Royal Audio Player

Putting music on a website often ends with a player that only serves one file, cuts off when the visitor changes page, or looks bad on mobile. Royal Audio Player is a plugin built for people who need more than a play button: playlists, video, live radio and control over who can listen to what.

A musician who wants to sell their album from their own website

Imagine you run a small label or you are an independent artist. The workflow with Royal Audio Player would look like this:

• Upload your tracks to your hosting, Google Drive, Amazon S3 or any service that allows access to an mp3 stream. You can also point to a folder of mp3 or mp4 files and the plugin builds the list by reading the ID3 metadata.
• Build the playlist with hand-written HTML markup (or generated from a database), an XML file, a podcast, Official.fm, or a YouTube or SoundCloud playlist. You can even mix sources in a single playlist.
• Insert the player with the shortcode generator, without touching code.
• Add the buttons for downloading or buying the mp3, which can be turned on or off for the whole player or track by track.
• Measure what gets played thanks to the Google Analytics integration, which lets you see how many times each track was played or downloaded.

The limit here is clear: the plugin plays audio and can link a buy button, but it is not a store by itself. If you want to take payments on your site, the usual approach is to place it on a WooCommerce product page, where according to the developer it works just like on a normal page, with no restrictions.

Music that keeps playing while the visitor browses

One of the most common flaws on music websites is that the audio stops when you click to another page. Royal Audio Player offers a popup window so the music carries on uninterrupted while the person keeps browsing in another tab. It also supports deeplinking: a unique, shareable link that takes people to a specific playlist and track, useful for sharing your new song on social media instead of the whole website.

Questions people ask when comparing it with other players

Is it only for audio?

No. It also plays mp4 and YouTube videos, with an optional fullscreen button.

Can I broadcast an online radio station?

Yes, it supports Shoutcast and Icecast, but only with mp3 streams. It also supports live audio through HLS (m3u8).

Can I protect a track?

Yes: there are private, password-protected tracks, for both audio and video, and the option to encrypt the file path so it does not show in the page source. It makes copying harder for anyone who wants to, but it is not an absolute guarantee.

Will it slow down the page?

It includes lazy loading: the player starts only when the visitor reaches the section where it sits. That way it adds no weight if it is at the bottom of a long page.

Visual settings so it fits your brand

It comes with six skins along with their PSD files so a designer can adapt them. The layout is responsive and works in desktop and mobile browsers. Configurable details include an audio spectrum visualizer with four presets and customizable color, playlist thumbnails with three hover effects, a limit on visible tracks (the rest scroll), a playlist or category selector and animated titles when the text does not fit.

Before you decide: what to check in the demo

It is a plugin with a huge number of options, and that means a learning curve: if you only want a simple player with a couple of songs, it will probably be more than you need. Check in the demo whether the skins match your design and test how the popup window behaves on your phone.