Publishing a single that is later merged into an album has become a very common way of building momentum in advance of a release, and maximizing playlist pitching opportunities via Spotify for Artists for example. The process for this is rather straightforward, however it is still a manual process, since this is a DIY platform.

First, you'll need to prepare the Single for distribution, this is easiest if all the metadata is first entered on the Tracks page and you select the "Release track" option. This way some of the metadata that is required on the release level is automatically carried over. Continue as you would with any release.

It is important to understand that you will have to wait for the single to pass the manual quality check before you can prepare the full album. Once the Single has passed the quality check and has the status "Approved" or "Live" you can begin to prepare the full album. On Step 3, Tracklist, you will need to select "Add existing track(s)" and select the song in question. Continue as you would with any release.

To give the impression that it has been merged or replaced with the
album, you can request a takedown of the Single the day that the album goes live on the streaming services. Alternatively you can leave the Single online alongside the album.