At Identity Music, we understand that the sooner your music is released, the sooner it will be heard.
But it's also important to make sure that your release is accurate, meets platform guidelines, and is given the best chance of success.
At Identity Music, we're committed to delivering the most accurate metadata possible and ensuring that everything we distribute meets every platform's strict requirements - which is why we have Quality Assurance processes that every track or release must go through before going live.
When you distribute a release through your Identity Music dashboard, it is sent to our team for review. We ask that you allow up to 3 working days for your release to be reviewed, although it is often much quicker!
Releases are reviewed by our team within 3 working days.
If your release is good to go, we will approve and deliver to DSPs with your chosen release date. If there are any issues with your release (e.g. audio matches, inaccurate metadata, etc.), we will return the release to you with questions/clarifications to answer before we deliver to DSPs.
Once we have delivered to DSPs, it is then up to each platform how quickly your release is ingested. Some platforms do this instantly, while others can take a few days - and unfortunately this timeframe is out of our control!
Platforms can take up to a few days to ingest your release after we've distributed it.
When you distribute your track with us, you have two options: you can set the release to go live ASAP, or you can set a specific release date.
If you choose an ASAP release...
It's important to remember that ASAP does not mean immediate. As we've mentioned above, every release is reviewed by our team before being sent to DSPs, and then each DSP takes its own time to ingest the release before going live.
Remember: ASAP does not mean your release will go live immediately!
Realistically, if you choose ASAP, your release is likely to go live on different platforms at different times.
Your release will be reviewed by us within 3 working days, then delivered to platforms - then each platform will set the release live once it's been through their own ingestion processes.
If you choose a specific release date...
Choosing a specific release date is a more predictable option, as long as you allow at least one week between the date you distribute the release and the date you want it to go live.
If, for example, you build a release in your Identity Music dashboard on 1st August, set your release date for 15th August, and hit distribute - that gives plenty of time for the up to 3 working-day Identity Music review period and platform-specific ingestion to happen before release is due.
If, however, you were to build a release on a Friday, set your release date for the following Monday, and hit distribute - your release will not go live on Monday. Our team will not have time to review your release (as we are not open at the weekend) before Monday, so the platforms will not have a chance to ingest your release until Monday at the very earliest.
Remember: distribute your release far in advance of release date to avoid any delays!
It's always best to distribute your release as far in advance of release date as possible, just in case there are any issues identified during our review that need to be resolved before we can deliver to platforms. While one week between distribution and release date is usually achievable, it cannot be guaranteed.
You can find more information on our music distribution services here.
Have More Questions?