Apple Music has no upload button for artists. Music reaches it through labels and distributors that deliver directly to Apple, so if you want to release a song on Apple Music as an independent artist, your route is a distributor. The good news: once your release is prepared properly, getting it onto Apple Music is the same step as getting it onto Spotify and the other services.
The route: through a distributor
You prepare the release once: audio, artwork, titles, credits and a release date. The distributor checks it, packages it in the format each service expects and delivers it. Apple then processes the release on its side and publishes it on the date you chose.
When you release through CULT, you upload WAV audio and a JPG cover of exactly 3000 × 3000 pixels, add artist details and credits, and submit. The team reviews the release and shows any requested changes in the portal. Once it's approved and delivered, the portal shows its status on each platform, Apple Music included.
Deliver early. A few weeks before release day is a comfortable margin: there's time to fix anything the review or the platform flags, and your release can appear as upcoming.
What Apple expects from the audio
- Lossless audio. Send WAV files of your final master, at least CD quality (16-bit, 44.1 kHz). If your master is 24-bit, send that version. Apple Music streams lossless audio, and a higher-resolution master can be offered in better quality. Never convert an MP3 to WAV: the losses stay, and the file only looks lossless.
- Clean starts and ends. No long silence, no cut-off reverb tails, no click at the start.
- Spatial Audio is optional. Apple Music supports Dolby Atmos mixes, which need a separate file made by an engineer. Before you pay for an Atmos mix, ask your distributor whether it accepts these files.
Artwork and metadata Apple will check
Apple's style guide is one of the strictest of any service, and releases that ignore it are often sent back for changes.
Artwork:
- Square and sharp, at least 3000 × 3000 pixels, with no blurry upscaled images.
- If the cover shows the artist name and title, they must match the metadata.
- No website addresses, social media handles, prices, store logos, or words like "new" or "out now".
- Nothing misleading, such as a famous artist's photo or name.
Metadata:
- Titles exactly as they are. No "Official Audio", "Prod. by" or emojis in the title. Versions go in parentheses: (Acoustic Version), (Remix), (Live).
- Featured artists in the artist fields, not typed into the title. Apple displays them in its own format.
- Language and capitalisation that match the lyrics. Apple has its own capitalisation rules for titles, especially in English, so write them carefully.
- Credits. Apple Music shows songwriter and producer credits, so fill them in completely.
- Explicit content. Mark tracks with explicit lyrics as explicit. If you also make a clean version, mark it as clean.
How your Apple Music artist page appears
Apple doesn't have a sign-up for artist pages. The page is created from the metadata of your first release, or the release is attached to a page that already exists.
This is where the most common mistake happens. If someone else with the same name is already on Apple Music, your song can land on their page, or theirs on yours. Before you submit, search Apple Music for your artist name. If you already have a page, give your distributor its link. If this is your first release, say so, so that a new page is created.
Use the same spelling of your name on every release. "Elnur Vahid" on one single and "Elnur Vahidov" on the next can turn into two separate pages.
After the release: Apple Music for Artists
Once your music is live, claim your page in Apple Music for Artists. Search for your name, request access and confirm who you are; Apple reviews requests manually. There you'll see plays, listeners, Shazams, top cities and songs, and you can submit an artist image.
Shazam data is especially useful. It shows where people heard your song somewhere and wanted to know what it was. A cluster of Shazams in one city often means local radio, clubs or shops are playing you.
Apple Music has no open pitch form for every independent artist the way Spotify does; editors mostly hear about new music through labels and distributors. In CULT, access to Spotify and Apple Music for Artists and pitching to editorial playlists are part of the New Artist plan and above. A pitch puts your song in front of editors. It doesn't guarantee a place on a playlist.
A short checklist before you submit:
- WAV master, at least 16-bit and 44.1 kHz, with clean starts and ends.
- Square cover with no links, prices or store logos, matching the metadata.
- Titles without extras, featured artists in the right fields, full credits.
- Your existing Apple Music page link, or a note that this is your first release.
- A release date a few weeks away.