iTunes has rejected all of our podcasts because they say the SoundCloud RSS Feed has "Test Content" but no one can tell me what test content is or how to get rid of it. Here is our RSS feed, if anyone understands this code and can tell me where I need to fix something I would be greatly appreciative, because neither Apple nor SoundCloud have been very helpful up to this point.
http://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users:647409729/sounds.rss
Thanks!
Check out https://itunespartner.apple.com/en/podcasts/faq/Submitting%20your%20show_Review%20process
Why was my show rejected or removed?
Check out https://itunespartner.apple.com/en/podcasts/faq/Submitting%20your%20show_Review%20process
Why was my show rejected or removed?
This is a regular problem with SoundCloud users. The issue is that you have no 'itunes:summary' tag in the top section of your feed (before the first 'item' tag). The description which appears on the iTunes Store page is drawn from this tag, so its presence is essential (and I don't understand why SoundCloud keep on not providing it).
You have a 'description' tag (which iTunes does not read) but it reads only 'Podcast by The Chapel - Sandusky Campus' - this won't do for your summary. You need to write two or three lines describing your podcast.
Incidentally the title of your feed is simply 'The Chapel'. There are already two podcasts called 'The Chapel' (you're not supposed to be able to duplicate titles, but anyway) and more with the words as part of the title, so yours will disappear in the Search. I would suggest thinking of a more specific title to make your podcast stand out: the description I quoted above would be better as a title. (This doesn't affect the 'test' complaint, it's just a recommendation.)
I'm afraid I can't advise on how to add the 'itunes:summary' in SoundCloud (it is present in the individual episodes) If you manage to work it out do post back with the solution as there are bound to be further instances.
Okay, thank you so much! This is definitely helpful. I will begin to make some of those adjustments and report back as I work through this submission process. I have four SoundCloud accounts that I am having this same issue with so I am hoping to get it resolved quickly! Thanks so much!
Just note that soundcloud has not updated to any of the new Apple tags that they rolled out in 2017 - which includes the option to mark an episode as a trailer. Apple is going to be updating the tags again shortly for the categories.
Soundcloud is NOT a podcast host. They are a company that dabbles in podcasting - but their main focus is NOT podcasting - it is best you go and move your shows to someone that is focused on Podcasting.
Rob W
Well I was able to finally get another response from Apple, but unfortunately this time they said my content was "irrelevant or spam," which I don't understand at all. To get around or past the "test" response I did assign some tags to each podcast and I also found where to put the description that Apple was wanting in SoundCloud. Unfortunately SoundCloud doesn't call it the description, but I was able to figure out where Apple was pulling the description and insert a couple of sentences as you had suggested. I feel that I was able to solve the "test" issue, but now have another issue that I hope Apple can help me understand, because I am at a lost about my content being irrelevant/spam. Thanks for all your assistance with figuring this out!
You still don't have an 'itunes:summary' in the top section of the feed. You have a 'description' tag with a good description, but itunes does not read this tag. You must find a way to provide the 'itunes:summary' tag.
Rejected for "test content"
