How to release music: step-by-step checklist

Releasing music here means publishing it to Spotify, Apple Music and the other streaming services through a distributor, for a single, EP or album. Posting a file to SoundCloud or playing it from Spotify’s Local Files is a different thing. Timings and rules come from Spotify, Apple and distributor help pages, checked Sep 24, 2026. Short version: upload four weeks before release day.

How to release music: the checklist in short

To release music independently, you finish the master and cover art, sign a split sheet with any co-writers, pick a distributor, upload about four weeks before release day, claim your artist profiles, pitch Spotify’s editors at least 7 days before release, share a pre-save link, and check the release when it goes live. That’s eight steps. Spotify and Apple Music don’t take uploads from artists, so the distributor is the step you can’t skip: it delivers your songs to the stores and pays you the royalties. Before you start, you need a finished master, square cover art and your artist name spelled the way you want it everywhere. Most releases go live within a week of upload.

Here’s the whole thing on one screen, counted back from release day:

• 5 weeks or more out: master finished, cover art at 3000 x 3000, split sheet signed.
• 5 weeks out: distributor picked, on a plan that lets you set a release date.
• 4 weeks out: release uploaded with the date set. ISRC and UPC come with it.
• 3 to 4 weeks out: profile claimed in Spotify for Artists once the release shows as delivered.
• At least 7 days out: one song pitched to Spotify’s editors.
• From delivery to release day: pre-save link shared everywhere.
• Release day: every store checked, live link swapped in.
• The week after: Apple Music for Artists claimed, song registered for publishing royalties.

Each step below gets a short section. Where a step has a full guide of its own, it’s linked in that section or listed at the bottom of the page. The Spotify side is on Spotify’s page about getting music on Spotify, and Apple says the same on its guide to distributing your music: use a distributor.

The first job happens before any distributor gets involved: the files and the paperwork.

Before you upload: master, cover art and split sheet

Before you upload a release, get three things ready: a finished master, square cover art, and a signed split sheet if anyone else helped write the song. For the master, Spotify for Artists recommends -14 LUFS integrated with true peak below -1 dB. For the art, Spotify accepts square images from 640 to 10,000 pixels on each side, and a 3000 x 3000 JPG in RGB fits every major distributor. The split sheet lists each writer’s percentage of the song, totaling 100%. It matters because under US copyright law, co-writers who never agree otherwise are presumed to own equal shares. All three are much harder to fix after the song is out.

The master. Spotify’s numbers are on its loudness normalization page. Louder isn’t better there: Spotify turns anything above -14 LUFS down on its default setting. The how-to, from mix prep to checking the file on three speakers, is in the mastering guide linked at the bottom of this page. If you’d rather not do it yourself, an automated service returns a master in minutes.

The cover art. Spotify’s cover art requirements ask for a 1:1 image and say not to upscale. So export 3000 x 3000 from the original file, not from a phone screenshot you stretched. Leave off web addresses, social media logos and streaming service logos too. DistroKid’s artwork requirements list all three as not allowed.

The split sheet. This one’s awkward, which is why people skip it. The US Copyright Office’s letter on jointly owned works says three co-writers each get a third unless they’ve agreed to something else, even if one of them wrote most of it. ASCAP’s splits guide says to agree at the point of creation, in writing. Five minutes of an uncomfortable chat now beats a frozen royalty payment later. Our free split sheet template checks the numbers add up and prints a copy to sign.

With the files and the paperwork done, you need someone to deliver them.

Pick a distributor

Pick a distributor by matching its pricing model to the number of songs you’ll release this year. TheDebutRoom compares distributors on what a year of releases actually costs, and that math usually points one way: a yearly plan such as DistroKid or TuneCore if you’ll put out several songs, a one-time fee per release such as CD Baby if you’ll put out one or two and want them kept up for years. Check two things before you pay. First, whether the plan lets you set a future release date, since the pitch and pre-saves depend on it. Second, what happens to your songs if you stop paying. Spotify’s provider directory also tags some distributors as preferred, which gets you into Spotify for Artists faster.

