How to get a release from draft to delivered, and what it needs to pass review.

Before you start

Have your audio files ready, your artwork prepared, and your metadata gathered — track names, artists, contributors. You don't need all of it up front; a release saves as a draft automatically and you can come back to it.

The specs that block an upload

Audio — WAV only in the release editor. 44.1 kHz minimum, 16/24/32-bit (24-bit preferred), mono or stereo. FLAC is accepted through the Migration tool but not the editor.

Cover artwork — JPEG only, perfect square. Minimum 1500 × 1500 px; 3000 × 3000 preferred. Anything under 1500 errors out at upload.

Music video thumbnails — JPEG, exactly 1080 × 720 px (16:9). Other dimensions are rejected.

The five steps

1. Start a release. Releases → Add New. Choose Music, Spatial/Atmos, Video, or Import from Spotify.
2. Add release info. Artwork, title, type, genre, parental advisory, main artist, UPC, recording year and location, copyright, release date and time, pre-order settings.
3. Upload media. Audio per track, plus track-level ISRC, language, advisory, and contributors.
4. Set delivery. Which DSPs, which territories, what date and timezone.
5. Review and submit. Fix anything flagged red, then submit. Status moves to In SpaceHeater Review — typically 1–2 business days.

Two things that trip people up

Music videos must link to an audio ISRC that already exists in your catalog, and the version has to match exactly — explicit video to explicit ISRC. Spotify and Apple both reject unlinked videos.

Artist mapping is set at the contributor level, not in a separate DSP field. Releases → Release Info → Main Settings → Contributors, then paste the Spotify / Apple / SoundCloud URLs onto the artist chip.

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Music videos meant to be pitched alongside their audio need to be submitted two weeks before release date.

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