Bard - Streams

Description:

A stream broadcasts a playlist. Once a stream is broadcasting, you can activate it as the account's music on hold.

This article will show you how to do the following:

• Create a stream.
• Enable a stream so it starts broadcasting.
• Activate a stream as music on hold, and de-activate it.
• Understand stream statuses.

Before you start:

• You need a playlist with at least one Ready track. See Bard - Playlists.
• Setting up music on hold takes two steps:
  1. Enable – The stream starts broadcasting. Callers do not hear it yet.
  2. Activate – The account's music on hold switches to this stream.

Create a stream:

1. Open Bard and select the Streams tab.
2. Click New Stream.
3. Enter a Name. It is required and must be unique within the account.
4. Optional: enter a Slug. This is a short ID used in the stream's address. If left blank, it is made from the name.
   • Letters, numbers and . _ ~ - only. No spaces.
   • It must be unique within the account.
   • It cannot be changed after the stream is created.
5. Select a Playlist. You can also leave it as No playlist and assign one later.
6. Optional: enter a Description.
7. Click Save.

To change the name, playlist or description later, click the gear (Settings) icon in the stream's row.

Enable the stream (start broadcasting):

1. Click the list (Edit Stream) icon in the stream's row. The stream window opens.
2. Turn the Stream switch to Enabled and confirm.
3. The status shows Publishing… and you will see "Waiting for sync…".
4. After a few seconds the status changes to Live and you will see "Stream is now live."

Once live, a Stream URL is shown. Click it to copy it. This is an internal address used by the phone system. It will not play in a web browser and does not need to be given to customers.

Activate as music on hold:

1. In the stream window, make sure the status is Live.
2. Click Activate and confirm.
3. When finished, you will see "Stream is now active for music-on-hold." The status changes to Active (in use).

Callers placed on hold on this account now hear the stream.

• Only one stream can be active per account. Activating a stream replaces whichever stream was active before.
• Bard checks before activating. The stream must be enabled, live, have a playlist, and the playlist must have at least one Ready track.

Resync:

When a stream is active, the Activate button changes to Resync. Click it to send the stream to the account's music on hold again. Use this if callers are not hearing the stream even though it shows Active.

De-activate:

1. Click De-Activate and confirm.
2. You will see "Music-on-hold no longer uses this stream."

Callers on hold will hear silence until another stream is activated. The stream keeps broadcasting and shows Live.

Disable the stream (stop broadcasting):

1. Turn the Stream switch to Disabled and confirm.
2. You will see "Stream is now silent."

The Stream URL stops working. If this stream was active as music on hold, callers on hold will hear silence from that point.

Delete a stream:

1. Click the trash icon in the stream's row.
2. Confirm the deletion. This cannot be undone.

If the stream was active as music on hold, callers on hold will hear silence until another stream is activated. Deleting a stream does not delete its playlist or tracks.

Stream statuses:

Status	Meaning
Silent	The stream is disabled. It is not broadcasting.
Not published	The stream is not broadcasting yet.
Publishing…	The stream is enabled and starting up, or a change is syncing. Wait a few seconds.
Live	The stream is broadcasting and ready to activate. It is not music on hold yet.
Active (in use)	The stream is the account's music on hold. Shown in the stream window only. The Streams table shows these as Live.
Publish failed	Something went wrong while syncing. The stream window shows the reason after the status.

Troubleshooting:

Message	What to do
Enable this stream first before activating.	Turn the Stream switch to Enabled and wait for Live.
Assign a playlist to this stream before activating.	Click the gear icon in the stream's row and select a playlist.
This playlist has no ready tracks yet.	Add at least one Ready track to the playlist, or wait for its tracks to finish processing.
This stream isn't broadcasting yet — wait for it to finish publishing before activating.	Wait until the status shows Live, then try again.
Sync is taking longer than expected. Check back shortly.	Close the stream window, wait a minute, and open it again to see the current status.
Lost track of sync status.	Refresh the page and check the stream's status.
Status stays at Publishing… or shows Publish failed	Disable the stream, then enable it again. If it still fails, note the reason shown after the status and escalate to the development team.
Activate failed.	Check that the stream is Live and its playlist has a Ready track, then try again. If it keeps failing, escalate.
Failed to create stream. / Failed to update stream.	The name or slug may already be used, or the slug has characters that are not allowed. Change it and try again.
Callers hear silence on hold	Check that a stream shows Active (in use). Check that its playlist has not been deleted and still has Ready tracks. Click Resync if needed.