How to upload music to Spotify: the real steps

How to upload music to Spotify and Apple Music through a distributor: the files you need, your codes, how far ahead to upload and the traps to avoid.

Here’s how to upload music to Spotify: you don’t upload it yourself, you send it through a distributor, which delivers it to Spotify and the other services and passes the royalties back to you. Distributors charge in different ways (a yearly fee, a fee per release or a cut of your royalties), so run your plans through the music distribution calculator before you sign up. After that it’s files, codes and timing.

Step 1: pick a distributor

The right one depends on how often you release. A yearly fee suits people who put out a lot. A cut of the royalties can work out cheaper if you release once in a while and don’t earn much yet.

Our free music distribution guide covers the no-upfront options, and the rest of our music distribution guides compare the main ones. Check one thing before you pay: what happens to your music if you stop. On some yearly plans it comes down.

Step 2: get the files ready

Every distributor has its own specs, but DistroKid’s help pages are a fair guide to what they all want:

  • Audio. WAV is the safe bet. DistroKid says 16-bit, 44.1kHz is typical, and it also takes FLAC, AIFF and MP3.
  • Artwork. A square JPG, ideally 3000 × 3000 pixels, in RGB colour. DistroKid’s minimum is 1000 × 1000.
  • What gets artwork rejected. Web addresses, QR codes, social or streaming logos, prices, stock photos you haven’t licensed, and anything blurry.
  • Credits. Songwriters’ real names, plus any featured artists. Spell your artist name the same way every time, or you can end up split across two profiles.

Step 3: your codes

Every track needs an ISRC and every release needs a UPC. DistroKid and Ditto both generate them for free when you upload.

Write them down somewhere you’ll find them. You’ll need the ISRC to register your songs and to keep your play counts if you ever change distributor. Our guide to ISRC and UPC codes covers the difference and when it’s worth buying your own.

Step 4: upload four weeks early

Once a release has been checked and sent, DistroKid puts Spotify at roughly 2 to 5 days to go live. The checking itself can take several days, and delays happen.

So upload with a release date about four weeks out. DistroKid recommends at least four weeks if you want to claim your artist profile before your first release, and it gives you time to set up a pre-save and pitch to playlist editors.

Step 5: claim your artist profile

Once Spotify has your release, find your artist link (DistroKid has a lookup tool for it) and claim your Spotify for Artists profile. You need a Spotify login, even a free one. Then you can add a photo and bio, see your stats and pitch future releases.

How to put music on Apple Music

It’s the same upload. The distributor that sends your music to Spotify delivers to Apple Music too, so you need nothing extra: same audio, artwork and credits, same ISRCs and UPC. Just check Apple Music is ticked in your distributor’s list of stores.

How long it takes

Apple is a bit slower than the rest. DistroKid’s estimate is 1 to 7 days once it has sent the release, and it says a very small share of albums get a manual review at Apple that adds another week or two. Upload with a release date at least four weeks out and a surprise review won’t wreck your launch.

Apple-specific mistakes

  • A different artist name from your earlier releases, even a stray capital or “The”. It can land you on a new, empty profile.
  • Artwork that breaks the rules, like web addresses or social logos. Services reject it and you start again.
  • A release date too close. If Apple’s review kicks in, a date a week away won’t hold.

Once it’s live, find your release on Apple Music and grab your artist link to claim your Apple Music for Artists profile. Keep that link: a new distributor may ask for it so your releases land on the same profile.

It’s worth the effort because it pays more. In 2024 independent artists got about $6.20 per 1,000 Apple Music streams, against $3.00 on Spotify, according to Duetti’s figures reported by Digital Music News.

The traps

The 1,000-stream rule. Since April 2024 a track needs at least 1,000 streams in the past 12 months before it earns any recording royalties, as Music Business Worldwide reported. For a sense of scale, 1,000 Spotify streams pay about $3.00 to the recording, going by Duetti’s 2024 figures for independent artists. Our Spotify royalty calculator works out the rest.

Fake streams. The same changes let Spotify charge labels and distributors per track when it finds “flagrant artificial streaming”. Never pay for streams, or for playlists that promise numbers.

Getting caught when you’ve done nothing wrong. In 2024 DistroKid froze tens of thousands of dollars of Devi McCallion’s royalties over a fraud investigation she denied. TuneCore pulled Benn Jordan’s music after spotting “abnormal streaming activity”, then admitted an internal error. Both were sorted once it went public, The FADER reported. Keep your own records of where your plays come from.

Next step

Pick your distributor by what it costs over a few years, then date every step back from release day with the music release checklist.

Where these figures come from

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