If you're a PreSonus user, you're probably pretty hands-on in producing and recording your
music. Maybe you already know how to master spatial audio or are reading this blog to figure
out multitimbral instrumentation with guitar (no-seriously!).
These are vital skills for any independent musician. Distributing your music online can empower
you to take control of your music's journey.
What is TuneCore? If you're reading this, your experience with digital distribution might be limited. That's ok! Maybe
you're only distributing to platforms like Soundcloud and Bandcamp. Perhaps you don't even
know what a DSP is* and haven't started your journey of sharing tracks with the public at large.
That's where TuneCore comes in.
TuneCore is an independent artist development platform specializing in music distribution. Both
TuneCore and PreSonus are here to support you at every stage of your career, and distributing
your music online is one of the most critical aspects. This is why we partnered to build a
creation-to-DSP pipeline that Studio One and TuneCore users can benefit from.
However, it's important to note that true support for artists begins with education. Understanding
the ins and outs of Music Distribution 101 is crucial for your success as an independent
musician. So, let's dive in and demystify this essential aspect of your music career.
* DSP = digital service provider, i.e., Spotify, Apple Music, TIDAL, Amazon Music
How Digital Music Distribution Works At its core, digital music distribution is simply the process of making your music available on
various online platforms or marketplaces.
Each platform or marketplace has its own technical and content guidelines, which must be
adhered to for music to be hosted. These can range from audio file format specifications to
correctly labeling an explicit song as such. We've broken them down in detail right here.
Tips to Distribute Your Music If you don't have time to read that, though (and who does?), save this cheat sheet for your
future use:
DO: Check Your Metadata Painstakingly reviewing your metadata is one of the most vital components of the distribution
process. It's also one of the most tedious. But it's worth it.
From a music publishing perspective, metadata is king - and correctly inputting metadata
ensures that you get the most royalty matches possible to earn streams on DSPs like Spotify
and Apple Music, locations like bars and hotels, and so much more. We cannot stress this
enough: making sure your song's metadata is accurate is of the utmost importance.
Similarly, your cover art is the face of your music, and it's crucial to get it right.
Here are the five most important metadata components to check:
IPI/CAE number - a unique identifier assigned to all songwriters and publishers who are
registered with a collection society (such as BMI or ASCAP
ISRC (And Release Info) - a unique,12-digit alphanumeric identifier that helps identify
the usage of your sound recordings and their underlying compositions (this helps you
collect publishing royalties)
ISWC - a unique, 10-character code identifying musical works that links to a song's
recording (this helps you collect master royalties)
Alternative Titles & New Recordings - such as a live recording, another artist's cover
version of your song, a remix, slowed or sped-up versions, etc.
Songwriters and Shares - Percent of Song Ownership
This can be overwhelming. The good news is that when you distribute through Studio One x
TuneCore, we'll ask for and help you identify all this information. It won't undergo TuneCore's
review process until you've imputed it
DON'T: Embed Your Metadata Given how vital metadata is to you getting paid for distributing your music, it's understandably
vital that you don't try to cut corners when inputting it.
Embedding is a form of cutting corners.
Having your metadata already attached to the track you're uploading sounds convenient, but
let's happily shatter that illusion. Digital stores don't accept embedded files. Getting your music
to fans (and getting paid for it) means uploading tracks that pass a DSP's content guidelines,
and embedding isn't one of them.
Again, through Studio One's integration with TuneCore, you'll be able to enter all this metadata
yourself and ensure you're good to go.
DO: Nail Your Cover Art Regarding DSPs like Tidal or Amazon Music, audio isn't the only component of a track with
content requirements.
Your cover art also needs to be in store-ready shape.
If you haven't given this much thought, don't sweat it. However, it's important to note that not
meeting these requirements can lead to your music not being distributed on certain platforms.
Musicians are rightly more focused on their craft and a song's audio fidelity than the technical
specters of the accompanying image.
