A step by step guide of how to upload your content and create your release for publishing. We recommend that you create your release on a desktop and not on a mobile.
Login using your account email: It is case sensitive. Be sure you use the same format at the purchase email.
Go to -> Music -> DISTRIBUTE MUSIC -> Click on "CREATE A NEW RELEASE
This page is at the Album Level (aka. The release)
Release Cover Image:
Upload an image, it must be square and 3000 x 3000 pixels in jpg. format. You must add the name of the person who made the image. Please use full name.
UPC/EAN code:
The serial number of the album. It is unique to the album. If this album has been previously published you must use the SAME UPC as the original. If it is a new release and it has not been previously published we will provide one for you. Mark the red box.
Genres:
Please choose a MAXIMUM of 3 genres and 3 sub-genres. Be sure that a genre field is black and not grey to be sure your choice has been saved. If you can’t find the one you are looking for, please contact us.
Release Info: The Album or Single or EP
Your release may have a minimum of 1 track and a maximum of 50 tracks.
Do not use ALL CAPS, unless this is a specific attribute to the artist name. Do not use emoji's in any of the text, names, or lyrics. Please be consitent in spelling and format of the names when using the names in mulltiple places. If there is a name with a difference in spelling or capitalization the system will recognize each version as a different person.
Release Title: The name of your album or release. If the release is a remix, meets or vs, please add to the title in brackets.
(Demorelease Remix), (Demorelease meets/vs Demotrack)
The title must appear on the cover art as it does in the title.
Volume and parts must be shortened to, Vol. or Pt.
Album Title, Vol.1
Album Title, Pt. 1
Label: If you are not truly represented by a label who manages your music then you write “Indie.”
Publisher: The person or organization (PRO) who is responsible for collecting the royalties for your composition. If you are the publisher, please write your name or if there is no publisher please write, "Copyright Control".
Sub-Publisher: They act on behalf of the Publisher to collect publishing royalties in a specific territory. In most cases there is no sub-publisher and this field should remain empty.
The C-line and the P-line: Please provide the name of the individual or company who is legally authorized to sell this album. If you are not the copyright holder, you must have obtained a license from the rights holder in order to distribute their work. This information may be displayed publicly.
© Copyright holder (musical work)
C-line: The owner of the composition and the year they obtained the rights.
℗ Phonograph / sound recording right holder
P-line: The owner of the master or sound recording and the year they obtained the rights.
Description: Please write a description of the music in the album. The more descriptive, the better for representation and promotion.
Release is a compilation: Check the box if it is a collection of albums (releases).
Original release date:
If this particular release - recording/Album/Single (soundfile or sound files) - has been previously released then use that date (in the past). If it is a new release (a new sound recording) set a date for when you would like it to be released (in the future). Please note that it can take up to 10 days for your music to be live on the biggest global streaming services and is can take longer for your music to be live on the smaller global streaming services. It can take up to 4 weeks for your music to be live in China. So you must plan ahead and publish your release at least 10 days to 4 weeks in advance if you would like it to be live on your chosen date. New releases will be highlighted for banner promotion on the Chinese DSPs for the possibility to be chosen to be displayed on the new release charts on the day of the official release date.
The next step is to add artists that will be in the release on the track level. You will add the artist names to the track in the next page when you upload the sound file. The artist listed here are the performing artists in the releases: The artist can be the main performer or featuring performer. At the moment we don’t have other options. Please send us a message about the performer if they need to be assigned a specific role, such as remixer etc.
Add Artists: When you have already published releases from the Musicinfo distribution platform the artists that have appeared on your previously published releases will be listed from the dropdown menu; Add existing artists. Do not use ALL CAPS unless it is a specific attribute to the artist name, in most cases it is not.
Click “ADD NEW ARTIST” button to add a new artist. Give your artist an artist name, the name you want visible on the album and songs.
Your list of artists that appear on the release will be on the left and when you select the artist the Artist information page will come up on the right. You can now add the image and artist information. When this artist page is complete the red warning sign listed beside your artist name in the artist list will turn green, when you click next and come back to the page. If it is not green there is still information required.
Please list all artists separately and without any other accompanying information. If the release has remixers or meets or vs, add each artists individually.
