How to release a song, step by step
Getting a song from your laptop onto Spotify takes ten steps. None of them are hard; most people just don’t know the order.
Work down the list. Tick each step as you finish it; your progress is saved on this device.
The step people get wrong
Step 5, the timing. Upload to your distributor three to four weeks before release day. Your song needs time to reach every store, and you can only pitch it to Spotify’s editors while it’s delivered but not yet out. Upload the week before and you miss the pitch entirely.
The step people skip
Step 8, registering the song. Your distributor pays you for the recording. The songwriting money (performance and mechanical royalties) only reaches you if the song is registered, with every writer and their split. It takes ten minutes and pays for as long as people play the song.
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