Spotify will not rewrite your metadata for you. Apple Music will not either. Once a track is live, the store applies what the distributor sent. Fixes travel as another delivery, not as a form on the artist dashboard.
A label that wants Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Deezer, TIDAL and the rest is not operating a stack of dashboards. It submits one release: lossless masters, artwork, titles, a 12-character ISRC on each recording, a UPC on the product, territories, and a street date. The distributor validates that packet, encodes it, and sends a DDEX Electronic Release Notification to each selected outlet.
Fan-out is the product. What follows is the path that packet takes, the message format that carries it, and the two jobs that keep producing more messages after street date: updates and takedowns.
One ingest is not one package
Copying the same zip to every store would fail on contact. Each digital service provider (DSP) publishes its own audio floor, its own identifier rules, and its own deal terms. The commercial window for France is not the commercial window for Japan. Artwork that is valid at 3000 pixels still has to be declared as an Image resource in the message, not dumped in a folder and hoped for.
The distributor sits between the rightsholder and those destinations. For a record label, that means one catalog, one set of ISRCs and UPCs, and a per-outlet send. LabelGrid’s distribution flow is built around that: pick outlets (Select All is the default, or tick and untick by store), submit, then follow each destination’s status: Queued, Delivering, Delivered, Live, Error or Scheduled. Your label name and artist name are what the stores display. LabelGrid does not stamp “distributed by LabelGrid” over them.
Fan-out is also not a single clock. Stores ingest at different speeds. A staggered go-live across platforms in the first few days is normal. LabelGrid’s published floor is to submit at least two weeks before street date, with three to four weeks the better window, because quality review and the DSP’s own processing both sit on that calendar. Delivery times are not guaranteed. LabelGrid’s review takes up to 10 business days on Solo, Basic and Pro plans and up to 5 on Custom and API. After delivery, Apple Music typically processes a release in 1 to 3 business days; the others vary.
The six stages between upload and a live store
DDEX, IFPI and GS1 publish the wiring. A distribution platform is the machine that runs it.
- Ingest: audio masters, cover art, and the release metadata land in one catalog.
- Identifier and metadata checks. Every recording needs an ISRC, the saleable product needs a UPC or EAN (a GS1 GTIN), and nothing is built until structure, completeness and uniqueness pass.
- Transcoding turns the lossless master into the file each destination expects, after which the DSP transcodes again for its own playback tiers.
- DDEX delivery packs release metadata, resource references and deal terms into an ERN and sends it.
- Acknowledgement: the DSP returns a status, including errors, so the sender can prove the message was received.
- Usage reporting. Sales and streams travel back, typically as a DDEX Digital Sales Report, and feed royalty payment.
On LabelGrid-deal deliveries, a quality review runs before step four. That is the point where silence padding or a rights flag stops a feed that would otherwise bounce at the store. The dashboard statuses above are the operator view of steps four and five, not a second standard.
Two ERN generations, both still live
The message that actually leaves the building is a DDEX ERN NewReleaseMessage. DDEX describes it as the way a record company or distributor tells a DSP what is being made available and on what terms. Resources (a SoundRecording, an Image, a Video) live in one list. Releases live in another. Deal terms live in a third. References stitch them together: resource A1 is the audio for release R1. The ISRC sits on the recording. The UPC sits on the product.
That would be a solved problem if every DSP spoke the same dialect. They do not. The most recent published version is ERN 4.3.2. DDEX strongly advises implementers to use 4.3.x. ERN 3.8 is still widely deployed. Changing a deployed exchange means the sender and the receiver move together, which is slow, so both generations stay in production.
ERN 4 is not a cosmetic bump. A PartyList gathers musicians, writers and labels once instead of repeating them through the file. Territory fields only repeat where they actually differ. A 10-track album becomes one Release plus ten lightweight TrackRelease composites rather than eleven full releases. DisplayArtistName (the marketing brand) is separate from Contributor (the role). The 4.3 update, published on 2 December 2022, added immersive-audio data, authorisation for user-generated short clips, album visibility dates, and hooks into DDEX’s MEAD and PIE enrichment standards.
You do not need to join the DDEX consortium to send any of this. An Implementation Licence is enough. LabelGrid implements ERN 3.8.2, 4.3.0, 4.3.1 and 4.3.2 and is not a consortium member. Each store receives the version it accepts. The mechanics of that send, including takedowns as a PurgeReleaseMessage, are on the DDEX delivery page.
