Releasing Music

This guide explains how to work with the ONCE chat agent to submit your music for distribution.

Starting a New Release

Visit beta.once.app to start a new conversation with the chat agent. The agent will guide you through the entire release process, adapting to your needs and preferences.

Quick Start Suggestions

When you open a new conversation, a scrolling row of suggestions appears between the ONCE logo and the message box. These are example prompts like “I want to get my single to Spotify” or “Walk me through a release”, hover over any suggestion to highlight it, then click to send it instantly. No typing required.

Working with the Chat Agent

The ONCE chat agent is conversational and flexible. You don’t need to follow a rigid set of steps, just tell it about your release and it will ask for whatever information is needed.

What This Chat Is Best For

The release chat is focused on preparing and submitting your release metadata.

If you need general ONCE product help, technical platform questions, or want to submit a bug report, open ONCE Support in the app and ask there. ONCE Support can also look up your releases, edit metadata, navigate you to any page in the app, and investigate some stuck-release or platform issues: just ask ONCE Support about a release by name, ask for a status-based list like your drafts, or say “take me to my releases.” You can request metadata changes (titles, genres, dates, etc.) and confirm proposed edits in ONCE Support’s edit card. If an issue needs a background fix, ONCE Support shows a persistent progress card and posts a short result in the same thread. Destructive actions such as takedowns are never automatic. For initial submissions, ID mapping, and image generation, use the main Chat Agent.

What the Agent Collects

The agent will gather information about your release through natural conversation:

• Release details: Title, artist name, genre, release date
• Track information: Track titles, explicit content flags, optional preview start seconds, songwriter credits, optional lyrics
• Featured artists: Any collaborators on the release
• Artist page links: Apple Music, Spotify, SoundCloud, and Meta artist/profile pages when you want stores to match an existing artist page
• Additional metadata: Record label, copyright information, etc.

If you saved a preferred label during signup, ONCE uses it as the starting label for new releases unless you set a different one in chat. If you do not have a preferred label, ONCE falls back to the release’s primary artist name until you choose a label for that release.

For Various Artists releases, ONCE does not automatically use Various Artists as the label. In that case, it will prefer your saved default label if you have one, or ask you to choose a real label for that release.

Artist Page Links

If your release should land on an existing artist page, you can give ONCE the matching Apple Music, Spotify, SoundCloud, or Meta artist profile link during chat.

• You can paste either a full URL or the raw profile ID/handle.
• ONCE stores the link with your release metadata and shows it on the release page for review.
• If a track uses a different primary artist than the release, ONCE can store track-level artist page links too.

Providing these links helps distribution partners map the release to the right artist page instead of creating a duplicate profile.

For URL patterns, example links, and ID formats for each platform (including what we do not support, such as Tidal), see Artist store links.

Featured Artists

How Featured Artists Are Collected

When you tell the agent about your release, it listens for collaborator keywords “feat.”, “ft.”, “featuring” to identify featured artists. For example:

• “The track is called Midnight Drive feat. Asha Patel”
• “It features two artists: Asha Patel and Leo Vance”

The agent only marks someone as a featured artist when you use one of those explicit indicators. Names joined by “and”, ”&”, or “x” are treated as additional primary artists, not featured artists, unless you specify otherwise.

Featured artists can be set at the release level, the track level, or both. For singles (one-track releases), featured artists are automatically applied to both the release and the track since streaming platforms require them to match.

For singles, the release title and track title must match, and the release title version and track title version must match as well. ONCE keeps those fields aligned automatically during validation and when you edit a distributed single.

How Featured Artists Are Processed

Featured artists are stored as part of your release metadata and sent to distribution partners when your release is submitted. Internally, featured artist names are converted into contributor entries with a “Featuring” role before being passed to the distribution API.

How Featured Artists Are Displayed

Display varies by platform:

• Spotify: Shows featured artists in the track title line (e.g., “Midnight Drive (feat. Asha Patel)”) and on the artist’s profile page
• Apple Music: Shows featured artists in the track/album artist credit and links to their Apple Music profile if one exists
• YouTube Music: Displays featured artists as part of the artist attribution on the track and album pages
• Amazon Music, Tidal, and most other stores: Generally display featured artists in the artist credit or track title

Note: TikTok does not display featured artists. Your featured artist credits will not appear on TikTok regardless of what is submitted.

