Song requests let your listeners pick a song from your AutoDJ library. A request airs at the next Request slot in your playlists, oldest request first. Listeners don't need an account, and there is no message field, only songs from your library.
Song requests are part of CloudRadio One and Custom AutoDJ plans.
Turn on requests
- Go to Song requests under Programming in the left sidebar of your station.
- Open the Settings tab.
- Turn on Let listeners request songs.
- Adjust the limits if you need to (see below), then click Save settings. Hover the i icon next to a setting for an explanation with an example.
Requests are off until you turn them on. Only the station Owner and Admins can change the settings.
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Requests per listener (requests every minutes) | 3 requests every 60 minutes | How many requests one listener can make in any period of that length. With 3 and 60, a listener can request 3 songs every 60 minutes. |
| Max requests per listener per day | 10 | The daily cap per listener. Days are counted in UTC. |
| Most requests waiting at once | 20 | When this many requests are waiting, new requests are refused with a message that the request list is full. Waiting requests are never dropped to make room: room opens up as requests air, expire or are removed. Requests only air at Request slots, so with few slots the list can stay full for a while. |
| Drop unplayed requests after (hours) | 24 | A request that never aired expires after this long. |
| Not requestable if aired in the last (hours) | 3 | A song that aired recently can't be requested until this time has passed. 0 turns the cooldown off. |
Choose which songs can be requested
Under Requestable tracks, pick All tracks in the library, Only tracks with these tags or All tracks except these tags, then pick the tags. The page shows how many tracks listeners can request with the current choice.
Only ready music tracks can be requested: voice tracks, jingles, recordings and auto-updated shows are left out. A track with a tag marked hidden from public never shows to listeners, whatever you pick here. See Tag Slots for tagging.
Add Request slots to your playlists
Requests air only where your playlists have a Request slot:
- Open a playlist in Playlists.
- In Available tracks on the left, open the Tags tab. The Request row sits at the top of the list: drag it into the playlist where requests should air, or click its + button to add the slot at the end. The slot is labeled Listener request.
- Drag the slot to move it, and add more slots to air requests more often.
- Save the playlist.
When the playlist reaches a Request slot, it plays the oldest waiting request. If no request is waiting, the slot is skipped and the next item plays, with no gap. A request whose song is held by your separation rules or cooldown waits for the next Request slot. If the song airs from your regular programming before its Request slot, the request counts as played. In a play-once show, a Request slot placed after the last track may be skipped, so put it before the last track.
If requests are on but no playlist in rotation or on the schedule has a Request slot, the Song requests page warns you: no request would air.
Your AutoDJ plans the next tracks ahead of time, so a request can take 30 to 40 minutes to air, more if your Request slots are far apart.
Share the request page
The Settings tab of Song requests shows the link to your Request page with a copy button. For the website widget, open Widgets & Links under Distribution in the left sidebar while requests are on, then the Website Widgets tab, and scroll to Song requests. The Settings tab links there while requests are on. Only the Owner, Admins and Station managers can open Widgets & Links, and it needs an enabled HLS output.
- Request page is a link to a page made for phones, which you can share anywhere. Your station page also shows a Request a song button while requests are on.
- Website widget is a code snippet that shows the same request box on your own website. Pick a Theme (Light or Dark) and an Accent color, check the Preview, then copy the Embed code and paste it where the box should appear. The box grows to fit its content. To change the style later, copy the code again.
When requests are off, the request page says requests are closed, the widget hides itself on your website, and the Song requests section is not shown on Widgets & Links.
What listeners see
Listeners type at least 2 letters of a title or artist and see up to 20 matching songs with their cover art. They pick a song, check it on a confirm screen (cover, title and artist, with Cancel and Confirm), and see Request received, saying the song will play in an upcoming request slot. There is no time estimate and listeners don't see the list of other requests.
A request can be refused, each time with its own message:
- the listener reached their limit, with when they can request again
- the song played recently, with when it can be requested again
- the song is already requested and waiting
- the request list is full
- requests are closed
To keep requests from bots, each request goes through a Cloudflare Turnstile check, which is usually invisible. If the check has not finished after about 10 seconds and is not waiting for the listener to click it, or can't load, the confirm screen says the browser may be blocking it and suggests another browser or turning off ad and tracker blockers for the site. Searches are also limited per connection.
A request doesn't store the listener's IP address. Limits are counted with a scrambled token of the address that changes every day and can't be turned back into the address.
Manage requests
The Active tab lists the requests waiting to air, oldest first, with when each was first requested and its status: Pending (waiting for a Request slot) or Queued (planned to air). It updates on its own.
- Click the x on a request to remove it. Removing a Queued request asks you to confirm first: it is best effort, and a song that is about to play may still air.
- Click Clear all to remove every waiting request. Listeners are not told.
There is no way to move a request ahead of the others: requests air in the order they came in.
If your AutoDJ replans its upcoming tracks before a queued request airs, the request goes back to Pending and waits for the next Request slot, until it airs or expires.
While a live DJ is on air, requests wait. The Active tab says so, and the DJ can play a request by hand from the Media Library.
The History tab lists the requests that were played, expired or removed, with today's counts and the most requested song of the last 7 days.
The Owner, Admins, Station managers, Music controllers and DJs can see the Active and History tabs and remove requests. See Users and Roles.
Follow requests from the dashboard
While requests are on, your station Dashboard shows a Song requests card with how many requests are waiting and the next three to air. View all opens the Song requests page.
In Statistics, the Recent spins list on the Music tab marks the songs that aired from a request with a Requested badge.