When a submission is accepted, everything our distribution partner received is fixed in SongPilot. A change made here wouldn’t reach the stores, so SongPilot refuses it. That keeps your copy matching what was sent.
The refusal reads: “This release has been sent to our distribution partner, so this can’t be changed here.”
When the lock starts and ends
The release locks when its status becomes submitted to distributors, and stays locked through delivering and live. It also stays locked after it is taken down.
It is not locked while the status is draft, needs changes or rejected. In those states you can edit the release and submit it again. 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, so email [email protected] with the change. The readiness article walks through this.
What locks on the release
- Title, type and description
- Release date and planned date
- Genre, record label and explicit mark
- Catalog number and ISRC prefix
- The transfer details: whether it’s a transfer, the previous distributor, and the original date
- The artist on the release
- The stores and territories saved on the release, along with its secondary genre and other saved settings
- The UPC
- The track list: adding, removing or reordering songs
- The cover art
Saving the same details back isn’t treated as a change. Setting the cover again is refused, even if it’s the same image.
What locks on each song
While a song is on a release that is submitted, delivering or live, these are fixed on the song itself, not only on the release:
- Name
- Explicit mark
- AI-generated mark
- Instrumental mark
- ISRC and ISWC
- Song credits, including writers and shares
You also can’t delete the song. Other fields on the song stay free, and so does every song that isn’t on a submitted release.
Once the release is taken down, these song locks lift, except ISRC and ISWC, which stay fixed. The lock on the release’s own details does not.
Codes lock sooner
A UPC you save locks straight away, even on a draft. An ISRC or ISWC you type on a song is also recorded as confirmed and can’t be retyped. On the Overview tab, a locked UPC shows that it can’t be edited here, with Something’s wrong? beside it. That link starts an email to our team with the details filled in.
What stays open
These aren’t sent to our distribution partner, so they are not locked: the mood, story, pitch, audience, similar artists, major markets, press activity, recording details, visual notes and the materials lead time.
The wizard is closed once a release is locked, so the app has no screen for changing them at that point. Fill them in before you submit if you can.
Everything around the release stays open:
- Create Campaign on the release page still works, and so does anything else you do to promote it. See Create a campaign.
- You can still make artwork, videos and social posts from the songs.
- You can still master a song or change which audio it plays. This is not locked, and nothing sends a new file to the stores. The stores keep what was delivered.
What you’ll see in the app
On the release page, choosing Edit shows a message instead of opening the wizard: “This release has gone to the stores, so it can’t be edited here. Changes made now wouldn’t reach them.”
From the Releases list, the edit action (a pencil icon on list rows, Edit Release in a card’s menu) shows the same message for a locked release and takes you to the release page.
Delete is on the list too. On a release that is submitted, delivering or live, it is refused with the sentence above. A taken-down release can be deleted. Deleting removes the release from your list and leaves its songs in your catalogue.
If something is wrong after you submit
- While it says needs changes or rejected: fix it yourself and submit again. If our distribution partner’s review sent it back, also email [email protected] with any change to the title, cover, date, genre, label or explicit mark.
- A wrong barcode: use Something’s wrong? on the Overview tab.
- Anything else: email [email protected] and say what needs correcting. The app has no way to send an update to a release that’s already out, so don’t assume a fix is instant.
See Change, transfer or take down a release for more.
Before you submit
Check these once more, since they are the ones people most often want back:
- The title is the one you want listeners to see.
- Every track’s name, explicit mark and AI mark are right.
- The writers and their shares are complete.
- The cover is final.
- The date is the one you want.