You can provide information in any order. The agent keeps track of what’s been collected and what’s still needed in the sidebar.

Title Versions in Release and Track Names

When a release or track includes a title version from your distributor metadata (for example, “Deluxe”, “Remix”, or “Instrumental”), ONCE shows it in parentheses after the main title.

Examples:

• Midnight Drive (Deluxe)
• Ocean Eyes (Instrumental)

Keep format labels such as - Single, - EP, and - Album out of the release title. The release format is stored separately. If a catalog migration includes one of these storefront-added labels, ONCE removes it automatically before delivery and places recognized qualifiers in the Title Version field.

This formatting appears on your release pages and in your releases list so title qualifiers are easy to spot.

The Sidebar

As you chat, the sidebar displays your release information in real-time:

• Release title and artist
• Track list with durations
• Track preview start offsets (when provided)
• Cover art preview
• Upload status for audio and artwork

If a track already has audio, expand that track in the sidebar and click Replace audio to swap in a new file. ONCE keeps the chat upload card in sync, so the updated audio appears there too.

Uploading Files

Bulk Release Context Files (CSV/PDF)

In the chat input, click the + button to attach a CSV or PDF file when you want to provide bulk release context (for example, a track spreadsheet, release planning sheet, or metadata document).

These file additions are for bulk release context only. They are not used for cover art or final audio delivery.

Audio Upload Card

When the agent is ready for your audio files, it will display an audio upload card in the chat. This card lets you:

• Drag and drop audio files or click to browse
• Upload multiple tracks at once
• Edit track titles directly in the card
• Reorder tracks by dragging
• Add or remove tracks as needed

The agent will organize your tracks and let you make adjustments before finalizing.

Audio requirements: WAV is recommended for best quality, and MP3, AAC, M4A, OGG, FLAC, and AIFF are accepted. Before uploading, check that your file is not clipping (distorted at loud parts) and has no excessive silence at the start or end.

Mark explicit tracks accurately. A track whose lyrics contain profanity or explicit content must be flagged explicit, and a clean version must not be. A mismatch between your flag and your audio is one of the most common reasons a release is held or sent back, and it is entirely avoidable. Tell the chat agent which tracks are explicit, then check each track in the sidebar: it shows an Explicit or Clean badge so you can confirm before submitting.

You can also replace an existing track file later from the metadata sidebar with Replace audio. That uses the same draft state as the upload card, so both views stay aligned.

Cover Art Upload Card

The agent will also show a cover art upload card when it’s time to add your artwork. You have two options:

Upload Your Own Art

Drag and drop or click to upload your own cover art.

Cover art requirements:

• Square, JPG or PNG, 3000x3000 pixels recommended
• No streaming platform logos (Spotify, Apple Music, and so on)
• No website URLs or social handles
• Not blurry, pixelated, or upscaled from a small source
• Nothing that breaks store content guidelines, and explicit imagery marked as such

Artwork is one of the most common reasons a release comes back for changes, so it is worth checking against this list before you submit.

Generate with AI

You can generate cover art using AI directly in the card. Describe the artwork you want and ONCE will create it for you. You can:

• Provide a text description of what you want
• Request variations or adjustments
• Generate multiple options to choose from
• Use an existing image as a starting point for variations

AI cover art generation uses Nano Banana 2 (1K) by default. ONCE Insiders can switch between Nano Banana 2 (1K) and Nano Banana Pro (4K) directly in the generator.

AI Content Detection

ONCE automatically detects AI-generated content in your audio files using Vobile’s AI detector. When you upload audio, our system analyzes it and flags tracks that contain AI-generated elements.

This automatic detection ensures your release meets streaming platform compliance requirements (Spotify, Apple Music, etc. require disclosure of AI content).

If AI is detected in a track, you’ll see an “AI Detected” badge in the sidebar. This information is passed to streaming platforms automatically, you don’t need to do anything manually.

