection and expiry dates, and report exactly which recipient listened and for how long.
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Pre-release material stays controlled. Password protection, expiry dates, per-format download rules, and per-recipient links. Streaming-only is the default posture, and you can revoke a share after sending instead of hoping a file does not travel.
Know which promo actually got played. Per-recipient analytics resolve to a person, not a link. See who opened it, which tracks played, how long, and how many times. A press list with zero plays is telling you something worth knowing.
Send a release, not a folder of files. Album sharing delivers a full record as one branded link that plays in order with cover art. The recipient hears the album the way it was sequenced instead of reassembling a zip.
1. Upload the release. Drag in masters, instrumentals, radio edits, and stems. Alternate versions nest under the parent track automatically.
2. Build the promo. Assemble the album or a curated selection, add cover art, and set download rules per format.
3. Send per recipient. Each journalist, programmer, or A&R contact gets their own branded URL with a password and an expiry date. No account required on their end.
4. Watch the response. See who played what, how far in, and how often. Follow up with the people who actually listened, and revoke links when the campaign closes.
Access control and friction are not the same thing as DRM. Keeping downloads off, setting expiry dates, and issuing per-recipient links makes casual leaking much harder and makes a leak traceable to a recipient. It does not make audio uncapturable by someone determined to capture it. Any platform claiming otherwise is overselling. Per-recipient inaudible watermarking is on the DropCue roadmap and is not shipped yet.
Starter is $5/mo annually for 500 tracks. Labels with real catalogs typically sit on Pro, priced by size from $15/mo for 1,000 tracks up to $69 for 20,000, billed annually. Studio adds the Business Suite from $29/mo. All plans include a 7-day free trial with no credit card, and there is no revenue share on anything.
Send music without requiring a login · Private music sharing · Byta alternative · DropCue for publishers · Sharing unreleased music with labels
Stop mailing files you cannot recall to a list you cannot measure. Send branded, revocable, login-free links and know exactly who played the record.
Start Free Trial →Starter from $5/mo annual. Pro from $15/mo annual. Cancel anytime.
The working answer is a private streaming link with access controls, not a file transfer. DropCue share links play in the browser with no account required, and carry password protection, an expiry date, per-recipient URLs, and download rules you set per format. You can revoke a link after sending, which you cannot do with an email attachment or a WeTransfer download. Note that anything streamable can ultimately be captured by a determined recipient, so treat this as strong access control and friction rather than as DRM.
Send one branded link per recipient rather than one mass file drop. Per-recipient URLs mean the analytics resolve to a person, so you know which journalist or programmer actually played the record and how far in. Downloads stay off until you decide to open them, and the link expires on the date you set. That is materially better than a shared Dropbox folder where you cannot tell who opened what.
Yes, per recipient. You see who opened the link, which tracks played, how long each played, and how many times they came back. A promo with zero plays is useful information. So is a journalist who replayed track three twice before writing.
Yes. Because access runs through a link you control rather than a file you handed over, you can deactivate a share, change its expiry, or turn downloads off after the fact. Files already downloaded before you revoked are obviously out in the world, which is exactly why keeping downloads off by default matters for pre-release material.
Byta is built specifically for promo delivery and does that job well. Private SoundCloud links play instantly, which is why people use them, but SoundCloud is built for public audiences so per-recipient analytics and granular access control are not really there. DropCue covers login-free playback, per-recipient analytics, password and expiry controls, and album delivery, alongside catalog organization and alternate version grouping in the same tool.
No. A journalist, supervisor, or A&R rep clicks the link and audio plays in their browser. No signup, no app install, no download step. Every login screen between a promo and its recipient is a place the listen quietly does not happen.