Your release isn't showing on Spotify on release day: what to check

What to do, in order

1. 1

   Check the time zone

   Releases usually unlock at midnight local time in each country. If you are checking at 9pm the night before, or your release date was set for a different market, wait until it is past midnight where your listeners are.

2. 2

   Open your profile, not search

   Search can take a few hours to show a new release. Open your artist profile directly and look under Popular releases and Discography. If the release is there, share the direct link while search catches up.

3. 3

   Check Spotify for Artists

   Sign in and open the Music tab. A release listed under Upcoming or Releases with the right date has been delivered. If it is not listed at all, Spotify has probably not received it yet.

4. 4

   Check your distributor dashboard

   Distributors show a status for each store, such as delivered, processing or rejected. A rejection usually comes with a reason, such as artwork or metadata, and a fixed version can be sent again.

5. 5

   Look at artists with the same name

   If another artist shares your name, open their profile. A release delivered without your Spotify artist link can be attached to the wrong page, which looks exactly like a missing release from your side.

6. 6

   Contact your distributor after a day

   If the release is still missing 24 hours after midnight local time, write to your distributor with the release title, UPC, ISRCs, the release date and a screenshot of your profile. Ask what the store status is and when it was delivered.

Why releases miss release day

These are the usual reasons, roughly from most to least common.

• The release was submitted too close to the date and is still being processed by the distributor or the store.
• The distributor or the store rejected it because of artwork, metadata or audio issues.
• It was delivered to another artist's profile with the same name.
• The release date or territories were set differently from what you expected.
• It is live, but search has not caught up yet.

How early to deliver next time

Distributors generally recommend submitting a few weeks before release day. Spotify for Artists only lets you pitch an unreleased song to editorial playlists if it is delivered at least seven days before release, and a release that arrives early also shows under Upcoming on your profile. Earlier delivery gives you time to fix a rejection before anyone is waiting for the link.

Not in Release Radar is a different problem

Release Radar is a personal playlist that updates on Fridays, and not every follower gets every new song. A release missing from someone's Release Radar is not missing from Spotify. Check your profile and the direct link before treating it as a delivery problem.

What to send your distributor

Put everything in the first message.

• Release title, artist name and UPC.
• The ISRC of each track.
• The release date and the time you checked, with your time zone.
• A screenshot of your profile and of the Spotify for Artists Music tab.
• One question: what is the store status, and when was it delivered?

How Traxure helps

Every Friday, Traxure runs a release-day sweep that checks your releases on Spotify and seven other platforms, then shows which ones are live and which are not found yet. A release that should be live and is missing gets flagged, so you know before your fans ask. Monitoring starts with a seven-day free trial.

Questions artists ask