Distribution, delivery status, and release dates
How to pick a release date with enough lead time, choose stores, and tell the difference between SpaceMedia review, delivery, and going live.
Three different things have to happen before anyone can stream your track, and they happen at different speeds. Confusing them is the single most common reason artists contact support.
Review, delivery, and live are not the same
| Stage | Who controls it | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Draft or Changes Needed | You | The release is still being prepared. Nothing has been sent anywhere. |
| In review | SpaceMedia | Quality control is checking metadata, audio, artwork, and rights. |
| Approved or ready for delivery | SpaceMedia | Review passed. Delivery can now proceed. |
| Delivered or processing | The store | Your data reached the store. The store is still working on it. |
| Live | The store | The store has published it. Confirm on the store itself, in your own territory. |
A release sitting at Delivered is not stuck. It is waiting on the store, and no one at SpaceMedia can make a store publish faster.
Choosing a release date
Set the date far enough ahead to absorb all three stages plus one round of corrections. Working backwards from the date you want:
- Store processing needs time after delivery, and each store is different.
- Delivery happens after review passes, not when you submit.
- Review can return Changes Needed, which puts you back at the start.
If you are pitching for playlist consideration, editorial teams want the release delivered well before release day, not on it. Submitting a release for a date a few days out leaves no room for anything to go wrong.
Weekends, public holidays, and territory differences all shift real timing. SpaceMedia does not promise a universal delivery time, because that time is not ours to promise.
Choosing stores
Use the destination selector on the release itself. The options shown there are the authoritative list for that release, because availability depends on content, territory, your configuration, and current delivery support. A store you saw on another release may not be offered on this one.
One store is missing
Before contacting support, check in this order:
- Was that store actually selected on this release?
- Has the release passed review and reached Delivered?
- Has the release date passed in that store's territory?
- Are you searching the same territory the release was delivered to?
- Are you searching the exact artist and release title, not a shortened version?
If all five check out and the store still has nothing after its normal processing window, gather the release title, the store, the territory, and the date you checked, then use the support route below.
Common questions
Can I change the release date after submitting? Moving a date later is usually possible before delivery. Moving it earlier is often not, because stores have already been told the original date. Ask before you announce anything.
Why is my release on Spotify but not Apple Music? Stores process independently and on their own schedules. A gap of a few days between stores is normal, not a fault.
My release went live early on one store. That happens when a store publishes ahead of the scheduled date in a particular territory. It is a store-side behavior and not something the release can control.
Does a takedown work the same way? No. Takedowns also propagate store by store and are not instant. See Rights and takedowns.