How To Release A Record: The Ultimate Digital Distribution Checklist

So, let's imagine I finished mixing your record here at Deluxe Mixing, naturally it sounds amazing and you are super excited to get it out there to the world. YES!

But wait! Here’s a quick digital music distribution checklist to help you through the next stage of figuring out how to drop a record: getting ready to have a successful album release and making that process as smooth as possible.

1. Release Format: Singles, EPs, and Albums

This is kind of obvious to ask, but in this new music business do people still make singles? Yes of course! In the traditional sense, it’s one track, but the definitions for streaming services and digital music stores aren’t standard yet for some reason.

• Spotify: Categorizes releases strictly as Singles (releases containing under 6 tracks) or Albums.

• Apple Music: Formally defines releases across three distinct tiers: Singles, EPs, and Albums.

The key is to know exactly what your product is and define it accurately across all of your promotional activities.

2. Track Sequencing and Song Selection

Pick the songs you actually want to release and come up with a definitive track order. But you recorded 20 songs, you say? Well, think carefully about which ones make up the best album possible. You can always keep a few bonus tracks in the bag for an EP or a later release in an online music store.

While not everyone consumes music by listening to complete albums anymore, having a fixed track order is still really important to the emotional flow of your record. It is also vital to establish this BEFORE you send your tracks to mastering. A professional mastering engineer often needs to adjust the spaces and sonic transitions from track to track to make the sequence artistically pleasing—another critical task that an automated robot mastering service can’t possibly do, and another good reason to use a seasoned human ear when mastering your record.

3. Naming Your Masterpiece

Your record needs a name. Don’t worry - like band names, everything sounds weird until it’s THE name. Got a key track that would be a great title? A theme running through the record? Maybe a golden lyric from one of the songs that would make a legendary album title? Apple provides an official music style guide to formatting titles, so maybe have a look at that to make sure you’re within the guidelines.

4. Digital Cover Art Specifications

Is cover art still important? Yes, of course, it is! It might not always get the 12 inches of glorious visual real estate that vinyl LP releases do anymore, but it’s still going to be the single image that is associated with your record and used all over your socials—which is just as important in the modern age, so why not make it iconic?

From the technical side, each music distributor may vary slightly, but to ensure your release isn't rejected, follow these standard digital cover art formats:

• File Type: High-quality JPEG or PNG.

• Dimensions: 3000 x 3000 pixels minimum (perfect square aspect ratio).

• Resolution: 72 dpi minimum (300 dpi preferred for print duplication).

• Text Restrictions: To minimize the potential hassle from your digital distributor, keep it strictly about the art itself—no website URLs, no social media logos, and nothing unnecessary.

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Distributors are also incredibly touchy about trademarked products and nudity, so use your common sense. Why not team up with a friend who is a visual artist and do a creative collaboration to promote each other? I’m not saying you might be able to get Anton Corbijn to take your cover photo, but as an artist, you almost certainly have someone amazing in your circle to work with if you’re not a great designer yourself. Or—invest and hire a professional! Designers like Hipgnosis almost defined decades of iconic music art; perhaps the next great is right there in the wings.

5. Audio File Formats for Distribution

Any mastering engineer that is worth using will be able to provide you with either 16-bit / 44.1kHz WAV files (the traditional CD standard) or high-resolution 24-bit WAV files depending on the distributor's requirements. Check!

At the time of writing, some legacy systems only accept 16-bit WAV, but note that most major streaming services utilize high-resolution, lossless tiers. Deliver 24-bit WAV audio at the best sample rate you can to future-proof your catalog. No MP3s, and no lossy compressed formats!

6. Sample Clearance and Intellectual Property

One of my favourite records ever made is The Beastie Boys' second album Paul's Boutique. Each track is made of literally dozens of samples. Sampling other tunes to make a track was the Wild West back then, but today we have all seen enough YouTube copyright takedowns in our lives to get the hint. If your music is sample-based—or even features a single short audio sample—get legal clearance before your release date.

You might not get caught immediately, but is it worth the risk? The more successful the release becomes, the more likely you will be flagged! The Beasties ended up pretty much giving most of the money to the rights holders of the samples they used, but damn, what a record. Furthermore, copyright systems are actively using AI to analyze audio databases and track down uncleared samples instantly, so cutting corners is getting riskier by the day.

7. Metadata Optimization: Choosing Your Genre

There are tens of thousands of new songs uploaded to streaming platforms every single day, and one of the key problems we have as listeners is overwhelming choice. That means discoverability becomes YOUR problem as an artist!

Yes, artists hate to be defined or categorized, but digital niches are the future. More accurately, specific genres, sub-genres, and micro-genres are the categories that modern music fans actively search for. It’s one of the increasingly important keys to being picked up by algorithmic recommendations and curated playlists. When you are filling out your digital upload form, be as specific and accurate as possible with your genre tags.

8. On-Screen Lyrics

People love lyrics. Major streaming platforms now let you upload and sync time-coded lyrics, so take the time to type them out and submit them. Everything you can do to be less generic and show you made an effort counts. Besides, you don’t want some weirdo like me guessing your lyrics and uploading them, do ya? “Ken Lee, libba dibba dow you….”

9. Complete Production Credits and Liner Notes

Ok, I admit it, I am somewhat biased here, but please submit a list of credits that is as complete as possible for your release. That includes everyone from song writers and producers to your mixing engineer, mastering engineer, sleeve designer, and especially featured collaborators.

Digital distribution platforms are finally increasing the accuracy and completeness of searchable metadata credits. This helps the people that helped you, plus it adds a crucial layer of searchability to your catalog across the web.

10. Territorial Rights: Choose Your Countries

Most digital distributors default to worldwide distribution, but there might be a case where you have a localized record deal. If so, you might choose to NOT distribute to certain countries that will be handled directly by the regional label you signed with. Make sure you manually exclude those territories to keep that relationship in good shape and avoid stepping on your distributor's toes.

11. Tracking Royalties: ISRC Codes and UPC Codes

An ISRC (International Standard Recording Code) is a unique digital identifier used for a specific sound recording that logs the country of origin, registrant allocation owner, year of reference, and designation song ID code.

You will need to input these codes during the upload process to ensure your streaming royalties and performance rights are tracked correctly. If you are running an independent label, you can apply for an overall registrant code; otherwise, modern digital music distribution services (like DistroKid or TuneCore) will automatically assign ISRC codes to your tracks for free during submission.

If you have covered all of these points on this music release checklist, congratulations—you're in fantastic shape to begin the digital release process!

Ready to Get Your Tracks Radio-Ready?

The bottom line? Your gear path doesn't make a hit record—your mixing decisions do. Before you upload your files to your distributor, make sure your music is mixed and mastered to a competitive, commercial standard that stands out in crowded playlists. If you're ready for a seasoned industry veteran to handle your project, check out my Online Mixing & Mastering Services.

If you want to map out your entire rollout strategy from scratch, grab my comprehensive Indie Release Plan Playbook right on the homepage!