Guide · Updated November 8, 2026 · 8 min read
How to release music as a band
What changes when four people put out one record: the band's name and page, credits for every member, splits, posting as a band, and how Audora runs each step for every track.
Releasing music as a band is releasing music, with more people around the table. The song still needs a master, a cover, credits, a date and a plan to tell people. What a band adds is a few decisions a solo artist never has to make: whose name the release goes out under, who wrote what, who shares in what it earns, who holds the account and who posts. Settle those once and every release after runs smoother.
This guide covers the band side of a release. The phases themselves are the same for everyone, and how to release music walks through them in order.
Key takeaways
- Release under the band's name as one artist, with one artist profile on each store and one page of your own.
- Credit every member on every song for what they did: who wrote it, who played what, who produced it.
- Agree the splits before release, in writing: the recording's earnings and the songwriting shares are separate.
- Decide together who holds the band's accounts and who approves what goes out.
- Post as a band, and let each member's part be seen. Fans follow the people in a band as well as the band.
Settle the band's side before the first release
The talk is easier before there's money or a following involved. Agree these between you, and write them down:
- The name. Search it on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube. If another act already uses it, a release can land on the wrong profile, and fans can't tell you apart.
- Who holds the accounts. The distribution account, Spotify for Artists, the social accounts. One person can run them for the band, or a few of you can share the work. Write down who has access to what.
- How you share. Who shares in what the recordings earn, and how the songwriting is split song by song. More on both below.
- What happens if someone leaves. Who keeps the name, and what a member who leaves keeps from the songs they're on. A paragraph agreed now saves a lot later.
One artist, one page
Release under the band's name as the primary artist. Every store then builds one artist profile for the band, and every release lands on it, so followers and listening history build in one place. Members' own names go in the credits, and a member with a solo project releases that under their own name.
Claim the band's profile in Spotify for Artists once your first release is on its way. Spotify lets you add bandmates, managers and other trusted people to the profile's team, each at their own access level, so more than one of you can update the profile and pitch new songs.
Outside the stores, a band needs a page of its own that people can find: the songs, a photo, a short bio, the next show. On Audora, the band's artist page online plays your songs and has a press page and a press kit to download. Link your Spotify and Apple Music artist pages and each release lands on your page, even when another artist shares your name.
Credits: who wrote it and who played what
A band's credits change from song to song. One song is written by the singer and the guitarist, the next by all four; a guest plays strings on one track; the drummer produced the B-side. Put it all in each song's credits.
Spotify shows all the credits your distributor sends, from songwriters to producers, engineers and featured artists, and other stores do the same with theirs. Credits are how a member's work is seen, how a guest's fans find you and how songwriting royalties reach the right writers. Song credits and metadata goes through each field.
In Audora you state the credits song by song in the release form: who's billed and in what order, who wrote it, who played on it and who produced it, down to the arranger and the mastering engineer. They're delivered with the metadata, as you entered them.
Splits: who shares in what the release earns
A song earns money in two ways, and a band shares each one separately.
- The recording. What the release earns from streams and downloads. Bands share this however they agree: equally between members, or by who played on each record.
- The songwriting. The writing shares, agreed between the writers song by song. Each writer registers the songs with their collection society, which collects the songwriting royalties for them.
On Audora, royalty splits on a release name who shares in what it earns, and how much. Each member is invited by email, and Audora pays each person their share. The splits are the band's to set: whoever holds the account enters what you agreed.
Posting as a band
A band has more faces, more parts and more to film than a solo artist, and fans like seeing all of it. Posts that suit a band:
- A take from rehearsal, the full band in one room.
- Each member's part on its own: the bass line, the drum fill, the harmony.
- The writing session where the song came together.
- The drive, the load-in and the soundcheck before a show.
- A clip from the show itself.
- Each member saying, in a sentence, what the song means to them.
Post from the band's accounts so everything builds in one place, and agree who approves what goes out. Post before release day so people know the song is coming, on the day, and in the weeks after, when listening builds. How to promote your music covers each channel, and press photos for musicians covers the band photo.
Shows matter for bands. A show can go on your Audora artist page for your fans, and fans sign up there for one email per release: the pre-save while it's coming, the out-now with your store links on the day. How to get more listeners covers what moves the numbers after release day.
How Audora runs a band release, track by track
Every step happens inside the band's Audora account, for every song. You bring the music and the decisions; Audora sets up each step or dates it on the release's calendar.
- The credits. Each song's credits as you state them, the order the artists are billed in included, delivered with the metadata.
- The splits. Who shares in what the release earns. Each member is invited by email, and Audora pays each person their share.
- 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.
- The date. Audora dates the release to give the editors time.
- The delivery. Your music goes to Spotify, Apple Music, TikTok, YouTube and 140+ stores, and into the databases radio stations, cars and song recognition read (Gracenote, Shazam and others), with every release.
- 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 look and the words. Cover art, a bio in three lengths, a Canvas and a band logo, made to the stores' spec. Everything made is the band's, with full commercial rights.
- The campaign. A promotion campaign planned around the release, every post written in the band's voice with its caption, hashtags and the picture or video it needs. Each post says the shot it needs, and What to shoot lists them so you can film them at one rehearsal. 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 steps for your band's release, each with its date, are in your account once you set the release up. Audora keeps adjusting them as it learns what works best for its artists, adding some steps, dropping others and moving a few earlier or later. Audora is the label on your release, and the masters and ISRCs stay the band's. When something's unclear, a person answers, and you usually hear back within one business day.
What every track gets shows a release in Audora from before the day to the weeks after.
Questions
How do bands release music?
Through a distributor, under the band's name as the primary artist. One account holds the band's releases, each song carries credits for the members who wrote and played on it, and the band agrees who shares in what each release earns. The release then follows the same phases as any other: files and art, a date weeks out, the pitch and the pre-save, release day and the weeks after.
How do band members split streaming royalties?
However the band agrees, ideally in writing before the first release. Many bands split the recording's earnings equally, others by who played on each record. Songwriting royalties are separate: the writers agree their shares song by song and each registers with a collection society. On Audora, royalty splits on a release record each person's share, each member is invited by email, and Audora pays each person their share.
Should every band member be listed as an artist?
Usually the band's name is the one primary artist, so every release lands on one profile. Members go in the credits as songwriters, performers and producers. List a member as a separate artist when they release under their own name too, on a solo project or as a featured artist.
Who should hold the band's distribution account?
Whoever the band agrees on. Many bands have one member run the account and the release admin, with the splits recording what each person shares in. Write down who holds which account, so a change in the lineup doesn't lock anyone out.
Can every band member use Spotify for Artists?
Yes. Spotify lets the profile's admin invite bandmates, managers and others to the artist team, each with their own access level, so several of you can update the profile and pitch new songs.