How to post music on Spotify

Two different things get called “uploading music to Spotify.” Publishing songs so anyone can stream them takes a distributor, and that’s what this page covers. Playing audio files from your own phone or computer inside the Spotify app is Local Files, and it publishes nothing.

How to post music on Spotify

You post music on Spotify through a distributor, because Spotify doesn’t take uploads from artists. The distributor delivers your songs and collects your streaming royalties, and Spotify creates your artist profile automatically when your first release arrives. The full process has four jobs: pick a distributor, fill in its upload form, claim your profile in Spotify for Artists, and pitch the song to Spotify’s editors at least 7 days before release day. Most releases go live within a week of upload. DistroKid, TuneCore and CD Baby all deliver to Spotify. This covers Spotify for Artists help pages, Spotify’s provider directory and distributor help centers, checked Sep 24, 2026.

Spotify says it plainly on its page about getting music on Spotify: work with a distributor, because distributors handle distribution and pay streaming royalties. Its page on creating an artist profile adds that all music has to come through labels and distributors so everything’s properly licensed. There’s no upload button anywhere on Spotify’s side.

That’s worth knowing before the DMs start. Anyone selling a “direct Spotify upload” is a distributor with a new coat of paint, or someone you don’t want holding your songs. Same goes for anyone promising playlist spots for money. If you’re nervous about getting scammed on your first release, that one rule covers most of it.

The order of the four jobs matters more than any one of them, because the pitch closes the moment your song goes live. So the rest of this page runs in the order you’ll do things, starting with the only decision that costs money.

How to put music on Spotify: pick a distributor

TheDebutRoom’s view: to put music on Spotify, pick a distributor that Spotify marks as preferred, then choose among those on price. Preferred status matters because Spotify says a preferred provider gets you into Spotify for Artists automatically when you request access, instead of waiting on a claim form that Spotify reviews by hand. Spotify’s provider directory shows the tag. On Sep 24, 2026, DistroKid, TuneCore and CD Baby were marked preferred, and Ditto Music was listed without it. Every distributor in the directory can deliver your music, so the tag is about getting set up faster, not about getting on Spotify at all. Spotify says most distributors charge a fee or a commission, so compare cost against the number of songs you’ll release this year.

The list is on Spotify’s provider directory, and the automatic-access rule is on its page about getting access to Spotify for Artists. With a distributor that isn’t tagged, expect to use Spotify’s claim form and wait a few days for review. Annoying, not fatal.

What you’re really choosing is a pricing model. Work it out with your own release count:

• Several songs a year: a yearly plan. DistroKid costs $24.99/yr and TuneCore’s cheapest unlimited plan is $24.99/yr, both for unlimited uploads. Ditto Music is $19.00/yr. The catch is that the fee keeps your music up. DistroKid sends notice and then removes your releases, unless a release has the Leave a Legacy extra, per DistroKid’s page on a lapsed fee.
• One or two songs, kept up for years: a fee per release. CD Baby charges $9.99 per single with no yearly fee and keeps 9% of your streaming royalties.
• No budget at all. Free routes exist, and they trade the fee for a commission or missing features. Our page on putting music on Spotify for free goes through them.

Our roundup of the best music distribution services puts them side by side if you want the longer comparison.

Once you’ve picked one, the next job is the upload form, where most first releases go wrong.

How to upload music on Spotify through a distributor

Uploading music to Spotify means filling in your distributor’s release form, which has five parts: the audio, square cover art, the song and artist details, your Spotify artist link if you already have a profile, and a release date. Spotify accepts cover art between 640 and 10,000 pixels on each side at a 1:1 ratio, and distributors often ask for more (DistroKid suggests 3,000 x 3,000). Spotify’s metadata guidelines ask for the same artist name spelling on every release, no artist names in track titles, and a release date at least 7 days out so you can pitch the song. Before you start, you need the finished master, the artwork and a paid or free plan with your distributor.

The rules are on Spotify’s cover art requirements and metadata guidelines, and DistroKid’s numbers are on its artwork requirements page. Here’s how each part plays out on a real form:

• Artwork. Export at 3,000 x 3,000 from the original file. Spotify says not to upscale, so a small image stretched to size is the wrong fix.
• Artist name. Spell it exactly the way it appears on your past releases, punctuation and all. Spotify doesn’t allow names built from search terms like “Sleep Music,” either.
• Featured artists. Add them in the artist role fields, not in the song title. “Song (feat. Name)” typed into the title box is what the guidelines rule out.
• Spotify artist link. If you’ve released before, paste your artist link or URI so the song joins your existing profile. DistroKid’s page on the correct Spotify page shows where. First release ever? Tell the form you don’t have a profile yet.
• Release date. Four weeks out is comfortable. DistroKid recommends at least four weeks for a release to go live everywhere on the same day, per its custom release date page.

One DistroKid catch. The basic Musician plan can’t set a future release date, according to DistroKid’s page on future release dates. The song goes out as soon as it’s processed, which leaves almost no window to pitch. Picking your date takes Musician Plus, listed at $44.99/yr on DistroKid’s pricing page, or a higher plan. If the pitch matters to you, check this on any distributor before you pay.

A rejected upload the week before release feels awful. It’s almost always a mismatch between the form and the artwork or audio, which is one more reason to leave weeks, not days.

After the distributor delivers the release, you can claim your profile before anyone hears the song.

