Pay-to-View Messages (PTV)


Pay-to-View (PTV) Messages provide a way for Artists to sell their content through the Message Center. PTV messages are initially locked/hidden from the fan and can only be unlocked and viewable once the fan pays the price set by the Artist. PTV messages can be sent to an individual contact or sent as a mass message to all your contacts.

Sending a PTV Message

To send a PTV message, click the PTV Message tab right above the message field box at the bottom of the page. “PTV Message” will become underlined and a price field input will appear to the right.

Every PTV message must have a price. The minimum is $1.00 and the maximum is $10,000. If you attempt to input an amount below the minimum or above the maximum amounts, you will receive an error message.

Once you’ve set an appropriate price, you then must select files to attach to the message. You will not be able to send the PTV message unless your set price is a valid amount AND you have a file attached to the message.

Adding Content to a Message

Typing a Message

To start typing a message, click inside the message field that says “Type a new message”.

Your cursor should appear inside the text box and you will be able to start typing.

Notes:

  • Hit enter to begin typing on a new line.

  • Messages can be up to 10,000 characters.

Adding Media to a Message

Media Library Modal

You can add files to your messages via the Media Library modal within Message Center. Note that you cannot directly upload files from within Message Center. You can only attach files that you’ve already previously uploaded to your Media Library. Upload your files within Media Library first before attempting to attach the files in Message Center.

To add media to a message, click the paperclip icon in the text field.

The Media Library modal will appear in which you will be able to select media to attach to your message.

Note that if you don’t have any items in your Media Library, no items will appear in this modal.

Attachment Limits

You can select 1 or multiple items to attach. However, there are limits to the number of items you can attach:

  • Size Limit: 1 GB – you cannot attach more than 1 GB of files to a single message; “Attachment Limit” information is located in the bottom left of the modal.

  • Count Limit: 50 items – you cannot attach more than 50 files to a single message; in the bottom right of the modal is a button that says “Selected()” with a number between the parentheses. This number represents the number of items you have selected.

Once you have reached the 1 GB or 50 item count limit, you will receive an error message. You may need to remove an item in order to be within the valid limits before being able to attach the files to the message.

Searching & Filtering the Media Library Modal

You may have hundreds of items in your Media Library. To find the exact files you want to attach, you can use the search and filter functionalities within the Media Library modal.

To search through your files, click inside the search bar located at the top of the modal and search for the file name of the item you want to select. The modal will immediately update with relevant search results.

To filter through your files, click the “Filter by” dropdown in the top right of the modal. There are 5 options you can filter by:

  • Audio

  • Document

  • Photo

  • Photoset

  • Video

After selecting an option to filter by, you will see the selected filter appear under the search bar. The modal will only display items that match the filter option you choose (i.e. the Video filter will cause the modal to only display video files). You can add multiple filters by clicking the “Filter by” dropdown again and selecting another option.

To get rid of a filter, click on the “X” to the right of the filter name.

Attaching Items to a Message

Once you’ve selected the items you want to attach, you can click the “Attach” button at the bottom right of the modal. If you want to unselect all the items you’ve selected, you can click the “X” located to the left of the “Selected” button in the bottom right.

After selecting items and clicking “Attach”, the modal will disappear and you will see your selected items in the text field in the message thread.

Only the first 5 selected items will be shown as a preview in the text field. To view all the selected items, click the “# more” button.

A popup will appear with all your selected items. If you decide that you don’t want to send one of the selected items, click the “X” in the top right of the item.

Your items are now successfully attached to your message and ready to be sent.

Once your PTV message has been sent, the media in it will be hidden from the fan until he pays the PTV price you have set. Once he has purchased the PTV message, he will be able to view and download the items. Reference the image below to see how a locked PTV message appears to a fan.