One catalog. Every major DSP.
LabelGrid generates the ERN each store expects and tracks delivery per outlet. 7-day free trial.
See PlansAudio floors that refuse a “good enough” master
Spotify prefers FLAC and accepts WAV. It wants 44.1 kHz or higher, and 24-bit when that is the native master (16-bit only if no higher-bit-depth master exists). It also says to send that native stereo master and not to downsample it first. Files below 16-bit or 44.1 kHz get upconverted and lose lossless playback eligibility.
Apple Digital Masters wants the original 24-bit PCM file, delivered as WAV or AIFF. Do not upsample. Do not bit-pad a 16-bit file into 24-bit. Apple’s encoder uses the extra resolution; a padded file does not grow any.
LabelGrid accepts only WAV or FLAC at upload. A 24-bit master has to arrive as WAV. FLAC above 16-bit is rejected. Automated review also caps leading silence at five seconds and trailing silence at nine.
Updates and takedowns are more messages
ERN is not a one-shot. Metadata corrections, artwork swaps, territorial changes and removals are further messages on the same choreography, confirmed the same way. Spotify is explicit: it will not edit a live release’s metadata or artwork for you. The label or distributor sends an update feed.
The identifiers do not get a second life. An ISRC stays with that recording for its life; IFPI’s rule is that you do not reuse it. A GTIN allocated to a trade item after December 2018 is not reallocated, so an updated product keeps its UPC. If the recording itself is materially new, that is a new ISRC. If the UPC on Apple was wrong, Apple’s partner docs say the product has to be removed and resent; Apple will not delete the code.
A takedown is a request to stop trading the release. DDEX gives two shapes for that: a NewReleaseMessage that omits the deal, or a dedicated PurgeReleaseMessage. It stops availability. It does not invent a new identity for the recording. On Spotify the removal takes at least two business days, and the track goes grey and unplayable rather than vanishing.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do record labels deliver music to every DSP at once?
They submit one release to a distributor. That platform validates identifiers and audio, then sends a DDEX ERN NewReleaseMessage to each selected outlet in the version that DSP accepts. LabelGrid does this for all major DSPs from one catalog. Stores still process at different speeds, so a staggered go-live in the first few days is normal.
What is a DDEX ERN NewReleaseMessage?
It is the DDEX standard message a record company or distributor sends to a digital service provider. It carries the release, its resources (recordings, artwork, videos), and the deal terms: when the release can be made available, where, and under what conditions. You do not need DDEX consortium membership to implement it; an Implementation Licence is enough.
Why do distributors still send ERN 3.8.2 if 4.3 exists?
The most recent published version is ERN 4.3.2, and DDEX advises implementers to use 4.3.x. ERN 3.8 is still widely deployed because both ends of a feed have to move together. LabelGrid implements ERN 3.8.2, 4.3.0, 4.3.1 and 4.3.2 and is not a DDEX consortium member.
Can I change metadata after a release is live on Spotify or Apple Music?
Yes, by sending an update through your distributor. Spotify states it cannot edit metadata or artwork itself; the label or distributor has to send an update feed. The original ISRC and UPC stay with the recording and the product. A takedown is a separate DDEX message: a NewReleaseMessage that omits the deal, or a PurgeReleaseMessage. On Spotify, takedowns take at least two business days and the track goes grey rather than disappearing.
How far in advance should a label submit a release?
LabelGrid’s published floor is at least two weeks before the release date, with three to four weeks ideal. LabelGrid’s review takes up to 10 business days on Solo, Basic and Pro plans and up to 5 on Custom and API. After delivery, Apple Music typically processes a release in 1 to 3 business days, and a release dated further out waits for its release date. Other platforms vary, and delivery times are not guaranteed. Changing the release date after approval resets the release to Draft and requires re-approval and redistribution.
Getting Started
Create an account at app.labelgrid.com. New artist and label registrations include a 7-day free trial. A card is taken at signup and is not charged during those seven days. You can learn the catalog during the trial. You cannot distribute until the account is on a paid plan and KYC is complete. LabelGrid is listed as a Spotify Preferred Provider in the delivery-platform category, which is the same ingest path this piece has been describing.
Build a release, keep Select All unless you have a reason to drop a store, and submit at least two weeks out. The step-by-step is in the distribution help overview, with calendars on the lead times page. The ERN send itself is documented on the DDEX delivery page above.
