Welcome to Record Union, where your musical journey reaches the global stage. Whether you're a budding artist or an established musician, understanding how to effectively upload and submit your music is vital. 🎶
Sign up for a Record Union account.
The first step is to sign up. Once you are registered, you can start creating your release.
Prepare your audio files and cover art
We strongly recommend uploading your music in WAV or FLAC format for optimal quality. However, we also support formats such as MP3, MP4, M4A, AAC, AIF, ALAC, and WMA. For more details, see this helpful article.
If you're using samples, instrumental loops, or any other recordings or snippets that you didn't personally create, you need to have permission to use them for commercial purposes. After uploading any tracks with third-party sounds, send a copy of your permission or licenses to support@recordunion.com.
Cover artwork is often the first impression listeners have of your music, so make sure it represents your tracks well. It needs to meet certain criteria in order for it to look good on all the music services. Check out our guide for cover art.
Upload your files and enter important details (metadata)
Once your files are ready, log in to your Record Union account and click on the New release button. We'll walk you through the steps of creating your release.
You'll also enter the credits and other metadata about your release, such as:
Release title
Track title(s)
Artist names (integrated with Spotify and Apple Music so your music gets linked to the right artist pages)
Genres
Composers, lyricists, publisher
Production roles such as producer, mastering engineer and mixing engineer
Other contributors such as vocalists and instrumentalists
Accurate metadata is essential because it helps listeners find your music and it helps you get paid properly.
Here is some more information about metadata guidelines and adding contributors to your tracks.
Some types of audio can't go through us
Podcasts, nature sounds, ASMR, audiobooks, stand up comedy and spoken word content cannot be accepted or delivered to music services through Record Union.
New Age and meditation content can only be delivered if it’s completely original music and does not match to content that’s already online. We do not accept meditation releases that are instrumental.
We accept music in the classical genres, however we do not deliver classical music that’s in the public domain.
Visit this page to learn more about our content guidelines.
Submit your release
Once you've uploaded your tracks and artwork, and entered all necessary information, double check everything carefully. When everything is correct, choose your release date and submit your release.
Our 100% human content team will review your release to make sure it meets all the requirements. Then we'll distribute your music to all the music services you selected.
The review and distribution process typically takes about 14 days, but with our Rapid Delivery upgrade, your release can go live globally in as few as 5 days!
Our pricing starts at $14/year, depending on how many tracks you add to a release, how many music services you want to make it available on (we have direct deals with all major music services in the world), and the royalty percentage you choose. See this article for more info about pricing.
Get your performance data and royalties
As a digital music distributor, Record Union takes care of collecting usage data and all royalties your music earns from digital services. Once your music is live, you can use Record Union’s dashboard to track streams, downloads, video creations/views and royalties, which will show up on your account Balance.
Royalty reports are delivered monthly with a 3-month delay. This means that the first royalties for releases that went live in January will be reported in April; releases that went live in February are first reported in May; and so on. The data from digital services offers insights into your audience and can help you plan future releases. Here's an article about how royalty reporting works.
How old do I have to be to use Record Union?
To use Record Union as your distributor you must be at least 18 years old.
If you're under 18, you'll need a parent or legal guardian to manage your account. These are the things that need to be managed by your parent or guardian:
Agreeing to the terms and conditions
Managing payments
Managing royalty payouts
It's that simple
Uploading your music to Record Union is a straightforward process that opens up access for opportunities and audiences for artists. Start your journey today and let the world hear your sound!
If you need any assistance along the way, Record Union’s 100% human support team is here to help. Don't hesitate to reach out.
Let's release some music!