IGNITE GUIDE
What to Prepare Before Your First Release
A checklist for first-time releases: master files, cover art specs, credits and metadata, and how far ahead to set the release date.
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Finishing the song is where the work starts
Once the mix and master are done, it's easy to assume releasing is just an upload. Then you open the distributor's form and meet a wall of fields you've never filled in: the official spelling of the title, legal names and roles for everyone involved, genre, lyrics, artwork specs, a requested release date. Starting unprepared turns into days of back-and-forth.
This covers the fields most distributors ask for. Rules and review times vary between distributors, so check your own distributor's guide before you submit.
Send the master as it is
Most distributors want a WAV master. Every streaming service compresses the file on its own, so your job is to hand over the cleanest uncompressed source you have. Converting an MP3 back to WAV achieves nothing — information that's gone doesn't come back.
Check the silence at both ends. More than a second of dead air at the start plays as a gap, and an abrupt cut at the end kills the ending. Trim the head tight and let the tail fade naturally.
- WAV master at the project's sample rate (usually 44.1 or 48 kHz)
- If an MP3 is required, convert directly from the master
- Trimmed head, checked fade at the tail
- An instrumental version rendered with the same master settings, if you need one
Check the artwork spec first
Cover art is usually a square JPG, and 3000×3000 pixels is a common recommendation. Upscaling a small image often gets rejected in review, so work large from the start. Blurry images and broken text are rejection reasons too.
There are content rules as well. Don't use anyone's photo or artwork without permission, and most distributors prohibit social handles, website addresses, prices, or promotional words like "new single" on the cover. Artist name and title are the safe contents. Check that your font is licensed for commercial use.
Build the credits table before you need it
Contributor information eats the most time in the submission form. Composition, lyrics and arrangement often require legal names, and if someone belongs to a rights society you'll need the society name and membership number. With several people involved, that means asking each of them — so collect it while you're making the song rather than the night before submission.
Settle the artist name spelling too, in every language you'll use, and keep it identical on later releases. Inconsistent spellings split your artist page across streaming services. Send lyrics as a final version, with the line breaks and spacing you actually want.
- Track title and artist name, in each language you use
- Legal names for composer, lyricist and arranger, plus rights society and membership number
- Roles for vocals, instruments, mixing and mastering
- Genre, track language, full lyrics
- Album notes, if you have them
Set the release date earlier than feels necessary
Submitting doesn't release the track. Distributor review and delivery to each streaming service take time, so two to three weeks of lead time is a safer default. Submit too close to the date and a rejection leaves you no room to fix and resubmit.
Decide what happens on release day while you're setting it. A post ready to go, a short video cut in advance, a link to share — these change how the first day goes. Streaming links don't exist until the track is live, so leave yourself time that morning to collect them.
Getting to a release through IGNITE competitions
Releasing on your own means handling every item above yourself. In an IGNITE competition, teams that finish a track go through distribution registration with us. The flow runs from entry to team building to production and submission, then voting, then release, and we guide teams through the information needed after submission.
If you're building a team with a release in mind, collect the items above in your team chat early. Legal names and rights society details are the slowest part, because each person has to check their own.
Find musicians to create with on IGNITE
IGNITE is a collaboration competition platform where musicians form teams, finish one original track and have it evaluated by community voting. Try what you've read here on a real team project.
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