Music Distribution Metadata Checklist: What to Verify Before You Submit

A distribution upload is not just an audio file in a queue. It is a bundle of names, credits, codes, dates, rights statements, artwork, and platform instructions. When those fields disagree, a release can be delayed, miscredited, split across artist profiles, or harder to account for.

Use this checklist before you submit. The exact fields and file rules vary by distributor and destination, so treat the service's current delivery guide as the final authority. Your goal is simple: one clean source of truth that survives every handoff.

Build a release-level record

Start with the release title, release type, primary artist, label name, catalog number if used, original release date, and intended availability date. Decide whether the project is a single, EP, album, deluxe edition, live release, remix package, or another format supported by the distributor.

Check spelling, capitalization, punctuation, version language, and featured-artist presentation. A title should describe the release rather than carry promotional copy, platform names, URLs, or search terms that do not belong in the official title field.

Make a master sheet for the release. The same title and date should appear in the distributor form, audio file names, artwork notes, campaign calendar, and any physical package. If a field changes, update the master sheet before changing the upload.

Check every track

For each track, verify the title, version information, track number, disc number when applicable, primary artist, featured artist, duration, audio file, and explicit or clean status. Confirm that the file you are uploading is the version described by the metadata.

Do not let a live version, edit, remaster, instrumental, or acoustic version inherit the wrong description. A distinct recording generally needs its own recording identifier, and the distributor may have specific rules for reusing an existing identifier on a genuine same-recording re-release.

Listen to the start and end of every file. Check for the intended silence, unwanted count-ins, clipped endings, wrong exports, and a mismatch between the file and the final master. Metadata cannot repair an incorrect audio file.

Credit the people behind the recording

List the primary artist, featured artists, remixer, producer, mixer, mastering engineer, writers, composers, lyricists, arrangers, and publishers where the delivery form asks for them. Use the required role for each contributor instead of packing several roles into a title field.

Confirm spelling and identity before submission. Common names can create attribution problems, so use the identity details and profile links supported by your distributor or destination. Do not invent a credit to fill an empty field, and do not omit a contributor because the credit feels secondary.

Compare the delivery credits with the split sheet, producer agreement, and publishing records. The distributor form is not a replacement for a rights registration, but contradictions between systems are a useful warning that the source record needs review.

Verify codes and rights

Check the ISRC for each recording and the UPC or EAN for the release when you have one. Do not create a new code simply because a familiar field is empty, and do not reuse a recording code for a materially different version. Ask the distributor how it assigns codes when you are unsure.

Confirm the copyright owner, label or imprint name, master ownership, composition status, and territories. Mark covers, samples, interpolations, public-domain material, and other derivative elements as required by the service. A delivery form cannot create permission where the underlying right has not been cleared.

Keep supporting documents with the release record. Store the final agreement, license, split sheet, and permission notes in a place the team can find later. If a takedown, correction, or claim arrives, the answer should not depend on one person's memory.

Review artwork, language, and flags

Use artwork that meets the distributor's current file requirements. Confirm dimensions, file type, color space, safe areas, and whether text, logos, or third-party marks are allowed. The image should match the release identity and should not promise a version that the audio and metadata do not describe.

Select the primary language and genre that accurately describe the music. Add a secondary genre or mood only when the destination supports it and the choice is defensible. Search visibility is not improved by choosing a misleading category.

Set explicit, clean, instrumental, lyrics, and content advisory fields carefully. If one track is explicit, check whether the service expects the flag at track level, release level, or both. Confirm lyrics and language fields against the actual recording.

Confirm timing and delivery fields

Set the delivery date with enough lead time for review, corrections, and platform processing. A distributor may require its own cutoff for editorial consideration or a future release date, so read the current help documentation rather than relying on a past campaign calendar.

Check territory availability, subscription and download settings, label copy, and any platform-specific options. If the release is part of a physical and digital campaign, compare the digital date, the physical manufacturing schedule, and the public announcement.

Save a copy of the final submitted metadata and note the submission time, delivery status, and ticket number if one exists. This creates a record of what was actually sent, not what the team intended to send.

Audit the release after delivery

A successful delivery message only says the package was accepted for processing. Open the artist profile and release page on the target services once the record is available. Check the title, artist profile, track order, artwork, version label, contributors, explicit status, and date.

Look for split artist profiles, duplicate releases, missing credits, wrong artwork, and an incorrect clean or explicit setting. Take notes and report the exact field that is wrong through the distributor's correction path. Avoid submitting a second release just to work around a metadata mistake unless the distributor tells you that is the correct remedy.

Metadata is operational care. The song remains the center, but accurate delivery data helps listeners find the intended recording, helps collaborators receive proper credit, and gives the team a cleaner record when the release has to be updated.