How to Upload Songs to Spotify and Apple Music in 2026

You cannot upload music to Spotify or Apple Music directly. Both platforms only accept deliveries from approved distributors. That is not a scam or a gatekeeping trick, it is how the entire industry moves files, metadata and royalty reports around. So the real question is not how to upload, it is which distributor to use and how to prepare your release so nothing gets rejected.

Step 1: Pick a distributor

A distributor takes your audio and artwork, delivers them to Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Amazon and dozens of regional stores, then collects your royalties and pays you. The main choices differ on pricing model, payout share and extras.

• ▸DistroKid: flat yearly fee, unlimited uploads, you keep 100 percent of royalties. Best if you release often.
• ▸TuneCore: per-release or subscription pricing with publishing administration options. Solid for writers who want publishing collected too.
• ▸CD Baby: one-time fee per release, no annual renewal, takes a small percentage. Good for artists who release rarely and never want a subscription lapse to pull music down.
• ▸Amuse and similar free tiers: zero upfront cost, slower support and delivery windows. Fine for testing the waters.
• ▸UnitedMasters: free and paid tiers with a focus on hip-hop and brand deals.

My honest advice after years of releasing beats and songs: if you plan to release more than two or three times a year, a flat-fee unlimited service pays for itself immediately. If you release once a year, pay per release and forget about renewals.

Step 2: Prepare your audio properly

Most rejected releases fail on simple technical checks, not on quality. Export a WAV file, 16 bit or 24 bit, at 44.1 kHz. Do not upload an MP3 that you converted back into a WAV, stores can detect the lossy artifacts. Leave a little headroom in your master, around minus 1 dB true peak, so the loudness normalization on each platform does not distort your song.

If you bought a beat with a lease license, read it before releasing. Most leases include streaming caps. If you are unsure what your license covers, I broke the whole system down in my guide to buying beats online, which is also here in the Liner Notes.

Step 3: Artwork and metadata

• ▸Artwork: 3000 x 3000 pixels, JPG or PNG, no blurriness, no social media handles, no prices, no streaming logos.
• ▸Song title: exact capitalization you want, no ALL CAPS, no emoji.
• ▸Artist name: must match your existing profile exactly or you will create a duplicate artist page.
• ▸Featured artists: credit them in the metadata fields, not by typing feat. into your song title, most stores auto-format it.
• ▸Genre and language tags: pick honestly, they feed the recommendation algorithms.

Metadata mistakes are the number one reason releases get delayed. Triple-check spelling. A wrong artist name can send your song to somebody else's profile, and support tickets to fix that take weeks.

Step 4: Give yourself a runway

Upload at least three to four weeks before your release date. That buffer lets the stores process the delivery, and more importantly it unlocks pre-save campaigns and lets you pitch the song for editorial playlists through Spotify for Artists. Same-day releases work, but you lose every promotional tool that matters.

Step 5: Claim your artist profiles

Once your first release is live or in the pipeline, claim Spotify for Artists and Apple Music for Artists. You get streaming data, the ability to pitch unreleased songs, control over your bio and photos, and your music starts feeding algorithmic playlists like Release Radar for your followers.

What about royalties?

Streaming pays per stream at rates that vary by country and subscription type. Do not obsess over per-stream math early on. Focus on catalog: ten songs earning a little each month beats one song you promoted for a week. My own catalog took years to compound, and the oldest beats still pay for the newest gear.

Release consistently, keep your masters clean, and treat every song like it will still be earning in five years. Because it will.