The numbers, from our data file:

• DistroKid: $24.99/yr for unlimited uploads. 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.
• TuneCore: $24.99/yr for its cheapest unlimited plan.
• CD Baby: $9.99 per single, no yearly fee, and it keeps 9% of your streaming royalties.

The release date catch is the one that bites first-timers. DistroKid’s page on future release dates says the basic Musician plan can’t pick one, so the song goes out as soon as it’s processed. Picking a date takes Musician Plus or Ultimate. If you want the four-week runway this checklist is built on, check the plan before you pay.

The preferred tag is on Spotify’s provider directory. Every distributor listed there can deliver to Spotify, so the tag is about a faster setup, not about getting on Spotify at all.

For the full side-by-side, the best music distribution services roundup compares seven distributors on price, cut, payout rules and splits.

Whichever one you pick, it hands you the two codes every release needs.

ISRC and UPC codes

Every release needs a UPC and every recording on it needs an ISRC, and your distributor assigns both free when you upload. The UPC identifies the release as a product, so a single has one and an album has one. The ISRC identifies one recording and stays with it for life, which is how streaming services keep its play count together. You don’t need to buy either for a digital release. The one rule to remember: when a song you’ve already released goes on a new release, such as a single moving onto an album, reuse its original ISRC. A new ISRC makes it look like a brand new recording with zero plays.

What counts as a new recording, per IFPI’s ISRC FAQ:

• Same code: the single on the album, or a remaster of the same mix (generally).
• New code: a remix, an edit, or any change in length of more than 10 seconds.

Two DistroKid details from its help page on existing codes. Entering an ISRC you already have needs Musician Plus or Ultimate, since the basic Musician plan can’t. And DistroKid doesn’t accept UPCs from outside DistroKid, so every release there gets a new one. That’s fine: streams follow the ISRC, not the UPC.

Keep a list of every release’s UPC and each track’s ISRC somewhere that isn’t your distributor’s dashboard. You’ll want it for a support ticket or a move to another distributor. The full rules, including the US agency’s prefix fee, are in what is an ISRC code.

The codes arrive through the upload form, and that’s also where the most important date gets set.

How to release a song: upload four weeks before release day

TheDebutRoom’s rule for how to release a song: upload it about four weeks before release day, not the night before. Four weeks gives the distributor and every store time to process the release, lets you claim your Spotify for Artists profile while the song is still unreleased, and keeps the Spotify pitch window open, which closes 7 days before release. DistroKid recommends at least four weeks for a release to go live everywhere on the same day. Upload late and the song still comes out, just without a pitch, a pre-save campaign or much room to fix a rejected upload. The form itself takes an evening: audio, artwork, song details, your existing artist links and the date.

How long each part takes, by DistroKid’s figures on its availability page: 1 to 2 business days for DistroKid to review and deliver, then 2 to 5 days on Spotify and 1 to 7 days on Apple Music. So most releases could be live in a week. The other three weeks are for you. The four-week recommendation is on DistroKid’s custom release date page.

The form fields that cause the most trouble, per Spotify’s metadata guidelines:

• Artist name. Spell it exactly as on your past releases, punctuation included.
• Featured artists. Put them in the artist role fields, not in the title as “(feat. Name)”.
• Artist links. If you’ve released before, paste your Spotify and Apple Music artist links so the song lands on your profile, not a stranger’s with the same name. DistroKid’s page on the correct artist page shows where they go.

A rejection email the week before release day is a special kind of stomach drop. With four weeks of runway, it’s an annoyance you fix and resubmit, not a missed date.

Once the distributor delivers the release, you can claim your profiles while the song is still a secret.