Artist information:
Upload the image: it should be square and at least 300 x 300. (This square size is required of many DSPs.) Please add the credits to the person who created the artist image and the year.
Spotify artist ID: Search your artist on Spotify and copy the number from the URL that comes after: …/artist/your Spotify artist ID number is here.
Apple artist ID: Search your artist on Apple Music and from your artist profile thumbnail click on the … and click “copy link” and then paste it in your browser search bar to see the link. Copy the number from the URL that comes after …/artist/your-artist-name/your Apple artist ID number is here.
You must use the artist ID that already exists on Spotify or Apple music or your music will be linked to the wrong artist. If you are a new artist and haven’t distributed your music to Spotify or Apple then check the, “I don’t have a Spotify/Apple ID”, and one will be provided for you. Artists with names that are common will be flagged and checked against existing artists on Spotify and Apple. It is fraud to use someone else’s ID and will not be tolerated.
Artist’s country: Choose from the drop down menu.
Artist email address: Alternately you can add the email address of the account holder.
Artist image credit: Automatically added when you uploaded the image, it can be changed here.
Artist image year: Automatically added when you uploaded the image, it can be changed here.
Biography: Write a biography about the artist. More detail about the artist is better to attract more fans and followers.
Artist’s role on this release: Main, Featuring or Both. If they are a remixer or meets or vs please choose: Main.
Members:
This is for artists (the artist name that the group goes by in performance) that represent a group or band of musicians. Add all the instrumental members of the group who represent the name of the artist.
ADD TRACK: Click the button and the window to your computer will open for you to search and add the track from your computer. The file needs to be a WAV file, 16bit, 44.1 kHz with a maximum size of 750 Mb. The sound file must be in stereo.
The tracks for your release will be listed in the column on the left. If there is a red triangle next to it, that means the information of the track is incomplete. Incomplete fields for the track will appear in red text when you go to the REVIEW page and then back to the TRACKS page. Careful: If you hit the trash can in this column it will delete the track and all the metadata you have input and you will need to complete again.
Track Details:
Track Name: Do not use ALL CAPS. A track title must be unique, if there are tracks with the same name they must be differentiated somehow. Featuring artists’ names do not need to be added to the track title, they will automatically added to the title when assigned to the track. If the track is a remix, meets or vs, please add to the title in brackets.
Genre: Select one genre and one sub-genre for each track.
ISRC code: The International Standard Recording Code is the serial for your unique track (sound file) and will remain the same forever. If you have distributed your track before you will use the same ISRC as before. If it is a new release or a significantly altered version of the original and you don’t yet have an ISRC then we will create one for you, please mark the, “Don’t have an ISRC” box.
ISWC: The International Standard Work Code is the serial number for the composition of the music. It is not required to upload your music.
Track Artists: Please choose from the drop down box of your list of artists created in this release or from and earlier published release. Artists created on a release will only appear on other release drafts after they have been published.
If the performer is a remixer, vs or meets please add as Main artist, and be sure that the role is added to the track title in brackets (Main Remix, Main One meets/vs Main Two).
Please only include ONE name of ONE artist per profile.
Track file: You can listen to your track here if you are unsure you have uploaded the correct file. The preview may not load the file if the draft is old or there has been changes to the metadata after it had been uploaded or there may be a temporary issue with you uploading the track file. If the track name in the left column has a green triangle then it has been successfully uploaded. If you click on the … in the player you can download the file.
Adjust: In rare cases the metadata that comes with the sound file may display a different duration. If necessary you may adjust it here.
Instrumental track: Check this box if there are no lyrics in your track.
Do not use emoji's in any of the text, names, or lyrics. Please add a NEW line for every contributor, only add ONE name per line.
Lyrics Publisher Details:
Lyrics Publisher: The person or organization (PRO) who is responsible for collecting the royalties for your lyrics. Please use full name.
Lyrics Sub-publisher: They act on behalf of the Publisher to collect publishing royalties in a specific territory. In most cases there is no sub-publisher and this field should remain empty.
Lyricists: Please use the lyricist’s real name in full. Add a new lyricist line if there are multiple lyricists.
Lyrics copyright owner(s): The one(s) who has the rights to use the lyrics. The percentage must be adjusted accordingly.
