Frequently Asked Questions
Account
Yes, your music is stored safely in the system. We store and back up every music file you upload, which you can access any time you need. View your single or album from your MY CATALOGUE page, and you can play or download any of the audio tracks you have uploaded (just right-click and ‘save file as’). To download your art files, just right-click the album art on the main MY CATALOGUE screen and right-click ‘save file as’ to download the full-resolution version.
Once you have submitted your release for delivery, you won’t be able to make any changes via the dashboard or ‘My Catalogue’ pages. However, for simple changes such as spelling errors or a release date change, please contact us via the support form in your dashboard, and we can make the change on your behalf. Some things cannot be changed, such as track order and the number of tracks, ISRCs, and UPC, in which case you will need to set up a new product.
You can update your account email address by contacting support in your artist dashboard. Choose the option ‘Login or Account Issues’ then ‘Change my account email address’. You will be asked to enter your new preferred email address. We will contact you when the update has been successful.
At the bottom of every page in the dashboard area is a submit form to contact us with any issues. Select the appropriate subject from the menu. We endeavor to respond to all emails within 24-48hrs, sooner if possible.
It’s very easy to move your existing catalog from another distributor to us, without losing streaming count or playlist positions.
Simply re-upload your music to us and give us time to deliver it to all the streaming platforms. Please ensure you use the same ISRC codes for each track that was originally issued by your previous distributor.
Spotify will recognise these tracks once they are received and copy all the stream count and playlists across to the new songs. Once this happens you can request a takedown from your previous distributor and the transfer will be complete.
Your single or album will go through several stages of processing before it is delivered to online music stores. INCOMPLETE means that you are still setting up your product and have not yet submitted or paid the distribution fee. You can still make edits in this status. PENDING means we’ve received your order and are checking the release data before we ingest it on our delivery platform. INGESTED means the product is in our delivery platform and is in the process of being delivered to music stores. DELIVERED means your product has actually been delivered to stores (note some stores can take at least 5 days to push content live after delivery). Please note you cannot make edits to your product after the PENDING stage once you have submitted your release to us. If you need to make edits (eg. change the release date), please contact us using the form at the bottom of your dashboard and we can make the changes from our side.
Distribution & Delivery
Yes. We allow the distribution of cover versions but please note our covers distribution policy as follows;
1. By default, when you select cover version during the track creation process, we will distribute the song to streaming services ONLY (Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, etc), as this is legally permitted without a license.
2. If you wish to enable downloads on your track (eg. iTunes Store / Amazon), you need to purchase a mechanical license. We recommend EasySong. Once you have purchased a license please contact us via the form in your dashboard, with proof of your license, and we will enable downloads on the release.
3. You cannot put the name of the original artist in the track title.
If your release is on the wrong Spotify or Apple artist page (or another platform), please reach out to us using the contact form and we can fix it for you. This may involve creating a new artist page for you or moving your release to the correct artist page.
There are 2 main sites you need to upload your lyrics to be shown in stores. Instagram stories pulls its lyrics from musixmatch.com. Apple Music uses the service genius.com. If you register an account with these services you can upload your lyrics and make them available.
You can reach out to our Artist Support team via the customer support portal in your artist dashboard.
Finally, you can search VEVO in the FAQ pop-up within your artist dashboard to dive deeper into this new feature or use the support portal and reach out to us – we’re here to help!
The turnaround time can vary from store to store. We recommend submitting your album at least 2 weeks prior to your intended release date. This gives enough time for us to ingest and deliver your tracks, and for the services to also ingest, index, and display them on their own sites. We will advise you from your catalogue page if your release has been delivered to stores, but this does not mean the store itself has been able to get the tracks live on their site (which is out of our control).
We have a limit of 25 tracks per album. Please contact us if you require more than this.
Providing you have given at least 2 weeks for stores to ingest your release if you have received a notification from us that your release has been successfully delivered and can’t find it on iTunes or Spotify, please contact us from your dashboard and we will investigate. If you are a brand new artist, the search indexing on these stores can take some time to update (especially on Friday which is global release day!), so it usually resolves itself throughout the day.
Audio distribution: You must have distributed the audio release through us to upload the music video.
VEVO Channel for your artist: You should have a VEVO channel. If you don’t currently have one, then you can follow the process outlined in the ‘Create New Release’ for video and select ‘No’ on Channel Details. You can then complete the VEVO Channel Request Form.
YouTube Official Artist Channel (OAC): This is not mandatory, however, it is something we recommend so you can bring your subscribers together into one profile and maximise your earning potential. You can find more information here. Please reach out to our Artist Support Team via the support portal if your OAC is not linked to your VEVO channel.
Assets: You will need your video assets in the correct format stored on a cloud drive (ie DropBox, OneDrive, Google Drive. During the upload process, you will have to provide a shareable URL link and ensure user permissions are set to share with anyone who has the link. You also need a video thumbnail from your video that complies with the artwork requirements.
Here are the VEVO upload requirements
Here are Apple Music Video upload requirements
A release date and time: You should select a date that affords you enough time to create a pre-release campaign and share the release with as many people as possible. You can even select a release time in your local time zone. Why not throw a release party that coincides with your music video release?
We accept .WAV audio files in 16bit 44.1kHz resolution (CD Quality), and 24bit WAV files at the most common sample rates We do not accept mp3 files or 32bit files. You can convert other file types to WAV using iTunes or other web-based conversion apps.
