Every release submitted to Soundrop is reviewed by a person before it is delivered to platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. We look at the artwork, we inspect the formatting of the metadata, and we check that your publishing and songwriter information is correct. This process is called Content Review, or Inspection.
Reviewing each release manually provides a level of protection to digital platforms and minimizes the risk of copyright infringement. It also ensures your release is retail-ready across all platforms, which improves searchability and visibility.
Following the guidelines below helps ensure your release isn't delayed during distribution.
What isn't permitted on cover art?
- Contact information of any kind (URLs, email addresses, phone numbers)
- Pornographic images
- Copyrighted images you don't own the rights to (e.g., cartoon, video game, or anime characters; real-life celebrities)
- Trademarked images you don't have permission to use
- Hate symbols or imagery, including racist and Nazi symbolism
- Low-quality images (blurry, pixelated, distorted)
More on cover art quality requirements
What isn't permitted in artist names?
- Special characters or emojis
- Misspellings or variations of a well-known artist's name intended to capture searches for that artist
- Run-on names that combine collaborators, features, and descriptors
- Generic placeholder names (e.g., "Artist Name")
- Names that read as a release or track title rather than an artist name (e.g., "Springtime Meditations")
Your genre in your artist name can also be considered generic. Your own legal name is permitted as an artist name, though a more distinctive alias is worth considering.
More on artist name requirements
What isn't permitted in release and track titles?
- Generic release titles (e.g., "My Album," "Greatest Hits")
- Generic track titles (e.g., "Song 1," "Track 10")
Things to note
- Any text on your cover art must match your metadata exactly. This includes your artist name, featured artists, the release title, title versions, and volume numbers.
- Differences between the information on your cover and the actual information about your release are confusing for listeners and can cause your music to be hidden or removed from stores.
- The guidelines above cover the most common reasons a release is held during review. They are not a complete list of everything we check.
- Requirements for commercially distributing music are stricter than the requirements for uploading to platforms like YouTube. Meeting one does not mean you meet the other.
- If your release is held, the email we send will identify what needs to change. Once you've made the correction, resubmit and we'll review it again.
- For examples and more details, see this article.
Ready to make some changes?
Click here for instructions on making edits and resubmitting.