How to release music in 2026: every step, start to finish

Releasing a song means getting it onto Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, TikTok and the other stores on a day you pick, with everything around it ready: the cover, the credits, a pitch for the editors and people waiting to hear it. As an independent artist you do it through a distributor, the service that delivers your music to the stores and pays you what it earns.

This guide walks through the phases of a release in the order they happen and what each one needs. It's written for a single, and the same phases hold for an EP or an album. For the Spotify side in detail (the specs, Spotify for Artists and the pitch form), read how to get your music on Spotify alongside it.

What releasing a song involves

Every release goes through the same phases. Some take an afternoon, some take weeks, and a few only work if they happen before release day. Knowing the order is most of the work: the files have to be done before you can send them, the date has to leave time for a pitch, and the pitch has to land while the song is still unreleased.

1. Finish. The master, the cover art, the credits and the words and pictures around the song.
2. Date. A release day far enough out for the editors and for you.
3. Send. Your distributor delivers the release to the stores.
4. Pitch and pre-save. The editors hear about the song, and fans can save it before it's out.
5. Release day. The song goes live and you tell everyone.
6. The weeks after. Listening builds, the stores' recommendations take notice and you plan the next one.

Before any of that comes the shape of the release. Single, EP or album helps you choose. With a handful of finished songs, a waterfall release lets each single build on the one before, and a longer project gets its own plan in how to roll out an album.

Phase one: finish the files and the art

The stores take your music as files and text, and most delays start here. Get these ready before you settle on a date.

The master. Send your highest-quality stereo master as a WAV or FLAC file. Spotify's audio guidelines ask for the file as it was mastered, with no converting or upsampling on your side. If the song is already out somewhere, keep its original ISRC so the play history stays with it.

The cover art. A square image. Spotify accepts 640 to 10,000 px per side, and 3000 × 3000 px is the size most distributors ask for. Keep the text to your artist name and the title: URLs, social handles, other brands' logos and prices on a cover are common reasons a store sends a release back. How to make an album cover covers the design and the rules, and the album cover checker tests your file in the browser.

Credits and metadata. Artist names spelled the same everywhere, every songwriter and producer credited, the right genre and language, and an ISRC for each recording. These fields are how your streams get counted and your royalties reach the right people. Song credits and metadata explains each one, and who owns your ISRC codes explains the codes and why they should stay yours.

The words and pictures around the song. A bio, a few press photos and a Canvas (the looping video Spotify plays behind a song) all get used in the weeks around release. Spotify's Canvas guidelines ask for a vertical 9:16 loop, 3–8 seconds long and 720–1080 px tall, as an MP4 or JPG. Start with how to write an artist bio, press photos for musicians and how to make a Spotify Canvas, and test your video with the Spotify Canvas checker.

For one list to work through, the music release checklist groups everything by phase, and release essentials puts it on one printable page.

Phase two: choose a date with room for the editors

A common mistake on a first release is sending the song on Monday and releasing it on Friday. The song gets out, but it misses everything that only happens before release day.

Editors at Spotify, Apple Music and the other stores plan their playlists ahead, and they can only consider a song they hear about while it's still unreleased. On Spotify the rule is public: pitch an unreleased song at least 7 days before release and Spotify adds it to your followers' Release Radar playlists. A date weeks out also gives you a buffer. If the stores send something back, you fix it and redeliver without moving the day you've announced.

A date further out gives you time to tell people. A pre-save needs a few weeks to gather saves, your posts need something to point at, and press and curators need time to listen. A date that's too close leaves no room for any of it.

Then there's the day of the week. Most of the industry releases on Fridays, and the best day to release music explains why, when a different day makes sense, and how to work around holidays and other big releases.

Phase three: send it to the stores

Spotify, Apple Music and the other stores don't take uploads from artists. Your distributor delivers the audio, the art and the metadata to each one in the format it requires, and collects what your streams earn. Releasing on Apple Music and releasing on every platform cover what each store adds to the steps.

Delivery itself usually takes days, though stores review releases and a busy week runs longer. How early to send your music explains the timing and what can hold a release up. Send early, then let the release sit with the stores until its day.

When you compare distributors, look at what each one does around the delivery, whether the ISRCs are yours to take with you and what the price includes. How much it costs to release a song breaks down the fees.

Once your release shows up as upcoming, claim your profile in Spotify for Artists and Apple Music for Artists if you haven't yet. You'll need Spotify for Artists for the next phase.

Phase four: pitch the editors and open the pre-save

This is the window between sending the music and release day, and it's where a release done right pulls ahead.

