Distribution

Release your Tracks with your Collaborators

Making sure that your collaborators are correctly credited is an essential step before you start monetising your tracks on Winamp for Creators.

There are four levels at which you must add metadata about your collaborators: 

1. The "Artists" level
2. The "Writers & Collaborators" level
3. The "Producers and Engineers" level
4. The "Musicians" level

The Artist Level: Adding "Artists" to your release

If you've made a song with another artist and want the release to appear on two or more artists' profiles in DSPs, the metadata needs to follow the below rules:

In brief, Primary, With, and Featuring Artists serve as the main “Display Artists” on DSPs, this means the artists to which the release will be linked. 

This information needs to be provided correctly from the Artist Credits section in each track's metadata. You can choose the option that best suits your track. However, don't forget to provide us with the profile links of the collaborating artists before sending your release. 

You can do this when you push your track for distribution, under Distribution tab, under the links option. 

Other things to keep in mind include the following: 

• If a featured artist is shown on the cover art, they must also be listed at the album level (or both levels for a single) and must always accompany the primary artist either as primary, with, or featured artist.
  
  
• Additionally, a featured artist listed at the album level must be reflected on their specific tracks; if there are multiple featured artists, they should be assigned to their respective tracks rather than listed collectively at the album level.
  
  
• Unique Artist Names: Ensure your name is unique to avoid your music being merged with another artist's catalog.
• Formatting: Avoid all caps, all lowercase, mixed alphabets, or special characters, as these may require social media verification.
• Various Artists: Never manually type "Various Artists." List all primary artists individually; the system will automatically apply the "Various Artists" tag if there are more than four.

The "Writers and Collaborators" Level: The people behind the track

After adding the artists performing a track, the next step is to include the roles for the collaborators who are directly linked to the creation of the song you are submitting. This includes the songwriter, producer, composer, lyricist, and arranger. 

Adding these roles is mandatory, and making sure that the full name of the collaborators is added is mandatory as well.

Here's a breakdown of each role: 

Here are some tips for this part of the metadata that you should keep in mind when filling in this metadata:

• When crediting the people behind your track, it is always best to use their full legal name. 
• Clarify with your producer who will get composer credits if your release. If you bought your beat from a Beatmaker, check the license details to verify if they get a composer credit.
• If you are a songwriter and wrote the lyrics and music for the song, you must enter your legal name both on the Composer and Lyricist field.
• If your release is instrumental, leave the lyricist field empty.

Musicians & Performers

Lastly, you need to credit the performers participating in your track. This step is mandatory, and at least one participant must be indicated. 

This is where you have to add if anyone has performed an instrument in your track. You can choose from a wide range of options in our menu.

If no instruments are performed and the song has been solely made within your Digital Audio Workstation for example, through VSTs, then assign the performer role "programming" to the producer of the track and/or the vocals of whoever is singing in the track. 

Once all these roles have been filled in following the instructions mentioned above, you should be good to go! And remember, the rule of thumb is that the more transparent and complete your metadata is for your track, the smoother the delivery to DSPs.

Release Timeline

After submitting your release, allow up to 10 business days for review, processing, and preparation for distribution. This ensures your content meets our quality standards and is properly prepared for delivery to DSPs.

Distribution Statuses Explained

After confirming your release information, you'll be directed to the distribution page, where the statuses of all your releases will be displayed. Below is a brief explanation to help you understand the status of your release. 

Release your Music to Existing DSP Profiles

If you already have existing Artist Profiles on the various DSPs, make sure to add them to the Link Library of your Artist profile in Winamp for Artists so we can ensure that your Releases are delivered to the right profiles.

To add your links to the Link Library:

1. Navigate to the Artists tab of your Account Workspace
2. Select your artist.
3. Click on Add distribution links.
   
   
4. From the pop-up, select Create new link.
5. Add the links to your Artist profile on the various DSPs, and optionally, add the name of the link.
6. Click Create. 

Our team will use these links to distribute your works to the right profiles on all streaming platforms and stores. 

Claim your Artist Profile on the DSPs

If you're distributing your music with Winamp for Creators for the first time, when your music is distributed to the DSPs, an artist profile will be created for you. Most DSPs will allow you to claim ownership of you artist profile. Check out this article to find out how to gain access to your artist profiles.

Music Assigned to Wrong Artist Profile

Since channels are the ones that automatically assign releases to artist profiles, when a release is distributed, it may happen that it is assigned to an incorrect artist profile. 

It can also happen that the channel creates a new artist profile, when a previous correct one already existed. These incidents usually occur with artist profiles with identical or similar names, as channels create and organize them automatically. 

Requesting Transfer to a New Profile

Some channels have enabled the option to request a new profile or relocate their content from their own applications, while others can be contacted through Winamp. 

• Amazon: Create an account on the Amazon Music for Artists platform (it doesn't matter if the artists are already verified or not). Afterwards Fill in the form https://artists.amazon.com/reportArtistProfile. 
• Apple Music: Create an Apple ID (it doesn't matter if the artists are already verified or not. In the second case, it will help them to get verified later). Afterwards fill in the form https://artists.apple.com/contact-us. 
• Spotify: If you have their own and/or verified profile) fill in the form https://artists.spotify.com/c/content-mismatch or If they do not have their own and/or verified profile https://artists.spotify.com/es/contact. 
• Boomplay: Fill in the form https://www.boomplay.com/artist-center/faq/releases/music-under-the-wrong-profile. 
• Deezer: Fill in the form https://creatorsupport.deezer.com/hc/en-us/requests/new. 

If you need to relocate your content or create a new profile which do not manage the modifications independently you can reach out to us.  

As soon as we received the information, we’ll contact the channels directly and ask them to solve the misunderstanding. 

Release Takedown 

You can request a take-down of your release by navigating to the Distribution tab and clicking the release.  

 In the top right corner of the screen, you will see a "Take Down" button. Clicking on it will trigger the take-down process that might take a few days to be completed.

How to get your lyrics to DSPs?

When distributing your music through Winamp for Creators, the lyrics of your tracks are not delivered through your audio or metadata upload. Instead, our distribution service relies on DSPs using Musixmatch as the centralized source to get your lyrics from.

In order to get your lyrics to DSPs, add your repertoire to Musixmatch by creating or accessing your artist profile thorugh the Musixmatch for Music Creators service. 

Here, you  can upload and synchronize your lyrics manually, ensuring that your lyrics are available for display and real-time syncing on supported platforms. Once submitted and approved through Musixmatch, your lyrics will automatically populate across services that use Musixmatch’s lyric database.

Earnings and Revenue Share

The revenue earned through the Winamp Distribution program is based on a revenue share model.
You are entitled to 80%-100% of the gross revenue received by Winamp's distribution partners, depending on your Winamp subscription plan.

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Revenue Reports

You will be able to find details of all revenue owed to you in the Wallet section of Admin tab in your Winamp for Creators account.

Your distribution revenue reports and payments will be available in your Wallet once Winamp processes the earnings from streaming services and stores. These reports are typically imported monthly and reflect sales from about five months prior.
For example, if your track was streamed in January, you can expect to see the revenue details in June.

Please note that different streaming services have their own reporting schedules, so revenue reports may not arrive at the same time.

Payout Schedule

After your distribution revenue is imported into your account, you can request a payout one month later. 
Once requested, your payout will be processed between the 1st and 10th of the following month, ensuring timely access to your earnings.