Sonos provides a wizard-like version manager tool to submit your content service to Sonos. Sonos then reviews and validates your service integration. After it passes review, Sonos works with you to release your service onto the Sonos network.
See the following sections for details:
Overview
After you’ve begun to build and test your service, use the version manager tool to fill out a series of forms with details about your service. To fill these out, you may need input from people in different roles at your company. A submission consists of the following sections:
- A: COMPANY & LEGAL QUESTIONS – these are best answered by a program manager. The questions in this section relate to which countries your service is available.
- B: TECHNICAL CONFIGURATION & TEST SETUP – these are best answered by your development manager. The questions in this section relate to URLs, XML configuration files, and service capabilities. There are also some questions about user-facing items such as icons and text.
- C: QUALITY ASSURANCE & PERFORMANCE – these are best answered by your QA and development managers. The questions relate to testing your service.
- D: MARKETING & OTHER GENERAL QUESTIONS – these are best answered by your program and marketing managers. The questions include details about your service’s key features and branding.
Completing a submission can take a significant amount of time, especially for the first version. The version manager enables you to save your progress.
After submission, your service goes through the following additional phases to reach general availability for all Sonos users.
| Phase | Duration | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Application Review | 6 weeks | Sonos reviews your application and either accepts or rejects it. If Sonos rejects your application, we’ll note what to fix in order to resubmit. After acceptance, Sonos begins to validate your service. |
| Validation | 6 weeks | Sonos performs a series of manual tests on your service to validate the user experience. Click to open a PDF sample of these tests. Sonos works with you to ensure that your service passes these tests. After passing the manual tests, your service integration moves on to the preview phase. |
| Preview | 6-8 weeks | Sonos releases your product in preview to allow customers to try it and report bugs. You can also perform load testing and fine-tune your implementation. Sonos works with you to set the preview launch date. If you are an existing partner updating your service, we’ll work with you to determine if you need a preview phase. |
| General Availability (GA) | N/A | When your service integration is complete and passes the preview, Sonos works with you to set a launch date to release it to all Sonos users. |
Log into Sonos Labs
To access the version manager, you must log into the Sonos Labs site as a registered partner.
- Navigate to musicpartners.sonos.com (Figure 1), the first Sonos Labs site authentication layer.
- If you have already received temporary log-in credentials from Sonos Labs, click Enter Sonos Labs and log into the first authentication layer (Figure 2).
- If you haven’t received an email containing login information from Sonos Labs
- Send an email to SonosLabs@sonos.com with the subject line “Temporary Credentials” containing the email address you want to use to log in.
- After receiving your temporary credentials, follow Step 1a.
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- After arriving at the main Sonos Labs login page (Figure 3), use the original credentials you chose when signing up for Sonos Labs. These credentials may differ from the credentials you entered in Step 1.
Forgotten password
If you forgot your password, please reset it using the “Forgot my password” link beneath the login fields. This will only reset the password for the main Sonos Labs login page, not the Sonos Labs authentication page (Figure 2).
Add your service to Sonos
You must be a registered partner and logged into the Sonos Labs site to access the version manager. Go to the Sonos Labs WELCOME page to log in.
Add your service integration with the version manager. To use this tool, click develop & submit on Sonos Labs.
Add a new submission
- Click add a new version.
- If you have not started a submission yet and do not have any existing submissions, go to step 4.
- If you have existing submissions, do one of the following:
- Copy a submission: Click iterate and enhance a previously existing version. Then select the version you want to copy from the drop-down.
- Start a new empty submission: Click create a brand new version.
- Click create.
- Start entering details under section A: COMPANY & LEGAL QUESTIONS.
Modify an existing submission
- Under the actions column, click edit for the existing version you want to update.
- Click the down arrow next to the section you want to edit.
- Click edit for one of the following sections:
- A: COMPANY & LEGAL QUESTIONS
- B: TECHNICAL CONFIGURATION & TEST SETUP
- C: QUALITY ASSURANCE & PERFORMANCE
- D: MARKETING & OTHER GENERAL QUESTIONS
You can save your submission at any time and get back to it later.
Fill out the version manager form
Before you submit:
- Be sure that you have completed all required fields on your submission’s pages.
- Ensure your supplied graphics and other assets follow all guidelines. See B: TECHNICAL CONFIGURATION & TEST SETUP for details.
- The Self-Test has been deprecated, add “N/A” in those fields.
A: Company and legal questions
Click Globally, no restrictions if your service is available within all countries. Or, click Specific Countries and select the countries where your service is available. The Licensee Name field uses the name you used to register. If appropriate, change it to your legal representation name.
