If you’re like an increasing number of people, you probably want to know how to add music to your WIX website. A lot of people aren’t aware that websites can have audio within them and may not realise just how easy it is to add music or audio to their site.
You may have noticed this on some websites in the past, but also found that you need to press play to make the music start. However, in our free tutorial we’ll show you how to upload background music designed to start playing as soon as someone accesses your site.
Why would you want background music? Well, it can engage the user of the site for a short period of time, and create a more engrossing user experience.
But one thing to note first. Many web developers and designers are against developing a site with music for a number of reasons: such as legal issues, bandwidth and repetition.
Therefore, make sure to consider if background music is the right choice for your site before adding.
Let’s take a closer look.
How to Add Music to Your WIX Site
To add music, all you need to do is go to add elements within the WIX builder. This is shown with a plus illustration. Click on the element, find the element labelled music and different music elements will show. Click on one of the players shown in the section labelled Themed Players.
A new window will appear, showing all the tracks previously uploaded. In the top right corner, you can click the Upload Tracks button to add music to your site.
Alternatively, if a player doesn’t bring the same window up as shown, another window will appear. This window will be the media library which houses all the media of the site including videos and images.
Upload the audio file here and it should work the same way as the first first method. This depends on the template of your site.
Choosing Settings in the WIX Music Element
There are many ways the themed player can work. For instance, if you want the audio to play as soon as a viewer enters the site, you can do so. You can also set the audio as a loop.
To do both of these, click on the element previously added and then the settings of the element.
A popup will show with all the settings, such as the name of the track and the artist’s name. Below these two settings you will find two sliders to set auto-play and a loop. Use the sliders to choose the settings which are most appropriate for you.
To change the track within the player element, again click on the element. Beside the settings icon, you’ll see a Change Track button. Click on this button and the track list window or media window will show, depending on whether or not you have any tracks uploaded.
Here you can upload a new audio file, click on the new file and it should change the track.
Another great setting within the music element is the volume of the audio. You can set the audio from 0% to 100%. Ideally you should have the audio volume at around half way, so 50%. This would mean that the user of the site would hear the audio but not not be overwhelmed.
If the volume is too low however, many users will not know where it is coming from, which will distract them from your site. This can lead to poor time on page or high bounce rates.
WIX Music Player Tips and Tricks
Here’s an additional tip. Hide the Music Player behind other elements of the site.
This means the user can’t stop and start the player themselves as it is blocked by other elements. This trick only works with auto-play audio, as it would be pointless to use if the user needs to click to play.
To hide the player, simply right click on the element, go to arrange and either choose move backwards or send to back. This will block the player from view.
Another tip for the Music Player is to place the element in the header of the site. This will make the audio play throughout the entire site. Alternatively if you only want the audio to play on a single page, place the player within the body of that particular page.
Also, you should consider adding music previews on your website if you’re a music based company.
This would help people engage with your site. To do this don’t set auto play but make the user click these previews themselves. Also provide a link to the likes of YouTube or Soundcloud to listen to the full track.
When Not to Add Music to a WIX Site
We can’t finish without discussing when adding music to your WIX site is appropriate and when it isn’t. That is, while there are lots of great uses for background music, there are often times when users will find this incredibly annoying.
For example, if you run an ecommerce store, a large proportion of users will bounce from your site when they hear background music. The same goes for serious blogs or news sites.
As such, it’s crucial to think about whether or not music actually adds to the experience of your website. If not, it should be avoided completely, as it is likely to do you more harm than good.
There’s a reason why background music on websites has become so rare – it is only really appropriate for very specific contexts. You can probably count on one hand the number of sites you regularly visit which use music.
Additionally, you should not add music to your WIX site if you already have a problem with poor load speeds. Adding additional media will only make this problem worse, which can harm your UX and SEO efforts.
Adding Music to Your WIX Website
The process of adding music to your WIX website is incredibly simple. Like just about everything in WIX, you can add music with almost no website development skills or experience.
In fact, the difficult part isn’t so much adding music to your site, as it is deciding whether or not this is worthwhile, and if so, which music you should use. There are a number of things to consider here.
Ultimately, background music on a website should add to the overall user experience. It should not be used simply because you can. However, when you get this right you can create a powerful and engaging experience for users.