Here are the components you MUST nail down to get your artwork cleared:
Image Format: JPG or GIF
Aspect Ratio: 1:1 (Perfect square)
Resolution: At least 1600 x 1600 pixels in size
Best quality RGB Color Mode (this includes black and white images)
If you're distributing your music to the Amazon On Demand store (for printing physical
CD covers), you need a resolution of 300 DPI.
Here's what you CAN'T include:
Words or phrases that don't match the Artist Name or Song/Album Name
Email addresses, URLs/websites, contact info (this includes social handles), or pricing
Stickers from your artwork from a scanned copy of the physical CD
Something that suggests the release format CD, DVD, Digital Exclusive, the disc.
Cut off text or images
An image that's compressed into one corner with white space
Names of digital stores or their logo
North America Stories
22/05/2024
X2O Media Appoints Pang Yee Loy as Regional Manager to Lead Expansion into the APAC Market
MONTR AL - 23 May 2024 - X2O Media, a global provider of hybrid learning and tra...
22/05/2024
Richard Linklater's Hit Man Asks, How Far Will You Go For Love?
Richard Linklater and Glen Powell (photo by George Pimentel/Shutterstock for Sundance)...
22/05/2024
NewsNation to Expand To 24/7 Cable News Network
CHICAGO, Ill. Nexstar's NewsNation has announced that it will expand its news programming to 24-hours-per-day Monday through Sunday, beginning June 1....
22/05/2024
Adobe Launches Adobe Express for Enterprise
SAN JOSE, Calif. Adobe has launched the new Adobe Express for Enterprise, which Adobe said is designed to help businesses improve marketing content creation and...
22/05/2024
The Power of Making Great Projects Shouldn't be Wasted
The Power of Making Great Projects Shouldn't be Wasted Andy Marken May 22, 2024 0 Comments I love you, Molly. I've always loved you, Sam. ...
22/05/2024
J SPORTS Installs Blackmagic Design Workflow for On Demand Streaming
J SPORTS Installs Blackmagic Design Workflow for On Demand Streaming Brie Clayton May 22, 2024 0 Comments Blackmagic Design today announced that J SPO...
22/05/2024
Creating a Particle Man Resolve Fusion
Creating a Particle Man Resolve Fusion Simon Ubsdell May 22, 2024 0 Comments A simple but effective use of particles driven by an animated 3D characte...
22/05/2024
Fox & Friends has announced its All-American Summer Concert Series, which begins Friday, May 24 with Flo Rida. The concerts happen Fridays through August....
22/05/2024
Grammys' Set For February 2 on CBS and Paramount Plus
The 67th Annual Grammys Awards air on CBS Sunday February 2, 2025. The event happens at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. Paramount Plus will stream the Grammys ...
22/05/2024
Red Nose Day Turns 10 on NBC
NBC Celebrates Red Nose Day Thursday, May 23, marking ten years since the network debuted the fundraising event targeting child poverty. The network airs a one-...
22/05/2024
Fox Debuts Battleground' to Take Advantage of Election Season
Fox First Run is launching Battleground, which begins Tuesday with a weekly email newsletter, then a weekly 30-minute TV show on June 10, and finally a strip on...
22/05/2024
Trying' to Make A Standout Show About Adoption
Season four of Trying, a U.K. comedy about a married couple and their adopted children, debuts on Apple TV Plus May 22. Esther Smith plays Nikki and Rafe Spall ...
22/05/2024
Walter Cade Gets Expanded Role Leading Ad Sales for NBCU Local Chicago
Walter Cade, senior VP of sales for NBCUniversal Local in Chicago, has been given an expanded role, the company said....
22/05/2024
RFD-TV Founder Patrick Gottsch Dies at 70 Years Old
Patrick Gottsch, who launched RFD-TV and The Cowboy Channel died suddenly Saturday at age 70 in the Fort Worth Stockyards....
22/05/2024
GRAVITY MEDIA AUSTRALIA TO DELIVER CRANKWORX CAIRNS FOR R...