The pitch. In Spotify for Artists, an upcoming song appears under Music, then Upcoming, with a pitch form. You describe the song: its genre, mood, instruments and the story behind it. Spotify's own advice is that more detail gives a song a better chance. Editors at other stores mostly hear about new music through distributors and labels, so what you tell your distributor about the song travels with it. Pitching early also secures the Release Radar spot for your followers. The Spotify editorial pitch goes through what editors look for.

The pre-save. A pre-save link lets fans save the song before it's out, so it lands in their library on release day. It gives your announcement somewhere to send people, and every save is a listener who has the song on the day. Spotify pre-save explains how it works and what to do with the link.

The Canvas and the profile. Upload the Canvas in Spotify for Artists once the song is there, update your profile photo and bio, and pin the new release when it's out.

The word. Tell people the song is coming: posts, a message to your mailing list, a line to the press and curators who cover your kind of music. An electronic press kit keeps everything a writer needs in one link. What to post and where is the subject of how to promote your music.

Release day and the weeks after

On release day the song goes live in each store. Share the links everywhere you have an audience, ask people to save the song and follow you, and thank the people who pre-saved. Follows matter beyond the day: they're what puts your next release into your followers' Release Radar.

The weeks after count as much as the day. Spotify's recommendations, Discover Weekly and radio among them, are built from listening: who plays a song, who saves it and who comes back to it. A song that keeps being played and shared in the weeks after its release gives them more to work with than one that peaks on the day and goes quiet. Release Radar and Discover Weekly explain how each one fills, and how to get more listeners covers what moves the numbers after the day.

Watch where the listening comes from. Spotify for Artists shows which playlists send you plays, so you can thank the curators and see which posts landed. Then start on the next release. Steady releasing builds the follower base each new song reaches first.

How a release runs in Audora

Every phase above happens inside your Audora account, release by release. You bring the music; Audora sets each step up or dates it on the release's calendar.

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• The files and the art. Cover art, a bio in three lengths, a Canvas and a logo, made to the stores' spec, with full commercial rights to everything made. Audora checks your files against the stores' rules before you send.
• The date. Audora dates your release to give the editors time.
• The delivery. Your music goes to Spotify, Apple Music, TikTok, YouTube and 140+ stores, and into the databases that radio stations, cars and song recognition read (Gracenote, Shazam and others), with every release. Audora is the label on your release, and the masters stay yours.
• The codes. We create your ISRCs, they're yours, and they move with you if you leave.
• The pitch. 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. Your pitch in Spotify for Artists, the pre-save and the Canvas come up on the release's calendar on the day they matter.
• The campaign. A promotion campaign planned around the release, every post written in your voice with its caption, hashtags and the picture or video it needs. You approve what goes out.
• The weeks after. Every playlist your song is on is shown back to you (editorial, algorithmic and listener-made), with plays and saves from the stores' own reporting.

TikTok, YouTube, Instagram (Stories included) and Facebook Pages post automatically, and nothing goes out until you approve it. Stories carry no link sticker, so your release link goes in your bio.

The exact steps for your release, each dated from your release day, are in your account when you set it up. We keep tuning them, adding steps, dropping some and moving others earlier or later as we see what works best for our artists. If anything is unclear, a person answers, and you usually hear back within one business day.

What every track gets lays the release out phase by phase, and the release tools show each step in the app.

Every guide on releasing music

Each phase has its own guide. Start with the one you're on.

• Music release checklist: everything a release needs, grouped by phase.
• Release essentials: the checklist on one printable page.
• Release date planner: pick a day and see the landmarks around it.
• Single, EP or album: which format fits the songs you have.
• Waterfall release: releasing singles that build into a bigger project.
• Album rollout: planning the months around a longer release.
• Best day to release music: why Friday, and when another day works.
• How early to send your music: delivery times and what holds a release up.
• How to get your music on Spotify: the Spotify steps in detail.
• Release music on Apple Music: what Apple adds to the steps.
• Release music on all platforms: reaching every store with one release.
• Song credits and metadata: every field and why it matters.
• Who owns your ISRC codes: what the codes are and whose they are.
• Cost to release a song: what distributors charge and for what.
• How to make an album cover: design and the stores' rules.
• Album cover checker: test your cover against the specs.
• How to make a Spotify Canvas: the looping video behind your song.
• Spotify Canvas checker: test your video against the specs.
• Artist bio: what a good music bio holds, with examples.
• Press photos for musicians: the photos writers and stores ask for.
• Electronic press kit: everything a writer needs in one link.
• Spotify pre-save: what a pre-save does for a release.