Billing impact: AI-detected tracks are billed at the AI rate of 2 credits/track ($2). Human tracks remain 1 credit. The AI surcharge funds the Artist Compensation Fund.

Rights Checks

After an audio file is uploaded, ONCE checks it against a music registry for existing audio. While the check runs, the audio upload card may show a small “Checking audio” indicator.

ONCE only shows a Pex audio match when more than 10% of the uploaded audio matches a registry recording. If a match is found, the track shows an “Audio match” badge with details about the matched recording when available. A match to your own recording is expected when moving music from another distributor. Confirm your rights on the review screen and continue. If you do not recognize the match, review the audio before submitting the release.

After delivery, ONCE may receive another audio-match result from the distribution system. If both checks identify the same recording, ONCE combines them into one result. If they identify different recordings, both are shown in a single audio-match section.

Lyrics

You can optionally provide plain-text lyrics for any track on your release. Lyrics are included in your release metadata and sent to distribution partners alongside the rest of your track information.

Adding Lyrics

To add lyrics, paste them in chat: paste the full lyrics text during your conversation with the agent and tell it which track they belong to. The agent saves them as part of the track metadata.

Lyrics can also be edited on the release page using Edit & Redistribute after submission, either in the manual editor’s per-track Lyrics field, or by pasting the lyrics to the Edit Agent and telling it which track they belong to.

Track Language

Each track carries a lyric language that is delivered to stores with your release. You never have to set it by hand:

• The chat agent infers each track’s language from its lyrics, title, and your conversation (for example, a track titled “Mi Corazón Roto” is marked Spanish).
• If a track reaches submission without a language, ONCE detects it automatically from the script of the lyrics or title (Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Cyrillic, Thai, and many more), before falling back to the release’s audio language and then English.
• Instrumental tracks are marked with the dedicated Instrumental language automatically.

The release-level languages are auto-filled the same way when you haven’t set them: the audio language when all your tracks’ language signals agree, and the metadata language from the script your titles are written in. Anything you (or the chat agent) set explicitly always wins over auto-detection.

If an inferred language is ever wrong, just tell the chat agent, or change the track’s Language field via Edit & Redistribute (the Edit Agent understands requests like “set the language of track 2 to Portuguese”).

How Lyrics Are Displayed

Lyrics appear on your release page in each track’s detail section. If a track already has lyrics stored in Revelator (for example, from a previous distributor), they are pulled in automatically and shown on the release page.

DSP Support

Not all streaming platforms display lyrics. Whether your lyrics appear on a particular storefront depends on that platform’s own policies and capabilities. ONCE always sends lyrics when available, but cannot guarantee downstream display.

Review and Confirm

Once all information is collected, the agent will present a confirmation screen showing:

• All release metadata
• Track list with details
• Cover art preview
• Credit cost for submission

Review everything carefully, metadata is difficult to change after distribution. When you’re ready, confirm to submit your release.

Streaming and download stores run their own systems and may adjust how metadata appears even after delivery; ONCE does not control those storefronts. See DSPs and release metadata in Things to Know for examples and what to expect.

Choosing Your Stores

The confirmation screen lists the distribution stores your release will target, defaulting to every store available to your account. Click Choose next to the store list to pick exactly which stores the release goes to, then click Done when you’re happy with the selection. If you’ve customized the list, the label changes to “Distribution stores (custom)” and a Reset to default set option restores your account’s default list at any time. Partner-only stores are labeled in the picker and cannot be selected by standard accounts.

Your store selection sticks to the release. Editing and redistributing later keeps the same stores, so a release you sent to one store stays on that store until you add more. To reach additional stores after release, use the Distribute to N Stores button under the store list on the release page rather than Edit & Redistribute.

YouTube Music remains in the supported store set. Selecting it delivers your release to the YouTube Music streaming service and usually creates an Art Track on an artist Topic channel. It does not enroll the release in YouTube Content ID or create an Official Artist Channel; those are separate services, and new access to them is currently limited to approved ONCE distribution partners. See the YouTube guide for the full distinction.

