How to create (or upload) and distribute a release

The underlying information about your music like artist, album and track names is called metadata. Metadata also includes technical information, used mainly by the people and companies selling music, which helps to identify music very accurately.

When a single or album is about to be released, metadata is sent to music services at the same time as the audio and artwork files.

Good metadata is key to a successful release. Good metadata means the right people get paid and credited. Listeners will know who and what they are listening to and music services will know which artists and labels they should pay.

Missing or incorrect metadata can lead to delayed releases, delayed payments and your listeners seeing confusing or inaccurate information.

You will need the following 3 things to create a release:

• Audio (https://allotlines.io/article/audio-file-specifications)
• Metadata
• Artwork (https://allotlines.io/article/artwork-specifications)

We will process your release (import) and send it to digital music stores around the world (exports).

• Use the release uploader to upload your release to our platform
• Let us know about your upload so we can export your release

Metadata must conform with the Apple Music Style Guide: https://help.apple.com/itc/musicstyleguide/#/

Go to https://center.allotlines.com/releases and log in.

The Release Uploader has three main sections, "Release Level", "Track Level", "Delivery Options" and "Review". You will first add all the information about the Release Info, then add the information about the Ownership and Tracks as a whole.

At this stage you will add the artwork and fill in the metadata for your whole release.

Add your release a name by clicking "Create a Release" in Album section:

Add your release name and click "Create a Release"

Lastly, click the "Create Release" button.

Drag or upload the artwork for your release into the box

• JPG/PNG/TIFF format
• RGB colour spacing (not CMYK)
• 4096 × 4096 pixels
• Don't include any information on your artwork which is not included on the metadata and ensure the release title matches the title on the data, exactly

Our full artwork file specifications can be found here: https://allotlines.io/article/artwork-specifications

If this is a different version of a release, for example; exclusive to a certain territory, or a remastered edition you can specify that here. E.g., 'Japanese Version' or 'Remastered'.

Leave this blank if it isn't an alternative version of a release.

You can choose existing artist(s) or create new artist by filled your artist name and click Add artist button.

Follow the guidance for artist at tracks here, with one exception:

• If you have 5 or more artists on a release - for example on a compilation album - put Various Artists into the Artist field and leave the Display Artist blank.
• Do not use Various Artists for releases featuring fewer than five artists.
• Do not use variations of Various Artists, such as Various, V/A or V.A, and be careful of misspellings such as Various Artist or Varios Artists.

You can choose existing Label or create new label by filled your artist name and click (+) button.

Use the drop-down menus on the Primary genre fields to select the most relevant genre to your release.

• Primary genre: This field is mandatory. Choose a primary genre from the list provided in the drop-down menu.
• Secondary genre: This field is optional. If you want, you can put an optional second genre from the list provided in the drop-down menu.

In this section you need to put whether your release is an album, single or EP.

If your release is digital only, use the following as a basis for selecting your format:

• 1-3 Tracks - Single
• 4-6 Tracks - EP
• 7+ Tracks - Album

Some services might override your selection here if they have their own criteria for describing releases.

If you don't have an UPC Code, click the "Tick" and our team will assign it for your release.

As with any other product you might buy, music releases need a barcode, even if they are to be released digitally only. If you don't have barcodes then we can supply you with a batch. We sometimes refer to these as UPCs.

Just let us know how many releases you have coming up and we'll assign you with the relevant number of barcodes. Please note we operate a reasonable use policy, and may not be able to supply you with GTINs if you release a very large volume of music.

Remember: each release needs its own unique barcode. Keep a record of all your barcodes to make sure you don’t duplicate them.

Follow the guidance for ℗ line at track level here.

• While ℗ notices are unique to sound recordings, the ©, or copyright, notice is used to signify copyright in a range of works other than sound recordings. In the case of music, the © notice is usually used in reference to copyright in the cover artwork, inlay cards, and other printed material included with CDs or DVDs or in relation to artwork displayed on websites.
• © Year
• © Holder

The catalogue number is something you get to decide. You can choose whatever you like.

It is a good way for you to keep track of your releases. Usually a catalogue number will be alpha-numeric and signify the number of each release in the label's catalogue. For example, if my label is called Allot Lines Records my first release may have the cat no. ALR001. Some labels like to use the UPC Code here.

• We recommend uploading WAV files
• We do not accept MP3
• If your files are Apple Digital Masters, let us know the email address of your approved mastering engineer

Our full audio file specifications can be found here: https://allotlines.io/article/audio-file-specifications

To finish entering the Metadata that the stores needs for the Tracks you submit, you must click the Edit button on each Track.

• If your release only contains one track, the release title must be the same as the track title.
• DO NOT capitalize all CHARACTERS in the release title. The first Character in the release title should be capitalize.
• Do not include version information like Remix or Uncut in the main Release Title field. Use the Release Version field instead.

This field is optional and should only be used if the track is a 'special' mix or version. E.g. 'Goldie's Darkside Remix', 'Live', 'Remastered', 'Radio Edit' or 'Extended Version'

Do not use brackets in this field. These will be added automatically.

You will see this information as soon as you have finished uploading an audio file to us.

You can see the audio quality details, upload new, listen to audio, download or delete audio in this section.

If your song has been in more than 2 approved releases, the edit won't be applied.