B: Technical configuration and test setup
The technical configuration section establishes the key settings for your music service. Many of these settings are visible to the end-user such as the service name, URLs, and some text and images. The first set of fields on this page contain specific details about accessing and testing your service integration. These fields are also required when you test your service on a specific Sonos household. See test your content service for details. You should provide production URLs for your endpoints.
The fields on this page determine how the Sonos app displays your service to Sonos listeners. For example, to display your service in the Sonos app, a listener chooses to add a service. The Sonos app displays your service in the Sonos music service catalog. The listener chooses your service, and sees details about your service.
When they choose to add your service, they’ll see the authentication flow. See Add authentication for details.
Sonos no longer requires that you include the account information for the sub-section on SONOS ACCOUNT SYSTEM INFO.
Service logos
Service logo icons are displayed on various screens on the controller to identify your service. While you can provide either PNG or SVG formats, SVG format is preferred for future controllers as this format allows more options for scalability across many differently-sized controllers. See Add logos for details.
| Legacy icons | Hi-res icons |
|---|---|
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Desktop apps and hardware controllers
The desktop apps and hardware controllers are considered legacy controllers as they use older icons different from the ones used in the Sonos mobile apps. Add URLs for service logo icons in PNG format for legacy controllers, in the following sizes:
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- 18 pixels (px)
- 24 px
- 36 px
- 48 px
- 54 px
- 72 px
Sonos mobile apps
Sonos mobile apps include apps on iOS and Android. These use high resolution images. Select the SVG image type in the list box and add URLs for service logo icons in SVG format for 40 px and 400 px. You can also supply icons in PNG format, but these may not be supported in future Sonos controllers. To do so, select the PNG image type in the list box and provide URLs for the following sizes:
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- 20 px
- 40 px
- 80 px
- 112 px
- 200 px
- 400 px
User interface (UI) text
Enter information for the fields that will be displayed in the UI.
The following fields are required:
- Languages: Select the languages that you will support. Note that you will have to add these to the strings.xml file. English is required.
- Primary Language: Choose the primary language that will be used by your Music Service. Service Name: Enter the name of your Music Service, as you would like it to be listed, this field has a maximum of 50 characters.
- Short call to action: This is no longer used.
- Short description: Enter a short description of your service, which will be displayed in the Music Services list, as shown below. This field has a maximum of 160 characters.
- Long description: Enter a long description of your service, which will be displayed on the Add Service page for your service, as shown below. This field has a maximum of 4000 characters.
- Sign up url: Enter the sign-up URL for your service.
The UI screens from the Sonos mobile app are shown below.
| List of content services | Add service screen |
|---|---|
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Social media links
Enter the URLs to your social media presence and website. These will be displayed as icons with links on the Add Service page for your service. These fields are optional.
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- Facebook: The URL for your Facebook page for your Music Service. HTTPS is encouraged.
- Twitter: The URL for your Twitter account for your Music Service. HTTPS is encouraged.
- Website: The URL for the website for your Music Service.
C: Quality assurance and performance
The self-test is deprecated. Add “N/A” in the self test fields, listed below:
- Please include your Self-Test configuration file.
- Please include your Self-Test Summary Report HTML file.
Provide permanent test accounts for your service. These accounts will be used for continual monitoring and tests as well as verification of issues that may arise.
If applicable, please provide accounts in different states. For example, provide an account level that is incompatible for use on Sonos, an expired account, and accounts at various subscription levels. This allows for more comprehensive service evaluation, monitoring, and feedback.
Provide permanent accounts for:
- Monitoring & test usage (10 accounts)
- Edge cases such as incompatible & expired accounts (1-3 accounts)
- Customer care & manual verification (7 accounts)
Also, include on this page details about your server architecture and performance of your service.
D: Marketing and other questions
Use this section to describe your service for customers. Sonos will use this information to describe your service on the music section of the Sonos website. You’ll also need to provide a logo for the website. See the Logo for Sonos website section on Add images page for details.
Submit for validation
When you have completed entering the information, submit your form to start the next phase.
Application review and validation
After you submit your service integration, Sonos works with you to:
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- Create a Basecamp account to work with you and share the status of your submission.
- Confirm all your submission’s entries.
- Test your music service.
- Review branding and user-facing items such as logos.
- Ensure that your submission includes all the required information. Sometimes we have to reject your submission so you can make changes and resubmit it.
- Perform a series of manual tests of your service integration after accepting your submission.