UGC monetization stores have regional restrictions. YouTube Content ID and Facebook Rights Manager are not available for releases associated with India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Vietnam, Brazil, or Turkey — judged from the release’s metadata language and/or the location your account is used from. Matching releases have these two stores removed from the selection automatically; all other stores, including YouTube Music, are unaffected. See Regional availability in the YouTube guide.

Identifiers (ISRC and UPC)

Every release page has an Identifiers panel showing the release’s UPC and each track’s ISRC.

• Bring your own codes: before submission, click Add your own in the panel to enter an ISRC or UPC you already own. Entries are validated when you save.
• Leave blank for automatic assignment: anything you don’t fill in is assigned automatically when the release is delivered. Assigned codes appear on the release page on their own after delivery, no need to ask for them.
• Pending assignment: after submission, codes that haven’t synced back yet show a “Pending assignment” state instead of an error.

If you register publishing for a track before its ISRC has synced, the submission no longer fails on the missing code: ONCE fetches the assigned ISRC from the distributor as part of the publishing submission.

After Submission

Register Publishing Information

After submission, you can prepare and register publishing details for each track by clicking Register Publishing on your release page.

You can draft details before distribution is complete, but final registration is only available after the release has been successfully distributed to at least one store.

If you collected publishing details in chat while building the release, there is nothing more to do: those details are queued when you submit for distribution and register automatically once each track’s ISRC arrives. Queued tracks show a Queued • awaiting ISRC badge on the release page, and you can adjust the details (or cancel the automatic submission) any time before they send.

For the full publishing workflow (chat collection, drafting, validation, PRO/IPI details, and final registration), see Publishing with ONCE.

Add Royalty Splits

Once a release has been successfully distributed to at least one store, the release page also shows a Splits action.

Use it to add release-wide or track-level royalty splits, invite collaborators into ONCE, and give recipients a locked, view-only version of the release in their account.

For the full owner and recipient workflow, see Royalty Splits.

Submission Source

If you submitted a release through an MCP client (such as Claude, Cursor, or ChatGPT) or through a partner surface like AI Music Distribution (app.aimusicdistributor.com), the release page shows a small provenance pill alongside the genre and configuration badges:

• via AIMD: the release was submitted through AI Music Distribution. The pill includes the AIMD logo so it’s easy to spot.
• via MCP: the release came in through a generic MCP client.

Releases submitted through the regular ONCE app don’t show a pill.

Status Tracking

Track your release status from the Releases page. Each release page shows a colored Status & Action Bar (STAB) at the top that indicates the current state and available actions.

Every status, what it means, and which buttons it gives you is documented on the Status & Action Bar page.

If Your Release Date Passes

If a submitted release passes its release date without going live, ONCE notices automatically: you get an email letting you know the team is on it, and the team is alerted at the same time. You don’t need to open a support ticket or chase the status yourself.

Retrying After a Distribution Error

When a release enters Attention Needed due to a distribution error (for example, invalid characters in a metadata field), clicking Retry Distribution opens the Fix and Retry Distribution editor. This is the same form as Edit & Redistribute, letting you review and correct any metadata before resubmitting. Once you’re ready, click Save & Retry Distribution to queue the release again, no metadata changes are required if none are needed.

The View details dialog also includes a Fix and Retry Distribution button so you can go straight into the editor from the error summary.

Mastering Retry Options

If a release enters Attention Needed because Peak mastering failed or timed out, the status bar shows two dedicated retry options instead:

• Retry with Mastering: tries Peak mastering again, then continues distribution.
• Retry without Mastering: skips mastering for now and continues distribution using your current audio.

This lets you keep moving your release forward even if Peak is temporarily unavailable.

Making Changes

Everything you can change after upload lives on one page: Changing a Release. It covers replacing a track’s audio, swapping artwork, fixing metadata, taking a release down, and deciding whether an alternate version should replace the original or go out on its own.

The short version:

Edits never cost credits. You are charged once per release, at first submission.

For quick metadata tweaks with no file replacements, you can also ask ONCE Support from anywhere in the app, for example “change the genre on my latest release”. It pulls up the release with a card showing the cover art and details, then lets you confirm the edit before it is submitted.