Gravity Media, a leading global provider of complex live creative production and media services, today confirmed details for the global coverage of this year...
22/05/2024
Pebble shows the stable future of playout automation at C...
Pebble, the leading automation, content management and integrated channel specialist, will demonstrate Automation 2.0, the new generation of its proven software...
22/05/2024
beIN MEDIA GROUP to launch first targeted TV advertising...
Leading video software company, Synamedia, today announced that beIN MEDIA GROUP ( beIN'), one of the foremost global sports and entertainment broadcasters,...
22/05/2024
Vizrt introduces smart video crop tool to streamline spor...
Vizrt, the leader in real-time graphics and live production solutions for content creators, announces a first for sports analysis. The latest software release...
22/05/2024
TAG to Demonstrate End to End Monitoring Probing and Vis...
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, will be demonstrating its Realtime...
22/05/2024
Trusted Partner Network Announces CANAL Plus Group Has Jo...
Trusted Partner Network (TPN), the leading industry content security initiative, announced today that CANAL Group, the leading French audiovisual media company...
22/05/2024
Sony Music Equips Its New 5020 Studio Madrid with PMC Mon...
Following an intensive five-month building project, Sony Music has officially opened its new 5020 Studio Madrid, a four-studio recording complex and creative ce...
22/05/2024
Joshua Blair and Nick Watson To Deliver Seminars at Prism...
Producer and engineer Joshua Blair and mastering engineer Nick Watson will be sharing their music industry knowledge and expertise at Prism Sound's 8 Hours ...
22/05/2024
Skandha launches powerful AI-based proof-of-delivery Ad v...
Skandha Media Services, a leader in scalable playout services that leverage cloud technology, automation, AI, and machine learning, has launched Evince, a uniqu...
22/05/2024
The Media Production and Technology Show Celebrates Recor...
After two buzzing days of inspiration, learning and an abundance of networking, the biggest and best The Media Production & Technology Show (MPTS) yet attracted...
22/05/2024
Nilesat Chooses PlayBox Neo Solutions for Large-Scale Ser...
PlayBox Neo announces an expansion of the broadcast channel management and playout infrastructure at the Cairo headquarters of Nilesat, one of the largest telec...
22/05/2024
PHABRIX to show Test and Measurement range on Leader Elec...
PHABRIX, a Leader Electronics Corporation brand, has announced that it is to exhibit a comprehensive selection of its T&M instruments on the Leader stand at Bro...
22/05/2024
The Academy of Lower Thirds Earns 2024 Chyron Designer of...
Chyron today announced that The Academy of Lower Thirds (AcademyL3) has earned the 2024 Chyron Designer of the Year Award for the Americas. The award recognizes...
22/05/2024
Max Starts European Rollout
NEW YORK Warner Bros. Discovery has begun the previously announced rollout of its streaming service Max in Europe, with the launch in 20 countries across the No...
22/05/2024
Liberty University Taps Riedel for Comms
WUPPERTAL, Germany Riedel Communications has announced that Liberty University, which serves over 135,000 students, has deployed Riedels Artist ecosystem to ena...
22/05/2024
OTA Wireless Readies ATSC 3.0 Datacasting For Commercial Deployment (Part 1)
LEAWOOD, Kan. Nexstar Media Group and E.W. Scripps have been working to make profitable ATSC 3.0 datacasting a reality for more than a year....
22/05/2024
Arabsat Selects Grass Valley AMPP for Cloud Playout
MONTREAL Grass Valley has announced Arabsat has chosen Grass Valley's AMPP SaaS platform as the foundation for a new three-tiered suite of broadcast transmi...
22/05/2024
Digital Alert Systems, Inovonics Partner on External EAS Monitoring Gear
LYNDONVILLE, N.Y. Digital Alert Systems and broadcast equipment provider Inovonics have announced a new joint solution for broadcasters that want or need extern...
