The joy of finally publishing your own music online is indescribable. However, despite careful preparation, unexpected mistakes can occur that affect your success.
In this article, we'll show you how to quickly recognize and effectively fix common music publishing mistakes so that your music appears in the best possible quality and on the right platforms. This way, you can ensure that your work gets the attention it deserves.
Mistake 1: The artist name is spelled incorrectly
The correct spelling of the artist name is crucial for the discoverability and recognizability of your music. If you realize that the name was accidentally misspelled when you published it, there are ways to correct this mistake.
If this is your first release, a correction is particularly advisable. However, caution is advised if you already have several publications online. A name change can cause followers and statistical data that you have already gained to disappear from your artist profile. Please note that a new artist name in the online stores also creates a new artist profile.
If you decide to change your name anyway, proceed as follows:
1. create a contributor:
Create a contributor with the correct artist name in your FEIYR account.
2. request an update for the release:
Request an update for the affected release, replacing the contributor in the release data. Don't forget to update the track data as well.
3. note the waiting time:
The online stores need a few hours to days to process the update. During this time, your release will be moved to the new artist profile.
4. store artist IDs:
To ensure that future releases end up on your correct artist profile, store the artist ID accordingly.
Error 2: The music is on the wrong artist profile
Your music is online, but linked to the wrong artist profile. First releases are particularly often affected by this. The music is assigned by the online stores. If the artist name is exactly the same or very similar to an existing artist profile, your music is automatically assigned to it.
Fortunately, the digital distribution platforms and your distributor are prepared to correct such errors. To correct incorrect assignments to artist profiles, the relevant data can be entered and submitted to your distributor. You can find the form in your FEIYR account. Please note, however, that the change can only be requested by the distributor through whom you originally published the music.
To ensure that future music uploads end up on your correct artist profile, it is advisable to store the artist IDs in your contributor. This step ensures that the automatic assignment in the online stores is precise and that your music appears on the correct artist profile. This way you can ensure that your artistic identity is correctly displayed online.
Error 3: The music is not online on my preferred portal
If your music is not available on a particular portal, there may be various reasons for this. First of all, you should check the lead time with which you published your release. The lead time is the period between the publication and the official release date of your release. The portals need this period of time to process and check the data. A lead time of 3-5 weeks is recommended.
Another reason could be that some portals only offer music in certain genres. Check the website of the respective portal to find out whether your genre is offered at all.
Also check whether you have delivered the release to the desired portal during the publishing process. During the publishing process, you will receive an overview of the portals that can be supplied. If your portal was not listed or there was a note to this effect, your music was probably not delivered. You can find this information in the details of your release.
If you have checked everything and still don't know why your music is not online, contact your distributor via the support team. The support team will be happy to help you and can usually check this quickly.
Error 4: A spelling mistake in the data
If a spelling mistake has crept into your title or other data , this can often be fixed with an update. For most metadata, you can request an update from your distributor. The metadata is the information that you enter into the system yourself.
Find out about the possibility of an update to edit the metadata of your music either in the FAQ of your distributor or via support. These changes are usually associated with low costs.
Mistake 5: The unmastered track is faulty
The quality of the music is crucial. If the WAV file was accidentally swapped when uploading and the unmastered track was uploaded instead, or if you notice that the quality is very poor when listening in the online stores, the track can be replaced with an update in this case.
However, please note the following: As soon as you edit or remix the track, it is a rework or remix. You need a new ISRC for this and have to create the track again. New tracks cannot be added to your release at a later date. You have to publish a new release for this.
Error 6: The cover artwork is pixelated
Your main focus is on your music, but as soon as it's online, you realize how pixelated the cover artwork actually is.
Basically, the cover must always look professional and must not be blurred or pixelated, even if you open it in its original size (100% zoom). If you only notice this after publication, you can upload a new cover artwork with the help of an update.
If you do not have the possibility to create such a cover yourself or have it created, please use our graphics service. You can start the corresponding graphics job directly in your account.
Summary
A faulty music release can be frustrating, but as you can see: with the right approach and attention, most problems can be solved quickly. By recognizing and correcting errors in good time, you can ensure that your music achieves the greatest possible reach and impact. This way, nothing stands in the way of the success of your release.