Lyrics copyright owner(s): Most often the owner is the one who wrote the lyrics in the case of self-publishers; it may also be the record label, who the artist is represented by and owns a percentage of the lyrics based on the contractual agreement. Add new owners and adjust the percentage accordingly if there are multiple owners.
Lyrics: You are required to add your lyrics to your track for your music to be eligible to be published to certain stores. If your track does not contain complete lyrics it will not be published to certain stores. Many stores now (Apple Music) will not accept new music without any lyrics or with incomplete lyrics. Lyrics are metadata and will help to make your music more easily found.
Lyrics Year: The year the lyrics were written/copyrighted.
Lyrics language: The language of the lyrics.
Explicit lyrics: Please check if your lyrics are not clean.
Track copyright details: This information will be copied from the release page. You can make adjustments here if there are differences on the track level.
Public domain: Check this box if this music is in the public domain. Many stores (Amazon) do not accept content from the public domain, this is to limit duplicate content. Content is under the public domain for 2 reasons: it’s copyright has expired typically over 70-120 years from the creator’s death depending on the country or the creator has chosen to have the content put in the public domain for all to use.
No collecting society: If you are not a member of a PRO -Performance Rights Organization-, then please check this box. If you are a member of a PRO please inform them of your release so they will collect royalties from the public performances of your music. Your PRO will not collect royalties for the usage of your music from China.
Please see the directions in the Release Info about the copyright, C-line, P-line, etc.
If there are multiple owners please separate with a (,) comma.
All contributors must be listed using their full legal names, no aliases can be accepted.
Composition copyright: The person(s) who wrote the song and own the composition. If this is a remix or cover here would be the original writer(s) of the song. If the Artists(performers) are using borrowed content from another song or composition, you will be required to produce the required licenses and documents that shows that you have the right to use and publish the content.
Add composers if there are multiple writers and adjust the percentage accordingly. Please add a NEW line for every contributor, only one name per line.
Recording producer copyright:
Producer copyright holder: The person or people who produced the music.
Performance right holders:
Performer: All the performers or instrumentalists on the track. Add performers as needed and adjust the percentage accordingly.
Here you can see the overview of your release. You won’t be able to SELECT STORE before you have successfully completed the release and there is no text in red to signal an incomplete field. If there is text in red it mean that you need to go to the according page and complete the information. When you toggle back and forth from the pages the information will save and the pages will update. Once the REVIEW page is clear then you can go to SELECT STORES.
After clicking "continue to store selection" you cannot make any changes to your release information, even if you don’t publish. Please make sure all information is correct before proceeding.
There are 3 choices. You can choose any of the selections at any time. If you only publish to one selection now you can publish to the other two at a later time by checking the box and clicking PUBLISH.
When you PUBLISH your release you will be reminded that by publishing you have agreed to the terms including the Anti-Fraud policy https://musicinfo.io/anti-fraud-policy
Choose the release date you would like the release to be published in the stores. If it is a new release then you should use the same date that you set in the creation of the release (PAGE ONE). If it is a previously published release you can schedule it for a future date or as soon as possible. Please note that it can take up to 4 weeks for your release to be published in the Chinese stores and 10 days for your release to be published in the global stores, so upload and publish your release in advance to be sure your release will be processed and published in time.
If it is a previously published release then you can check “As soon as possible” if there is no release schedule necessary.
Distribution (China):
The stores in this selection is exclusive with the exception of TME (QQ Kugou & Kuwo) and Netease. We can still distribute your music to the other DSPs if your music is already on TME or Netease.
Distribution (Other):
This selection is exclusive with exception. If there is a specific store you would like to access or deny then please contact us at support@musicinfo.io and explain your request, we can then manually adjust the selection.
Sync Licensing
When you check this selection you will be given the option to select specific tracks from your album of all tracks.
When you PUBLISH your release you will be reminded that by publishing you have agreed to the terms including the Anti-Fraud policy https://musicinfo.io/anti-fraud-policy
Then you will click on PUBLISH or CANCEL. If you do CANCEL your release will remain as an unpublished release until it is published, it cannot be edited. If you need to change the content of the release then you need create a new release and publish that one, if there are small changes needed, please contact support@musicinfo.io and we can assist.
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