Sonos confirms your submission
The key items Sonos confirms are located in the technical configuration and test setup and quality assurance and performance sections of your submission. We confirm that we can access these items. These include:
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- The string resource XML file or manifest file (see below).
- The presentation map XML file.
- All logos and UI items.
- The QA support accounts.
- The customer care accounts.
Note: If you have a manifest file URL, enter it in the String Resource XML File field. The manifest file should have presentationMap and strings entries for URLs to those files. See Add reporting for details.
Sonos reviews your branding
While we are reviewing your submission for development issues, we also consider your branding. We review the items on the technical configuration and test setup and marketing and other general questions sections.
We review the logos, icons, and UI text strings in your service integration. For example, we check the lengths of the text strings and URLs to ensure that they fit the displays in the Sonos app. We also review your marketing information for inclusion on Sonos websites. For example, we list all services in the streaming services section of the Sonos website.
We review the co-branding page where customers sign-up for your service. This review ensures that your service looks consistent in Sonos apps and your app and websites. When Sonos users add your service in the Sonos app, the app loads this web page so users can login or get a new account. This effort isn’t necessary if your service allows anonymous users who do not have to log in.
Sonos offers a discount package for your employees to get Sonos products. We ask for employee info on the application in order to provide this discount.
Sonos creates a frequently asked questions (FAQs) page about your service on the Sonos support site. For some examples see:
Sonos approves or rejects your submission
If we reject your submission, we’ll explain the reasons in Basecamp so you can update and resubmit it. Once we’ve accepted your submission, we’ll perform manual testing.
Sonos performs manual testing
Sonos runs a series of manual tests of your service integration and sends you a summary. If some manual tests don’t pass, you must fix the issues found in your integration. Then you must resubmit your application so that we can run the manual tests again. This process continues until your integration is ready for preview. Click to open a PDF sample of these tests.
During the manual testing process, Sonos may also prepare for your preview. If you are an existing partner and your submission is an update, you may not need a preview. We’ll work with you to determine this on a case by case basis.
Preview release
Preview allows you to perform load testing and fine-tune your service. During the preview, Sonos customers can test your service and submit bugs. We’ll work with you to set a preview launch date and coordinate with you to make it available to customers. The length of your preview depends on the complexity of your implementation. It can last eight weeks or more.
If you are an existing Sonos partner, Sonos decides if you need another preview cycle. Some examples of changes that may need another preview cycle include:
- Significant changes such as an entire integration re-work.
- Addition of a large number of new features or capabilities.
- An earlier integration was particularly difficult.
Sonos will continue to communicate with you through basecamp during the preview. You should ensure that your service maintains the standards described in your service level agreement (SLA). See the Sonos Escalation Process document linked below for a sample SLA.
When your service is in preview, Sonos adds an icon to your service logo to show that your service is in preview. Users can also view all services in preview with the preview filter. The preview icon disappears after a user adds your service. Your service will only be available for testing by users who enable Sonos to see their usage data. See the Settings section of the Sonos User Guide for details.
Exiting the preview program is at Sonos’s discretion and is based on meeting error and usage rates. Sonos will coordinate with you to ensure these rates are adequate. Some factors that play a part in this decision are:
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- Service Performance
- Feedback
- Resolution of open issues
General Availability (GA) release
After a successful preview, Sonos will release your service for general availability (GA). This can occur as soon as 8 weeks after your preview. Sonos will work with you to set a GA date and coordinate with you on your Basecamp account. The following key actions occur when we release your service for GA:
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- Your music service appears on the Sonos Music Menu with the preview icon removed from your logo.
- Sonos coordinates with you to ensure all web assets are up to date and posts your logo to the streaming services section of the Sonos website.
- Sonos coordinates with you for updates and then publishes your FAQ on the Sonos
support site. - Sonos changes the name of your Basecamp account to GA: Your-Service-Name
Upgrades and changes
Upgrade tips:
- If you are upgrading your service integration, start with a copy of an existing submission.
- Please send us a note on Basecamp to describe what you’re changing and the customer-facing impact of the change.
Upgrades and changes to your integration require a new submission version. These should take less time than your first one as you can start from a copy of a previous submission. Fill out a new version whenever you make a change, such as when you:
- Add new regions.
- Add a new description for your service.
- Change your service name.
- Add new features or capabilities.
- Update logos, strings, presentation maps, and web assets.
Some updates may not need a full validation phase or preview release. For example, new global regions, logos, service descriptions, or name changes. Contact Sonos if you need to take your service offline or remove an integration.