Claim your artist profiles and pitch Spotify’s editors

After your distributor delivers the release, claim your profile in Spotify for Artists and pitch one song to Spotify’s editors at least 7 days before release day. The pitch form sits under Music, then Upcoming, and a release only appears there after delivery. You can pitch one unreleased song at a time. A song pitched in time also goes to your followers’ Release Radar playlists, even if no editor picks it up. Apple Music works on a later schedule: you can claim an Apple Music for Artists page only after your music has been live on Apple Music for at least five business days. Pitching is free, and it doesn’t guarantee a placement.

The pitch rules and the Release Radar promise are on Spotify’s page about pitching to playlist editors. Release Radar is the reason to pitch even when you don’t expect an editor to bite. It’s the one sure way to land in front of the people who already follow you.

How you claim Spotify depends on your distributor. Spotify’s page on getting access says a preferred distributor gets you in automatically when you request access. Otherwise you fill in a claim form and wait for a manual review, so start early. A claimed profile shows the Registered Artist label, which replaced the blue Verified Artist check on Jan 28, 2026.

The Apple timing is on Apple Music for Artists’ claim page. Put a reminder in your calendar for release day plus a week.

The step-by-step with menu names, and what to write in the pitch, is in our guide to posting music on Spotify.

The pitch goes to editors. The next step goes to fans.

Pre-saves and release-week promotion

Share one pre-save link from the day your release is delivered until release day, then swap in the live link. A pre-save lets a fan sign in once, weeks ahead, and have the release land in their library on release day. If you use DistroKid, HyperFollow makes a free pre-save page for every release on every plan, and a fan who pre-saves it also follows you on Spotify. Spotify’s own pre-save tool, Countdown Pages, is narrower: it needs at least 3,000 monthly active listeners and covers new albums and EPs, not singles. Spotify says nearly 60% of people who pre-save an album stream it in its first week. No pre-save tool can buy you playlist placement.

The HyperFollow details are on DistroKid’s HyperFollow page: the page adds links to the other stores by itself on release day, and the link never changes, so posts you make now keep working. The Countdown Pages rules and the 60% figure are on Spotify’s Countdown Pages page. On another distributor, look in your dashboard for a pre-save page before you pay for a separate service.

Keep release week promo simple and repeatable:

• The link goes everywhere at once: bio, stories, the email to your list, the group chat.
• One short clip per few days: a snippet, the cover reveal, the story behind the song.
• Release day: a post with the live link, then a thank-you to everyone who pre-saved.

Then the part nobody enjoys. A week in, the counter says 9. That’s 9 people with your song in their library on day one, and it’s more than a post that got likes and nothing else. Don’t pay anyone to push it higher. Spotify’s page on services that guarantee streams says fake streams can get your royalties withheld and your music removed.

Then it’s release day.

Release day and the weeks after

On release day, check the song on Spotify, Apple Music and the other big stores, then register it for publishing royalties and watch your first month of data. Open your artist profile on each one and confirm the artwork, every track and the artist name are right. If the song landed on another artist’s profile, use the content mismatch form in Spotify for Artists. If a title, date or credit is wrong, ask your distributor to send the correction, since stores take release data from the distributor. After that, register the song with your PRO and with The MLC using the numbers from your split sheet. On Spotify, a track needs at least 1,000 streams in the past 12 months to earn recording royalties.

The mismatch route is on Spotify’s page on mixed-up music. A store sometimes shows a release with missing artwork or tracks while it’s still processing. DistroKid’s availability page says to give it 48 to 72 hours before you contact support.

The 1,000-stream rule is on Spotify’s track monetization page. It’s not a reason to panic about a quiet first week. It’s a reason to keep pointing people at the song for the whole year, not only on release day.

Publishing is the money most first-timers leave on the table. Your distributor collects for the recording. The song itself earns through a PRO (performance royalties) and, in the US, The MLC (streaming mechanicals), which self-administered songwriters can join without a publisher. Every co-writer should register the same split.

A week or so after release, claim Apple Music for Artists, write down what worked, and start the next countdown. More release prep, from codes to cover art, is in the release hub.