You’ve got your final recordings in hand, they are ready to be heard by the world, but are you?
Here are some tips on what information you will need to collect before you sit down to upload your songs to release!
First of all, take a deep breath, you got this!
Next, create a folder on your desktop where you can keep all of the images and files aka “assets” for the project you are about to release. In this folder you will keep safe all of your master audio files, album cover artwork, lyrics, production notes (such as who played on and recorded the music) and any other information associated with this particular recording such as co-writer information.
Start a spreadsheet where for each song you write and/or record, you can keep track of every detail about that song: when did you write it, what is the ISRC, ISWC, who are the co-writers, who are the associated publishers. In the Tunedough self guided course that takes you through this entire process you will receive what we call The Cookbook (a spreadsheet template) and The Pantry (a set of folders already organized to drag and drop your files into) to make this organization process a breeze.
Next make sure you do a little research and choose which Digital Distributor, like Tunecore, CDBaby or Distrokid for example, you would like to use to upload your music to release on interactive streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple and Itunes.
Create an account with your chosen platform to distribute on like Tunecore, make sure you set up your payment information so when you do start releasing music, you will be able to receive the royalties you earn.
Then do a little bit of research: what size image do you need for the album artwork and what are the audio requirements for the master audio files. These details are super important and could stop you in your tracks if you are not prepared with the right images and files. It will be even easier if these assets are all in that handy folder.
Every step of the registration process will be a breeze if you take time to prepare all of your information from who wrote what song and what your agreed splits of the songs are and get all of your assets in one folder on your desktop, you will have streamlined this whole step and saved yourself so much time!
Being prepared with all of the information about your music will make all of your next steps in the song registration process a breeze.
There are a few more steps to the song registration process to make sure you are collecting all of the royalties owed to you. What you collect will depend on if you own the composition copyright and/or the sound recording copyright. If you are releasing a cover, you may only be collecting on the sound recording. If you wrote the song, you may also own the composition copyright and will have royalties to collect there as well!
Want to learn more about registering your music and tracking your royalty payments? Get the Complete Video Guide for Royalties & Registration.
