Change, transfer or take down a release

This covers the three things people need after a release exists: changing it, bringing one over from another distributor, and removing one from the stores.

Change a release

What you can do depends on the status on the release page.

Before submitting, or if the checklist stopped the submission: Choose Edit, change what you need in the wizard, and submit again. A UPC you already saved stays as it is.

If our distribution partner’s review sent it back: a change to the release’s title, cover, date, genre, label, explicit mark or track details won’t reach them on resubmit. Email [email protected] with the change.

Once it’s submitted, delivering or live: The details are locked, and What locks after you submit lists exactly what. The app has no button for sending a correction to a release that’s already out. Email [email protected] and describe the change. For a wrong barcode, use Something’s wrong? on the Overview tab, which starts an email to our team.

A replacement master or new artwork isn’t sent to the stores by itself, so email [email protected] before you rely on one.

Move a release here from another distributor

A transfer keeps the release dated from when it first came out, and the wizard notes that bringing it over keeps its playlists, saves and history on the stores.

Set it up

1. In the release wizard, turn on Already out on another distributor? on the Release Info step.
2. Fill in Where it is today and When it first came out. We pass the first on to our distribution partner, so use the distributor’s name. The date can’t be in the future.
3. On the Distribution step, use Find the existing listing and Look it up. If the right release appears, choose Use these to copy in the barcode, the date and any missing ISRCs. Look it up needs the release title and your artist name to be filled in.
4. If nothing is found, type the UPC into UPC/EAN and the ISRC on each track yourself.
5. On Review, check for a notice asking you to add the UPC or an ISRC for every track. Add them if you have them, then keep the same artwork and track order as the old release so stores can match the two copies.
6. Submit as normal. See Check readiness and submit.

Follow the move

The Distribution tab shows a Moving this release here card with these steps:

1. Sent to stores: we have the release and are checking it.
2. Going out to stores: leave the old copy live until it lands.
3. Live here: it’s live. Leave the old copy up until this one shows in every store.
4. Old copy taken down: this step opens 14 days after the release goes live here.
5. Complete: the release now lives here and nowhere else.

If the card shows a problem, fix the issues listed and submit again. A move that gets declined comes back to you this way as well.

Finish it

When the fourth step opens, the card gives you the instructions:

1. At your old distributor, request a takedown of the old release.
2. Afterwards, ask YouTube Content ID to release any claims tied to the old copy.
3. Back on the card, tick I have taken the old copy down at my former distributor.
4. Choose Mark the move complete.

SongPilot can’t remove the old copy for you, because it sits in your account with the other distributor. Don’t take it down early. Leave both up until the fourth step opens, which avoids gaps.

Take a release down

The app has no takedown button, and the status “taken down” isn’t something you can set yourself. To ask for a takedown, email [email protected] and say which release and why. Do this before you delete anything.

Deleting isn’t a takedown. Delete only removes a release from your SongPilot list, and it is refused while the release is submitted, delivering or live.

When a release has been taken down:

• The workspace owners and the person who created or submitted it get an email and a notification. It can take a little while to disappear from every store.
• The status reads “taken down”, and the details stay locked.
• The songs can be edited and deleted again, apart from their ISRC and ISWC, and the release can be deleted.
• The app has no button to send that release out again. Email [email protected] if you want it back in stores.

If you cancel your subscription

Distribution is part of your subscription. Plan on your releases staying in stores while you are subscribed and being taken down after your paid period ends. If you’re leaving and want to keep the music out there, move it to another distributor before your paid period runs out. Email [email protected] if you have questions about a particular release.

What to do next

If your release is still a draft, the readiness checklist is the quickest way to see what’s left.