You've got a finished song. Now you want it on Spotify, Apple Music, and everywhere else people actually listen. If you've never done this before, the process can feel like a wall of confusing terms and settings. It's genuinely not that bad once someone walks you through it.
Here's the whole thing, start to finish, in order.
First, the one thing you can't do yourself
You can't upload directly to Spotify or Apple Music as an artist. They only accept music through a distributor — a service that takes your song and delivers it to all the streaming platforms at once. So step one is picking one (that's us, or one of the alternatives) and creating an account. Everything below happens through your distributor's uploader.
What you need before you upload
Get these ready first and the actual upload takes minutes.
Your audio file. Use a WAV file, not an MP3. WAV is uncompressed and high-quality; MP3 is compressed and often gets rejected. If your file is huge, a FLAC file is a fine high-quality alternative. The technical baseline is 16-bit, 44.1kHz (a normal high-quality export from any recording software) — 24-bit is even better if you have it.
One tip that trips up beginners: don't master your song super loud thinking it'll sound bigger. Streaming platforms automatically turn everything down to a consistent loudness (around -14 LUFS, if your mastering software shows that number). Master too hot and you just lose punch and dynamics for no benefit.
Your cover art. Square, at least 3000 × 3000 pixels, as a JPG or PNG. Rules to avoid rejection: the text on the cover should match your artist and song name, and you generally can't have website URLs or random logos on it. Keep it clean.
Your metadata. This just means the text info: your artist name, the song title, songwriter credits, and genre. Be careful and consistent here — and this is important — spell your artist name exactly the same way every single time. A stray capital letter or extra space can make Spotify think you're a different artist and split your songs across two profiles. Pick your exact spelling now and never deviate.
Your codes (your distributor gives you these free). You'll hear about two:
- An ISRC is a unique 12-character ID for one specific recording — like a fingerprint for that exact track. Every separate version (the original, an acoustic, a remix) needs its own.
- A UPC is a code for the whole release (the single, EP, or album as a package).
You don't have to create these — almost every distributor assigns them automatically and for free. Just know they exist, and hold onto your ISRC: it's what lets you keep your streaming history if you ever switch distributors.
Setting your release date (don't rush this)
Here's the rookie mistake that costs people the most: uploading a song and setting it to release tomorrow. Don't. Give yourself at least 2–4 weeks, ideally more. Here's why that lead time matters.
It lets you pitch to Spotify's editorial playlists. Through a free tool called Spotify for Artists, you can submit your unreleased song to be considered for official Spotify playlists. But you have to pitch it at least 7 days before release. Miss that window and you lose the chance entirely. Pitching even earlier (2–4 weeks out) gives you a better shot.
Bonus: pitching at least 7 days early also guarantees your song lands in your followers' Release Radar playlist on release day — free promotion to people who already like you.
It lets you run a pre-save campaign. A future release date means fans can "pre-save" your song so it's automatically added to their library the moment it drops. That release-day burst of saves is exactly the kind of early activity that gets the algorithm's attention. You can't do any of this if you upload last-minute.
Set up your artist profiles
While you're waiting for release day, claim your free artist profiles:
- Spotify for Artists — lets you pitch to playlists, see your stats, and customize your profile photo and bio.
- Apple Music for Artists — the equivalent for Apple.
These are how you'll actually see who's listening and where, so set them up early.
How long until it's live?
After you submit, delivery to the streaming platforms usually takes anywhere from 1 to 7 business days, depending on the distributor (some are faster than others). This is exactly why you set the release date out in the future — so everything's delivered and in place well before the day itself.
The mistakes to avoid
Almost every first-timer hits at least one of these. Now you won't:
- Spelling your artist name inconsistently — splits your audience across duplicate profiles. Lock in one exact spelling.
- Uploading too close to release — forfeits playlist pitching and pre-saves. Give it weeks, not days.
- Cluttered or text-heavy cover art — gets the whole release rejected. Keep it clean and matched to your title.
- Forgetting your composition royalties — releasing your song is only half of getting paid. Register with a PRO (like ASCAP or BMI) and The MLC to collect the songwriting royalties your distributor doesn't handle. (We've got a whole separate guide on how royalties work — it's worth reading before your first release.)
- Mastering too loud — costs you dynamics for no gain, since platforms normalize loudness anyway.
You've got this
It looks like a lot written out, but the actual flow is simple: get your files and info ready, upload through a distributor, set a date a few weeks out, pitch and pre-save in the meantime, and let it deliver. Thousands of independent artists do this every single day with no label and no team. Your first release is the one where you learn the ropes — every one after is easy.
Outloud assigns your ISRC and UPC codes free, gets you onto every major platform, and (pre-save and pre-order tools are on the way) is built to make your first release as painless as your hundredth. Welcome — go make some noise.