22/05/2024
OTA Wireless Readies ATSC 3.0 Datacasting For Commercial Deployment (Part 2)
LEAWOOD, Kan. For ATSC 3.0-based datacasting to live up to its fullest potential, broadcasters must use their allocated channel assignments in a way that best b...
22/05/2024
Adobe Unveils Firefly-Powered Generative Remove in Lightroom for Fast and Easy AI-Editing Across Surfaces
Adobe Unveils Firefly-Powered Generative Remove in Lightroom for Fast and Easy A...
22/05/2024
Blackmagic Design Announces Special Price for Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K!
Blackmagic Design Announces Special Price for Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K! Brie Clayton May 21, 2024 0 Comments Save 40% on the next generation digita...
22/05/2024
Durham Bulls To Host MLB's Home Run Derby X Tour
MLB, Softball & Women's Baseball Stars To Compete At DBAP September 7thThe Durham Bulls, in conjunction with Major League Baseball, will host the final ev...
22/05/2024
Berklee's Summer in the City Brings Free Concerts to Boston Area
Berklee's Summer in the City Brings Free Concerts to Boston Area The series will feature Berklee students, faculty, and alumni performing at popular venue...
22/05/2024
CBS News and Stations Launches Medical, Health and Wellness Unit
CBS News and Stations is launching a Medical, Health and Wellness Unit, which will be managed by Sara Kuzmarov, senior coordinating producer, and a veteran prod...
22/05/2024
Upfronts Put Football, Big Stars, Tech Talk in the Spotlight
After a year in which strikes kept actors from appearing at upfront events, 2024 looked like a battle of the network stars, as if big names equaled great conten...
22/05/2024
Everyone Offers Tomorrow's Advertising Today (Upfronts)
Upfront presentations were once about the shows that would be on the fall primetime schedule....
22/05/2024
Charter Offers Up To $2,500 for Switching to Spectrum Mobile
Charter Communications is offering customers who switch to Spectrum Mobile up to $2,500 to pay off their existing plans....
22/05/2024
Allen Media Group Adopting BrightLine Interactive Ad Formats
Allen Media Group said is working with BrightLine to provide interactive ad experiences to sponsors on Allen's Weather Channel, Local Now and HBCU Go connec...
22/05/2024
Tribeca Festival and Chanel Unveil 2024 Artist Awards Program Participants
May 22nd, 2024 #ChanelTribeca2024 #Tribeca2024 #CHANELinCinemaPress assets available HEREArtist video available HERETRIBECA FESTIVAL AND CHANEL UNVEIL 20...
22/05/2024
SVG College Summit 2024: Technology Exhibits Preview, Part 2
SVG College Summit 2024: Technology Exhibits Preview, Part 2 By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital Wednesday, May 22, 2024 - 8:33 am Print This Story | Su...
22/05/2024
Prime Video's VP, Live Sports Product and Engineering Eric Orme Reflects on Thursday Night Football and the Growth of Live Streaming Sports at Amazon
22/05/2024
2024 Sports Emmys: ESPN Takes Home Most Statues With Eight; CBS's Super Bowl LVIII Shines With Three Wins, Including Outstanding Live Special
2024 Sports Emmys: ESPN Takes Home Most Statues With Eight; CBS's Super Bowl...
22/05/2024
ESPN's Chris Strong on Building a Longterm Vision For Live Production in the Cloud
ESPN's Chris Strong on Building a Longterm Vision For Live Production in the...
22/05/2024
How To Distribute Your Music with Studio One From Creation to Digital Streaming Platforms
If you're a PreSonus user, you're probably pretty hands-on in producing ...
21/05/2024
I Am L3Harris: Eldon
Today, I am a proud first-generation college graduate with a master's degree in electrical engineering. Never give up, keep learning, keep working hard and ...
21/05/2024
Arabsat powers its new state-of-the-art cloud-playout services through Grass Valley's AMPP Platform
Montreal, Canada- May 21, 2024 - Grass Valley, a pioneer in live production solu...
View most recent headlines