Claim your Spotify for Artists profile

You claim your Spotify profile by requesting access in Spotify for Artists, and there are two routes. If a preferred distributor delivered your music, Spotify grants access automatically when you request it. On DistroKid, that request starts in the Features menu under Special Access, then Spotify for Artists. Otherwise you submit a request at artists.spotify.com with links to your website or social accounts, and Spotify reviews it by hand, which can take a few days. To claim before your first release is live, you need your artist link from your distributor and the release’s UPC. Only one claim request can be open per profile at a time. A claimed profile shows the Registered Artist label, which replaced the blue Verified Artist check on Jan 28, 2026.

The routes are on Spotify’s page about getting access, and the DistroKid path is on its Spotify for Artists page. Claiming before release day is the whole point here, because the pitch form lives inside Spotify for Artists. No access, no pitch.

How early you can claim depends on where you are:

• First release, DistroKid. DistroKid’s guide to claiming before your first release says to upload at least four weeks ahead, find your artist URI with its Spotify lookup tool, then claim at artists.spotify.com/claim.
• Song already out. DistroKid’s page on registering your Spotify artist page says it can take up to a week after a first release goes live before Special Access works.
• Someone else claimed it. If a manager or old bandmate got there first, you can’t file a second request. Ask whoever holds Admin access to invite you.

About the check mark. Spotify’s note on the change says Registered Artist means the profile is claimed and managed in Spotify for Artists, and that access to the tools didn’t change. Verified by Spotify is a separate, newer badge. If you see someone selling “Spotify verification,” it’s the same scam wearing a different hat.

With access sorted, the one deadline left is the pitch.

How to release music on Spotify: pitch before release day

Releasing music on Spotify comes down to one deadline: pitch the song to Spotify’s editors in Spotify for Artists at least 7 days before release day. A song pitched in time also goes to your followers’ Release Radar playlists, which update every Friday, even if no editor adds it anywhere. You can pitch one unreleased song at a time, and anyone on the team with Admin or Editor access can do it. Compilations and songs where you’re only the featured artist can’t be pitched, and a song that’s already live can’t be pitched at all. Pitching is free and doesn’t guarantee a placement. These rules come from Spotify for Artists help pages, checked Sep 24, 2026.

The pitch rules are on Spotify’s page about pitching to playlist editors. In Spotify for Artists the form sits under Music, then Upcoming, and a release only shows there once your distributor has delivered it. That’s why the four-week upload date keeps coming up.

Release Radar is the part that pays off even when editors pass. Spotify’s Release Radar page adds a few rules you can plan around:

• A song stays in a listener’s Release Radar for up to 4 weeks if they haven’t heard it yet.
• Each listener gets one song per artist per week. On an EP, pitch the song you’d want a follower to hear first.
• Re-releases, Various Artists releases and some alternate versions (acoustic, karaoke, live) are left out. Remixes aren’t.

Filling in the form, skip the adjectives and give an editor something to file: the real genre and mood, what the song is about, where you’re from and what you’re doing to promote it. Our guide to how the Spotify algorithm works covers what happens after release day.

Never pay anyone for a playlist placement. Spotify’s page on services that guarantee streams says services claiming guaranteed placement break its terms, and fake streams can get your royalties withheld and your music removed.

Pitch sent, date set. Then it’s release day, and time to check the song landed where it should.

How to get music on Spotify on time and on the right profile

Music usually reaches Spotify within a week of upload. The distributor reviews and delivers the release first, which DistroKid puts at 1 to 2 business days, and Spotify then takes 2 to 5 days to put it live, by DistroKid’s figures. Other distributors add their own review time. For a set release date with a pitch, upload about four weeks early, which DistroKid recommends for a release to go live everywhere on the same day. On a first release, Spotify creates your artist profile automatically. If a song lands on another artist’s profile, fill in the content mismatch form in Spotify for Artists, and Spotify says it usually fixes the problem within a few days.

The timings are on DistroKid’s availability page and its Spotify page. The availability page also warns that a release can show up with artwork or tracks missing while a store is still processing it, so give it 48 to 72 hours before you email support. Our breakdown of how long DistroKid takes to upload covers the reasons a release gets held.

The problem that actually stings is a song landing on the wrong profile, which happens when two artists share a name. What to do depends on where you are:

• Before upload. Give your distributor your Spotify artist link. Spotify’s page on mixed-up music says delivering with a specified artist ID helps stop it happening.
• After release. Use the content mismatch form in Spotify for Artists. Spotify emails you once it’s fixed.
• Wrong title, date or credit. That’s release data, so your distributor sends the correction to Spotify, not you.

Money follows the same path as the music. Spotify pays your distributor, and your distributor pays you. One rule surprises people: a track needs at least 1,000 streams in the past 12 months to earn recording royalties, per Spotify’s page on track monetization eligibility.

Post music on Spotify, step by step

Posting music on Spotify takes five steps: pick a distributor Spotify marks as preferred, upload the release with a date about four weeks out, claim your profile in Spotify for Artists, pitch one song at least 7 days before release, and check the release on release day. You need a finished master, square cover art at least 640 pixels on each side, your artist name spelled the way you want it everywhere, and links to your website or social accounts in case Spotify reviews your claim by hand. Plan on about four weeks from upload to release day. More store guides are in the Platforms hub.