Changing a Release

Uploaded the wrong file? Found a click at 0:28? Want new artwork? This page covers every way to change music already in ONCE, from a draft you are still building to a single that has been live for a year.

What you can change depends on where the release is. Open it from your Releases page and read the colored Status & Action Bar at the top.

Edits never cost credits. You are charged once per release, when it is first submitted. Replacing audio, swapping artwork, fixing a title, and redistributing are all free, however many times you do them.

What you cannot change: adding or removing tracks (that needs a new release) and reordering tracks.

How do I change a song I’ve uploaded?

If the release is still a Draft, nothing has been sent anywhere and everything is editable.

1. Open the release and click Continue Chat, or go to beta.once.app and pick up the conversation.
2. In the sidebar, expand the track you want to change.
3. Click Replace audio and pick the new file. The chat upload card stays in sync.
4. For artwork, ask the agent to show the cover art card and upload or generate a new image.
5. For anything else (title, genre, date, credits, lyrics), just tell the agent.

Replace audio only appears while the draft is editable. After submission, use Edit & Redistribute.

The release is submitted but not live yet

A submitted release is queued at stores but has not been accepted. You do not have to wait for it to go live.

Click Edit & Redistribute and make your change. Because stores have not accepted the release, an audio, UPC, or ISRC change is simply saved and goes out with the delivery. No takedown, no delay.

If the release happens to be locked while distribution is processing, your edit is queued rather than rejected; see locked releases.

How do I put a different audio file up on a song I’ve already released?

Once a release is live, stores will not accept a new master on top of the old one. The release has to come off stores first. ONCE runs that whole sequence for you: you confirm once and do not need to come back.

1. Open the release and click Edit & Redistribute.
2. Open the manual editor, or tell the Edit Agent “replace the audio on track 2” and it opens the upload for you.
3. Under Track Audio Replacement, upload the new file on the track you want to change.
4. Make any other changes in the same edit: artwork, titles, credits, genre. They all ride along.
5. Save. ONCE shows exactly which changes force the takedown and what happens at each step.
6. Confirm once.

What happens after you confirm

1. Takedown sent to stores. Starts immediately.
2. Stores remove the release. Usually a few days. Your music is off stores while this runs.
3. Your changes apply automatically, including everything else in the same edit.
4. The release goes back up. Same release, same UPC, same store links, same ISRCs. You get an email when it is live.

The release page tracks this live:

While the sequence is still queued you can Cancel it from the release page. If the new master cannot be verified, the banner flags it and the ONCE team is alerted automatically.

If the track was mastered with Peak, replacing the file disables the previous mastered result. The editor warns you before you save.

How do I change the artwork on a song I’ve already released?

Artwork does not need a takedown. Your music stays live the whole time.

1. Open the release and click Edit & Redistribute.
2. The Album Art section sits at the top of the editor, always visible.
3. Upload the new image, or tell the Edit Agent “replace the cover art”.
4. Save. The update goes to stores with your next delivery.

The new art must still pass cover art requirements. Stores refresh artwork on their own schedule, so allow a few days, and expect cached images (playlists, social previews) to lag.

How do I fix a title, artist name, genre, credits, or lyrics on a live release?

Same place, no takedown, music stays up. Edit & Redistribute opens a full-page editor with every field grouped by what it means for your release: instant-safe changes, artwork, and the few changes that need a takedown are each labeled. Two ways to work:

• Edit the fields directly, with a live before → after summary of what you changed.
• Edit Agent: describe the change in plain English (“fix the spelling of the featured artist”, “set the language of track 2 to Portuguese”) and it fills in the fields for you to review.

A review step shows every change and explains the outcome before anything is submitted.

For quick metadata tweaks you can also ask ONCE Support from anywhere in the app: “change the genre on my latest release.” It pulls up the release and lets you confirm the edit. ONCE Support cannot replace files or run takedowns.

Worth knowing:

• Missing songwriter credits do not block edits to a distributed release. Fix the genre now, add credits later through Publishing.
• On singles, the release title and track title must match. ONCE keeps them aligned.
• Changing a UPC or ISRC goes through the same takedown sequence as audio.
• Every redistribution can nudge the release date shown on stores; ONCE preserves your original date automatically. See release dates. Stream counts and playlist placements are not affected.

What if the release is locked while I’m editing?

Releases are locked while distribution is processing or a takedown is running. Your edits are not rejected during a lock: they are saved, queued, and applied the moment the release unlocks, with an email when they go through.

• The release page shows a Changes queued banner listing the waiting fields, with a Cancel option.
• Small, safe edits such as genre or label may go through immediately even during a lock.
• If the distributor starts processing between ONCE’s check and the update, the update shows as Deferred rather than failed. ONCE retries it automatically with increasing delays until processing clears.

A change saved while a release is in inspection is applied the moment it is approved and sends it back for a second review. If the edit is not needed to pass inspection, wait until the release is live.

Should I replace the audio, or put the new version out as a new release?

It depends on whether the new file is the same recording, fixed or a different recording.

Replace the audio when it is the same performance with a technical problem corrected: an artifact, a click, clipping, a bad export, silence at the top, the wrong master of the same mix. You keep the UPC, ISRCs, store links, stream counts, and playlist placements.

Release it as a new release when it is a different recording: an acoustic version, a remix, a live take, a radio edit, a re-record, a different vocal take. Listeners would search for it as its own thing.

The reason is ISRCs. An ISRC identifies one specific recording, and replacing audio keeps the existing ISRC. An acoustic version under the studio version’s ISRC is misidentified everywhere downstream, from royalty matching to store catalogs.

Want the original gone and the new version in its place? Those are two actions: take the original down and submit the new version separately. Do not use audio replacement to swap one version for another.

How do I take my release down?

You can do this yourself, per store or everywhere at once.

1. Open the release and click View details next to the status to open the Distributions panel.
2. One store: click the takedown icon next to that store and confirm.
3. Every store: click Take Down From ALL Stores under the store list, then type TAKE IT ALL DOWN to confirm.

Takedowns take several days to clear at stores. The release stays in your ONCE account, and Distribute to N Stores in the same panel puts it back later, though store links and playlist placements are not guaranteed to survive the gap.

You do not need a takedown to change artwork or metadata, and you do not need to run one yourself to replace audio. Cancelling a release that is submitted but not yet distributed needs the team: ask in the ONCE Discord.

My release is live on Spotify and YouTube, but ONCE shows no track or no cover art

Your music is fine. ONCE’s copy of the release is out of step with the distributor, which most often happens after a duplicate release was deleted, or after a catalog migration.

1. Open ONCE Support and give it the release name, its release date, and a link to the live store page.
2. Say what the release page is missing: the track, the cover art, or both.
3. ONCE Support opens a tracked thread and passes it to the team if it cannot fix it directly.

Do not resubmit the release or create a new one for music that is already live. That risks a duplicate delivery to stores, which is far slower to unwind. Your music stays live and keeps earning while it is fixed; royalties track your ISRCs at the store, not what the ONCE page renders.

How long do changes take?

Every store processes deliveries on its own schedule and has final say over how your release appears. See DSPs and release metadata.

Related

• Wrong artist profile? See Artist Store Links.
• Held for a recognizable-artist review? See Attention Needed.
• Rejected at inspection? See common rejections and the fix.