Preparing Your Music for DSPs
Guides & Playbooks

Run through this before you submit and you'll clear review first time.

Audio

• Exported as WAV, FLAC or AIFF
• At your master's native sample rate and bit depth, don't downsample
• Around −1 dBTP of headroom left
• Played end to end once, from the actual file you're about to upload

Artwork

• Square, 3000 × 3000 or larger
• RGB, not CMYK
• JPG or PNG
• No URLs, prices, handles or "OUT NOW". Your own name and title are fine

Metadata

• Artist name spelled exactly as on your other releases
• Featured artists in the artist field and (feat. Name) in the title
• Version tags in parentheses
• No ALL CAPS titles
• Explicit flagged per track
• Language field set to the language of the title

Timing

• Pitching to Spotify editorial? Deliver at least 7 days before your release date, with 3 to 4 weeks as the realistic target
• Not pitching? A few days is plenty, and instant releases work too

Rights

• You made it, or you have written permission from whoever did
• Covers, remixes and samples: know which route you're on before uploading

That's the whole checklist. None of it is about how adventurous your music is, stores are entirely indifferent to that, and so are we.