A pre-order allows your album or EP to be pre-purchased on iTunes prior to the official release date. The weeks leading up to your release are an exciting time. You are getting your marketing and social media ready to have the biggest impact come launch day. A pre-order gives you a valuable marketing tool to direct fans to your album prior to launch, and any sales you get can count toward the 1st week’s chart. All major labels use pre-orders as an important tool to boost their 1st week sales and are an important marketing tool in the lead-up campaign. Your fans who buy the pre-order don’t receive the music until the day of release.
VEVO is a platform hosting high-quality, official music videos that are also featured on YouTube and VEVO’s app, allowing monetisation through ads. VEVO’s wide reach, including smart TV apps, helps boost visibility, and its partnership with YouTube offers better royalty revenue than regular YouTube uploads. It also adds credibility, as VEVO is recognized by major charts like ARIA and Billboard.
In addition to YouTube and VEVO, Vevo distributes its extensive library of music videos to major Connected TV platforms and streaming services, including Apple TV, Hulu + Live TV, Pluto TV, Samsung TV Plus, and Roku. To learn more about Vevo‘s position on smart TVs and other connected devices, please check out the Vevo Distribution page on the VEVO website.
Apple Music Video is available on Apple TV and the Apple Music app, offering another channel for your video content to reach audiences and earn royalties.
You can upload a number of music-related videos, including lyric videos, visualisers, acoustic, live versions and official music videos.
As part of our terms of service, the artist must own 100% of their copyright to distribute with us (in other words, you wrote the song, or represent the people that wrote it). If your song is a cover version and you want it to be downloadable in the USA, you must purchase a cover song license (see www.easysong.com). We do not support ‘sound-a-likes’. We do not support the release of music with another artist’s samples or remixes (unless it’s a remix of a track you already own 100%). For example, if you want to add the bass line for Queen’s ‘Another One Bites the Dust’ to your original tune, you would need the permission of Queen’s publisher to release your song (and it wouldn’t come cheap!). Uploading songs with unauthorised 3rd party samples is illegal and will get removed without warning (and potential legal action).
Payouts & Reporting
Yes, please contact us via the form in your artist dashboard and we can reset your bank account, so you will be asked to enter new bank details on your next withdrawal.
Yes! Just head to your ‘Payment Splits’ tile in your artist dashboard. From this page, you can set up track splits and allocate a percentage of royalties earned on a track-by-track basis. When confirmed your recipient will be sent an email inviting them to accept the royalty split. Recipients can sign up for FREE to accept the invite. You can adjust split percentages at any time (your collaborators will receive an email after each change is confirmed).
Please note that any new splits will apply to FUTURE royalties only, not royalties that have already been added to your account. Remember that royalties are paid approximately 3 months after the close of the streaming month.
No. When you submit your bank details these are registered directly with Transferwise. For security reasons we do not store any bank account details on our servers.
No, not at this time. You can only register one bank account per profile. We are looking to add split payments in future updates.
As the account holder, you can pay yourself any time your balance is over $10 AUD. We have partnered with Transferwise for all payments where currencies are supported (For a list of supported currencies see here). Transferwise allows cost-effective direct transfer to your real bank account with market-leading exchange rates (the ‘real’ exchange rate). We hold currency in AUD (Australian Dollars), and you will see the exchange rate for your local currency in your dashboard (not including fees).
When your bank details are submitted successfully you will be asked to enter your withdrawal amount and text reference, and you will be given a summary of the fees for the transaction. Click submit to confirm your transfer and it will process automatically. Payments will land in your bank account within 3-5 days, sometimes faster.
Your Available Balance is your total earnings (All Time), minus the sum of all your previous withdrawals (as shown in your ‘History’ table). Your Available Balance is also calculated AFTER your distribution commission (if applicable to your account).
Royalties are received in many different currencies from different online stores across the world. We convert this income into AUD using the bank rate at the time we receive the payments. For example, the USD exchange rate you see in the report is the one provided by our local bank at the time we receive payment.
Please allow 3-5 days for the payment to be deposited into your account, sometimes faster. If you are concerned about the status of your payment, please contact us.
Wise charges a small fee and commission per bank transfer. We do not add any additional fees to those charged by Wise. For more information, and to see a breakdown of your fees in your local currency go to the Wise website.
For supported currencies, on your first withdrawal, you will be asked to enter your personal bank account details. This will be set to the country that you specified when you registered your account (to change your country please email support). Many countries have specific bank details that are required to set up your account, and these can differ from region to region. For example, most EUR accounts will require an IBAN code, whilst in Australia you will need a BSB and Account number. On subsequent withdrawals you will not need to enter your bank details again.
This means that we do not currently support your currency for automatic payments via Transferwise. We will initiate a Transferwise email payment, and you will receive an email from Transferwise to set up your payment and enter your account details. In the event you require a currency that Transferwise does not yet support we will initiate a payment via Paypal.
When you submit a successful payment it will be logged in the ‘History’ table, showing a summary of your successful payment. All previously successful payments will be visible in your History table.
There is $10 AUD minimum payment amount to set up a withdrawal request.
You get paid when we do. Unfortunately, royalties can sometimes take 3-6 months to be processed from the end of actual month sales. For example, your streaming/sales from January may not get deposited into your balance until April. This is a common issue with all distributors who need to wait until the music services process and audit all their sales figures. We then need to process these statements and attribute the royalties to each of our artists. As soon as this is done you can access your money from the payments page in your dashboard, and request a withdrawal.