A practical guide to getting your catalog onto global DSPs — covering delivery standards, metadata preparation, territory configuration and what to look for in a distribution partner.
Digital distribution is the pipeline that moves audio files and metadata from a rights holder to the streaming platforms and download stores where listeners access music. In practice, this means packaging audio in the required format, preparing metadata to platform specifications, generating a DDEX delivery package, and delivering it to each DSP through the appropriate channel.
The platforms that receive your music — Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, TikTok, Deezer, regional platforms across Southeast Asia — each have their own technical requirements, delivery timelines and data standards. A distributor's role is to abstract that complexity: you deliver once, and the distributor handles the platform-specific formatting and delivery logistics.
DDEX (Digital Data Exchange) is the industry-wide protocol for communicating music data between labels, distributors and platforms. When a distributor says they use DDEX-compliant workflows, it means their delivery format adheres to a standard that DSPs can ingest predictably — reducing errors, rejections and processing delays.
For labels, this mostly operates invisibly. What matters is that your distributor is DDEX-compliant, because non-compliant deliveries are more likely to be rejected or processed incorrectly by platforms — leading to delayed release dates, incorrect credits, or missing releases.
Metadata is the structured information that describes your music. It powers search, attribution, royalty tracking and rights management across every platform. Errors in metadata at the point of delivery propagate downstream — a wrong ISRC code can lead to royalties being misattributed; an incorrect genre tag affects playlist algorithm placement; a missing explicit content flag can cause a release to be removed in certain markets.
The core metadata you need to prepare before any release:
Labels with larger catalogs benefit from structured metadata management — keeping records in a consistent format, maintaining ISRC registries, and running pre-delivery QC to catch errors before they reach platforms.
Most releases go to all available territories by default. But labels with complex rights arrangements — licensed works, regional exclusivities, or restricted content — need to configure territory availability explicitly. This means specifying which markets a release is available in, and which it is not, at both the album and track level if needed.
Territory configuration also interacts with release date scheduling. A release might have different street dates in different markets, depending on time zone and promotional planning. A distributor with territory-level scheduling controls lets you manage this without separate delivery batches.
Distribution doesn't end at delivery. Once music is live, DSPs report streaming and download activity on a monthly basis — typically with a 2–3 month reporting lag. These reports are the source of royalty revenue, and their accuracy depends on clean metadata at delivery.
For labels managing multiple artists, the royalty calculation layer is where complexity grows: different split arrangements by artist, by track, by territory, by revenue type. A distributor that provides only raw DSP reports — without a royalty accounting layer — leaves this calculation work to you. Labels with meaningful release volume generally need an accounting infrastructure that processes DSP data, applies splits, and generates artist-facing statements automatically.
The right distribution infrastructure for an independent label depends on the scale and complexity of your operation. Some questions to consider:
For labels operating in Southeast Asian markets specifically, platform coverage matters. Platforms like Zing MP3 (Vietnam), JOOX, and regional stores require distributor relationships and local operational familiarity that global-first distributors don't always prioritise.
FAQ
A distributor delivers music to DSPs and collects revenue on your behalf. A label services company — like SMG — provides distribution plus the surrounding operational infrastructure: royalty processing, rights administration, catalog management and reporting. For labels with growing catalogs, the operational layer matters as much as the delivery pipe.
DSP processing times vary by platform. Major platforms typically process releases in 2–7 business days after a compliant delivery is received. Scheduling a release with adequate lead time — typically 3–4 weeks — allows for QC review, DDEX delivery and platform processing without risk to the release date.
Core metadata includes: ISRC codes (one per track), UPC barcode (one per release), artist name, album title, track titles, release date, genre classification, language tagging, and artwork at 3000×3000px minimum. Label credits, explicit content flags, and territory availability settings are also required for a complete delivery.
DSPs report streaming and download revenue on a monthly basis, typically with a 2–3 month lag. Distributors aggregate these reports, apply any royalty split arrangements, and pass through earnings to rights holders on an agreed schedule. SMG processes this through LUNA Accounting, which generates per-track, per-territory statements.
Work with SMG
Reach out to discuss your catalog, current distribution setup and how SMG's infrastructure can support your label operations.