Get your music online

Most Timorese music lives and dies on Facebook — posted once, buried in a day. Getting your music properly online means people can find it next month, next year, and from outside Timor-Leste. Here is the practical path.

1. Record something you're proud of

You don't need a big studio. A quiet room, a decent phone or USB microphone, and free software (Audacity, GarageBand, BandLab) will carry you a long way. What matters: no clipping (distortion from recording too loud), one consistent volume, and a clean start and end. If you can afford a studio session in Dili, bring your song rehearsed — studio time is for recording, not for writing.

2. Name your files like a professional

Every track needs: the exact title, the artist name spelled the same way everywhere, the year, and the names of every writer. This "metadata" is how you get found — and how you get paid if the song travels. Decide your artist name once and never vary the spelling.

3. Put it where people are

• YouTube — free, works on every phone in Timor-Leste, and doubles as your video channel. Upload even a still-image video for every song.
• Facebook — where your audience already is. Use it to announce, tease and link — not as the only home of the music.
• Spotify / Apple Music — you reach them through a distributor (DistroKid, TuneCore, CD Baby and similar charge a small yearly fee or a cut). Essential for reaching the diaspora in Australia and Portugal.
• Sounds of Timor — your home page: profile, press kit, streaming, gig calendar and bookings in one link that you control.

4. Own your rights

Only upload music you made or have permission for. If you recorded with a producer or featured another artist, agree in writing — even a WhatsApp message — how the song is shared before it goes online. Read our Copyright & Takedown Policy: it protects you as much as it binds you.

When Sounds of Timor artist profiles open, everything above becomes one form: upload the track, fill the credits, and it's live on your page.