Need help getting this auto-download header to show the right path - php

Question

I have a page with mp3s that are playable from a player, and there are also links to download the songs. When the user clicks on the download link, it needs to open the download dialog instead of opening a media player, so it was recommended to me to use this header script:
includes/auto-download.php:
<?php
$path = $_GET['path'];
header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=' . basename($path));
readfile($path);
?>
And then on my main page, the link looks like this:
Song Name
I seem to be doing something wrong with my paths, as when I click the link, the download box opens, and I can download a file with the correct name, but it doesn't contain any information.
To elaborate on my file structure, I've got this:
/Patrons (where my main index.php page is with my link
/Patrons/includes (where my auto-download.php script is)
/Patrons/Media/Audio/Date/ (this is where all the songs are)
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

Either change HTML code to this:
Song Name
OR change PHP code to this:
readfile('../'.$path);

Answer 2

$path needs to be the relative path to the file from the web root. with no leading slash. If the files are outside the web root you should use a fullpath (/home/webuser/song_files/song.mp3).
For example $path = 'song_files/'. $_GET['name_of_the_file'];
You should also check if the file does not exist and exit with an error.
Here is an example I made in codeigniter.
function _begin_download($document_data) {
basepath = 'uploads/';
$filepath = basepath . $document_data->filename;
if (file_exists($filepath)) {
header("Content-type: " . $document_data->mimetype);
header("Content-length: " . filesize($filepath));
header('Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary');
header('Expires: 0');
header('Cache-Control: must-revalidate, post-check=0, pre-check=0');
header('Content-disposition: attachment; filename="' . $document_data->filename . '"');
readfile($filepath);
exit();
} else {
exit('File not found.');
}
}