LABELGRID ENGINE · DISTRIBUTION API
Meet Engine: the Music Distribution API
A music distribution API is a REST interface for sending music to streaming platforms programmatically: building catalog metadata, uploading audio, submitting releases for delivery, and reading royalty data, all in code instead of by hand. LabelGrid exposes its full distribution engine through one, with public documentation and a sandbox.
Every endpoint is documented publicly. Read the full reference before you sign up, with no demo call, no sales gate and no form. Authenticate with a token, build against the sandbox that comes with every API plan, and ship a branded distribution product on infrastructure that already delivers to all major DSPs.
WHAT YOU CAN BUILD
Ship a distribution product on our engine
The API covers the whole lifecycle, so the product you build can be as small as a sync job or as large as a full distribution front end.
Branded distribution platform
Stand up a distribution service under your own brand and domain. Your users create labels and releases, upload tracks, submit for delivery, and see your name end to end. You own the brand, the pricing and the customer relationship. LabelGrid carries delivery to all major DSPs, royalty accounting and payouts, and the automated validation plus manual review that runs on every release.
Label-management SaaS integration
Add distribution to a product you already run. Call the release and track endpoints from inside your app so customers never leave it to get their music to DSPs.
Catalog migration pipelines
Bring an existing catalog in as a DDEX feed during onboarding, or script the import yourself: create releases and tracks in bulk and upload assets through the API, one time or on a schedule.
Royalty reporting apps
Pull statements, transaction detail and account balances into your own dashboards and payout logic. Combine them with streaming and engagement analytics for a complete picture.
ENDPOINT GROUPS
How the API is organized
Every endpoint lives under https://api.labelgrid.com/api/public and returns JSON. These are the groups you will work with.
Releases & tracks
Create releases and tracks, then read, update or delete them. Validate a release against DSP rules and submit it for distribution. Reference →
Files & assets
Upload and manage audio, cover artwork and license files on release and track file endpoints. Download assets back when you need them. Reference →
Labels, artists & contributors
Manage labels, artists, writers, and publishers, with image uploads for labels and artists. These are the entities your metadata credits. Reference →
Distribution & reviews
Track the distribution queue and read review issues and notes, and register webhooks so every delivery and review-status change is pushed to you the moment it happens. Your users see where a release stands without polling. Reference →
Analytics & accounting
Read streaming and engagement analytics, royalty statements and account balances to drive your own reporting and payouts. Streaming analytics lives under /api/public/analytics: summary, per-metric series and leaderboards, with placements and an availability endpoint that reports which stores carry which metric. Reference →
Webhooks & reference data
Register webhooks for review-status and delivery events, and list genres, languages, territories, contributor roles and outlets to populate metadata. Reference →
AI-NATIVE LAYER
The same API, driveable in natural language
Everything the REST API does, your AI assistant can do too. The official LabelGrid MCP server is a thin, typed wrapper over this API, so Claude, Cursor, or any Model Context Protocol client can create releases, validate metadata, pull analytics, and check delivery by request. Permissions are layered and fail-closed: reads are always available, safe draft writes are on by default and can be switched off or forced read-only, and your assistant submits deliveries and files takedowns once you turn those scopes on, a one-time opt-in with a typed acknowledgment, after which they run like any other call. Until you turn them on they stay off, so an exploratory session can never ship a release by accident. Every validation still runs on our servers.
STANDARDS & VALIDATION
Built on the standards DSPs expect
LabelGrid generates compliant DDEX ERN feeds in versions 3.8.2, 4.3.0, 4.3.1, and 4.3.2, with full NewReleaseMessage and PurgeReleaseMessage support. ISRC and UPC values are validated as part of the release flow, and the validate endpoint checks a release against DSP metadata-quality rules before you submit it. Fix what it flags and resubmit, then deliver. If you are moving an existing catalog, DDEX import brings it in during onboarding. See the DDEX import guide.
RATHER NOT BUILD THE UI?
Imprint Is the No-Code Version
Everything this API does, packaged as a ready-made white-label platform on your own domain: Imprint. Build with Engine, launch with Imprint, or mix the two.
PROTECT YOUR CATALOG
Addons That Keep Your Catalog Clean
Preflight QC
Every release already passes LabelGrid’s automated validation and manual review, included on every plan. Preflight QC adds automated pre-delivery checks on audio and artwork, metadata, AI declarations, and credits and rights work, an addon for API and white-label plans, scoped to your monthly release volume, with no per-release fee.
Stream Radar
Artificial-streaming early warning across your catalog. Monitors your whole catalog continuously and flags the tracks and releases showing patterns consistent with artificial streaming, so you can act before fees or takedowns arrive.
API PLANS
Pricing for every stage
Full API access, a sandbox and a first response within 2 business days on every tier. Track and label-portal figures are included allowances rather than the end of the road: label packs add portals on any tier (+5 for $28 on Starter, +10 for $90 on Growth, +25 for $170 on Scale), moving up a tier raises both, and Custom API carries bespoke track limits with unlimited labels. All API plans are billed yearly except overages; you keep 95% of royalties earned through LabelGrid’s DSP deals and 100% on your own direct deals.
Starter API
$139/mo
Billed yearly except overages
Full API access and sandbox, 3,000 tracks and 5 label portals included, royalty processing up to $35k a month, first response within 2 business days.
Official MCP server — AI assistant access
Growth API
$389/mo
Billed yearly except overages
Everything in Starter, 10,000 tracks and 25 label portals included, royalty processing up to $115k a month, first response within 2 business days.
Official MCP server — AI assistant access
Scale API
$879/mo
Billed yearly except overages
Everything in Growth, 25,000 tracks and 100 label portals included, royalty processing up to $350k a month, a dedicated technical account manager with a 2-business-day SLA.
Official MCP server — AI assistant access
COMMON QUESTIONS
Frequently Asked Questions
Start Building on Engine
Read the docs. Build in the sandbox. See published pricing.