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Release Guidelines

The Release Information step covers your release strategy, timing, pricing, and the metadata that determines how your release is categorized, credited, and delivered to stores. Here's what each section means and how to fill it out correctly.

1. Selecting your release strategy

Your release strategy controls where and how your release is sold, and which details are required in the rest of this step:

  • Sell Direct and Stream: Sell directly to fans on your EngineEars storefront, then distribute to streaming stores. Artists who give fans a window to buy direct before the release hits streaming can earn significantly more from their music in the first 30 days, since direct sales keep 100% of earnings before the release goes to DSPs.
  • Sell Direct only: Release your project exclusively on your EngineEars storefront for fans to purchase directly. No distribution to streaming platforms.
  • Distribute only: Distribute your release to all streaming platforms (DSPs), with no direct-to-fan sales component.

2. Choosing a release date and 3. Release price

Set the dates for your release strategy. Artists who give fans a two-week window to buy direct before going to streaming earn up to 40 times more from their music in the first 30 days.

  • Allow time between your direct-to-fan sale window and your streaming release date so fans have a real incentive to buy direct first.
  • Fridays are the typical release date for streaming platforms, and align with industry-standard new music releases.
  • Pay-What-You-Want pricing: Allows fans to pay more than the minimum price you set, if they choose to.

4. Release timing

  • The standard release time is 9:00 PM PST / 12:00 AM EST. Your release goes live territory by territory as midnight local time arrives in each region, so it will drop first in territories like Australia before reaching the U.S.
  • If you selected a timed release, your release will go out at the exact time and timezone you set, rather than following the standard midnight-by-territory rollout.

Release description

This is shown on your EngineEars profile for direct releases, giving fans a bit of context about the project before they listen or purchase.

Genre

Select a main genre for your release. A secondary genre is optional. If there is a genre available on Apple Music that you don't see listed here, contact our support team and we can attempt to add it for you.

Language

Choose the primary language of your release. Mark the checkbox if your release only contains instrumental music with no lyrical content.

Label

This can be your artist name, your real name, or a legal entity. Avoid website links or explicit language in this field. By default, "Distributed by EngineEars" will appear on all label lines unless you enter your own.

Copyright lines

The copyright line section has two parts, each represented by a different symbol:

  • ℗ (P-Line): Represents the copyright in the sound recording itself (the master). This should be the name of whoever owns the recording, typically the artist or label, along with the year the recording was released.
  • © (C-Line): Represents the copyright in the underlying composition and packaging (artwork, liner notes). This should be the name of whoever owns those rights, typically the artist, songwriter, or publisher, along with the year.

In most cases, independent artists releasing their own music will enter their own artist name or legal name for both lines, along with the current year.

EngineEars storefront options

These options apply specifically to your direct release, the version of your release being sold to fans through your own EngineEars storefront.

Additional Delivery, Reporting & Collections

These are optional services beyond standard store delivery. Each requires specific rights or account setup:

  • Apple Motion Art: Animated album artwork that displays on Apple Music. Separate from your standard cover art.
  • Collect publishing royalties: Register your composition so EngineEars can collect mechanical and performance royalties on your behalf.
  • Report fan sales & streams to Luminate: Sends your sales and streaming data to Luminate for Billboard chart eligibility and industry reporting.
  • YouTube Content ID: Monetize and protect your music on YouTube. Requires 100% exclusive rights to the recording.
  • Meta Rights Manager: Fingerprint-based content protection for your music on Facebook and Instagram.
  • SoundCloud Monetization: Enables monetized streaming and copyright protection for your music on SoundCloud.
  • SoundExchange: Collects digital performance royalties for sound recordings played in the U.S. (non-interactive streaming, satellite radio, etc.).

Optional information

UPC code: A UPC (Universal Product Code) is the unique barcode number that identifies your release to stores and retailers. If you don't already have one, EngineEars will automatically generate one for you. If you are migrating a release that was previously distributed elsewhere, you will need to enter that release's existing UPC here so its sales and streaming history stays connected to the same release.

Territories: By default, your release is available worldwide. Enable manual selection if you want to restrict your release to specific countries only.