How early to send your music before release day

Once your distributor sends a release, it usually reaches Spotify and the other stores within days. That's the short answer to how long it takes to upload music to Spotify. The better question is how far in advance to send it, and the answer there is weeks, because most of what helps a new song happens while it's still unreleased.

This guide covers what happens between sending your music and release day, why each part needs time, and what can slow a release down. It's part of how to release music, which walks through every phase of a release.

How long it takes to get music on Spotify

You can't upload music to Spotify yourself. Your distributor delivers the audio, the cover art and the release details to Spotify and the other stores, and each store processes the release on its side. (How to get your music on Spotify covers the distributor and the files.)

Spotify puts a number on its part. Once your distributor submits a release, it can take around 48 hours to show up under Music, then Upcoming, in Spotify for Artists. Other stores move at their own pace, and the distributor's own review comes before any of it. In a normal week the whole trip takes days. In a busy one, or when something needs a second look, it runs longer.

So delivery time is rarely what decides your date. What decides it is everything you want to do with the song before it comes out.

What sending early gives you

A release that arrives at the stores the week it comes out still goes live. It misses what only happens beforehand: a pitch to the editors, a pre-save, a Canvas in place on the day and an announcement with a link that works. Sending early opens each of those.

• Room for the review. If a store or your distributor flags the cover or a credit, you fix it and send it again without moving the date you've announced.
• The pitch window. Editors can only consider a song before it's out.
• The pre-save. Fans can save the song once the stores have it, so it lands in their library on release day.
• Your profile. The release appears in Spotify for Artists as upcoming, where you add the Canvas and copy the link for your posts.

The pitch window: Spotify's 7-day rule

Spotify's editors hear about new songs through a pitch form in Spotify for Artists, and it works only for music that isn't out yet. Spotify's own page sets two rules worth building your date around. It asks you to deliver your music at least 7 days before release so the editors have time to listen. And if you pitch an unreleased song at least 7 days before release, Spotify adds it to your followers' Release Radar playlists.

Seven days is the floor. Editors plan playlists ahead, and a song they hear about weeks out has more time in front of them than one that arrives at the deadline. Spotify also notes you can edit a pitch up to release day, with no guarantee the editors see the changes, which is one more reason to get it right early. The Spotify editorial pitch covers what to write, and Release Radar explains how that playlist fills.

Other stores have editors too. They mostly hear about new music from labels and distributors, which is another reason to have the release with your distributor in good time.

The pre-save and the announcement

A pre-save link lets a fan save your song before it's out, so it's waiting in their library on release day. On Apple Music the same idea is called a pre-add, set up through your distributor. Either way, the stores need the release before the link can work.

A pre-save also gives your announcement somewhere to send people. Posts, a mailing list message and a note to the curators who cover your kind of music all work better with a link that does something. The more time the link has, the more saves it can gather. Spotify pre-save explains how it works, and pre-release promotion covers what to post while you wait.

What can hold a release up

Most delays come from a handful of things the stores check on every release. Each one is easy to fix with time in hand and stressful the week before.

• The cover. Website addresses, social handles, logos, prices or dates on the art get releases sent back. Apple's cover art guidelines list what it refuses. The album cover checker tests your file in the browser.
• The credits. An artist name spelled two ways, a featured artist in the wrong field or a missing songwriter. Song credits and metadata goes through each field.
• Rights questions. A cover song, a sample or a beat you licensed can prompt the stores to ask for proof. Have the license or permission ready to send.
• The wrong profile. A release can land on another artist's page when two artists share a name. Spotify suggests checking with your distributor if a release doesn't show up where you expect.

How far in advance to send your music

The date you can send your music is the day the files, the cover and the credits are finished. Your release day comes after that, with enough room for everything in the sections above. For a single, that means weeks, comfortably past Spotify's 7-day minimum. An album or EP with more tracks, more credits and a longer campaign deserves more. The album rollout guide covers the longer plan.

Two more things shape the date. Most of the industry releases on Fridays, and the best day to release music explains why and when another day makes sense. And holidays and big release weeks can slow the stores down, so leave more room around them.

How Audora times a release

In Audora, the release day you pick comes with the room the editors need. Audora dates your release to give them time, checks the cover, the audio and the credits before you send, and delivers to Spotify, Apple Music, TikTok, YouTube and 140+ stores. The music also goes into the databases radio stations, cars and song recognition read.

• A pitch with every release. Every release goes out with a pitch for the people who market it to the stores, written from your answers about the song.
• Your own moves, on the day they matter. Your pitch in Spotify for Artists, the pre-save and the Canvas each come up on the release's calendar when it's time.
• The art to spec. Cover art, a Canvas and a bio made to the stores' spec, with full commercial rights to everything made.

Your account holds the full calendar for each release, every step dated from the day you pick. Audora keeps tuning that calendar as it learns what works best for its artists, adding steps, dropping others and moving some earlier or later. What every track gets lays out a release from before to after.