If the artist name refers to multiple artists (eg. "Bob Dylan and The Band", "Massive Attack feat. Liz Fraser"), follow these steps:

• In the artist field, enter the first artist with role Primary artist
• Click the blank box (select or create a new artist) and enter the second artist, and repeat for each artist on the track and the following role for each artist on the track.

Don't put Various Artists in the track level 'Artist(s)' fields.

The authors' first and last names must be entered in Composer(s), which is a mandatory field.

You can create a new one by clicking the "Add New Contributor" button.

At Sound Recordings:

This is where you credit the contributors to the sound recording.

Enter names using Firstname Lastname order - i.e. "Rupert Parkes", not "Parkes, Rupert".

N.B. If you have added any contributors, make sure to select a “Role” from the available drop-down menu. Otherwise you will not be able able to submit your release. 

At Musical Work:

This is where you credit the contributors to the musical work.

Enter names using Firstname Lastname order - i.e. "Rupert Parkes", not "Parkes, Rupert".

At least one Composer is required.

If your track has lyrics, you must also include a Lyricist.

N.B. If you have added any contributors, make sure to select a “Role” from the available drop-down menu. Otherwise you will not be able able to submit your release. 

The purpose of a ℗ notice is to signify that rights exist in a sound recording (or "phonogram", hence "P" notice) and to identify the owner of those rights.

• ℗ Year
• ℗ Holder

℗ Year is the year of first publication of the sound recording(s) in YYYY format.

℗ Holder is the holder of the sound recording(s) copyright. Usually this is the label name.

So, if the release has never been released before, enter the release date year in ℗ Year and your label name in ℗ Holder.

Use the drop-down menus on the Primary genre fields to select the most relevant genre to your release.

Primary genre: This field is mandatory. Choose a primary genre from the list provided in the drop-down menu.

Secondary genre: This field is optional. If you want, you can put an optional second genre from the list provided in the drop-down menu.

Enter the ISRC for the track here, without any dashes (--) or gaps.

The International Standard Recording Code (ISRC) is the international identification system for sound recordings and music video recordings.

An ISRC means that recordings can be uniquely and permanently identified.

Once an ISRC is assigned to a sound recording, it is a fixed reference for that sound recording.

This simplifies the management of rights when recordings are used across different formats, releases, services, borders or under different licensing deals.

If you don't have ISRCs we can assign these for you too.

Select from the options in to indicate Explicit Content:

• Not Explicit (there is no explicit content in this track)
• Explicit Content (there is explicit content in this track)
• Cleaned (swear words have been bleeped or removed)

Please note: If any track on a release has Yes for Explicit Content, then the entire release needs to be marked as having Explicit Content when you get to Release Level in the uploader.

If Explicit Content is present on a release, ensure that the Genre is not "Children's".

In this option, if you choose "No", it means that your song does not contain any accent or language.

If you select "Yes" then a language selection message will appear where you can choose as follows:

You need to select the language for your lyrics as well as you must add Lyricist(s) to the contributor list as required.

This is where you choose whether your tracks will be available to purchase and stream individually.

If you’re not sure, you should select "Yes"

This is where you indicate the start point for clips of your track on services such as TikTok. For example, if you would like users to hear the part of your track that starts 15 seconds in, enter ‘15’.

Only enter a whole number of seconds. Do not use any letters or punctuation, such as 01:02, or 62.5s.

If you leave this blank we will use a default value of 30.

After you complete all the Track information, you need to save it at the "Save" button at the bottom of the Pop-Up.

After that, you can see that the button has turned green, indicating that the Track's metadata has been completed.

If your button above is still red, hover over it and see what information you're missing.

The digital services have ultimate control over the pricing of releases.

For those services which allow variable pricing, we can choose from the following price bands - Premium, Full, Mid & Budget.

Select from the drop down box, with the following in mind. A price band of 'Full' will make the release available for the standard full price of similar formats on each service. A price band of Premium will make the release more expensive, and Mid and Budget cheaper respectively. For most releases we'd recommend selecting Full.

You can click the "More info on price categories " button to be able to see the details.

Use the format YYYY/MM/DD to enter your release dates here. We recommend choosing a release date in at least four weeks time, or if we're assisting with promotion, six weeks.

- Read more about our preferred release dates at: https://allotlines.io/article/how-long-does-it-take-for-my-releases-to-reach-stores

We recommend choosing worldwide to ensure your revenue optimization.

You can select or uncheck the store as you like.

Check the information and click "Distribute this release' to submit your release to Allot Lines.

Please send us your releases well before the date you need them to be live on services.

• Allot Lines partners: please allow 6 weeks ahead of the expected live date for export of new releases and 4 weeks for updates to existing releases
• Collective partners: please allow 4 weeks for new release exports or updates to existing releases
• Takedowns from music services: please allow 2 weeks.

Working to these timelines will mean you can be confident of meeting your required live dates, and that we match music services’ requested lead times.

Make sure your music meets our editorial policy: https://allotlines.io/article/allot-lines-editorial-policy

We do not accept:

• Public domain
• Tribute, karaoke or sound-a-like music.

If you would like to send classical music, please let us know in advance.

By chatting with us or sending an email to [email protected], please let us know if you encounter any problems when making new releases.