Lalə Nova releases her first single and sends the link to everyone she knows. A friend replies with a screenshot: the song is there, but on a profile with an electronic producer's photo and three albums she has never heard of. Nothing is wrong with the music. The release simply got attached to the wrong Nova. This happens more often than people think, and most cases can be prevented.
Why collisions happen
Streaming platforms organise music by artist profiles. When a release arrives, the platform has to decide which profile it belongs to. If it is told exactly which profile through an artist ID, it uses that. If it only gets a name, it may match the release to an existing profile with the same name, or create a new one. Either way, a shared name leaves room for mistakes.
The risk is highest in a few situations:
- Short, common names and single words.
- Names that differ only by special characters. Lalə and Lale can look identical to some systems.
- One artist written in different scripts on different releases, which can produce two separate profiles.
- Features, where a guest artist's name gets matched to someone else's profile.
What a collision actually costs
The money is usually not the issue. Royalties follow the release and whoever delivered it, not the profile it sits on. The damage is elsewhere:
- Your followers do not see the song in their feeds or in Release Radar, while strangers do.
- Your artist tools show incomplete numbers, because part of your music lives on another page.
- The other artist's fans get confused, and that artist may complain to the platform.
- Your own profile looks emptier than it really is to anyone who finds you.
None of this shows up in a single day, but it builds up over months and gets harder to untangle later.
Before you pick a name, search like a platform
If you are still choosing a name, search it on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music and Deezer, with and without special letters. Look at exact matches, not only similar ones. If an active artist already uses it, adjust your name now. A second word, a surname or a distinct spelling is usually enough.
If you already have a name you love and it collides with someone, you do not necessarily have to change it. You will just need to be careful at every release, and the next section is for you.
At release time: new profile or existing one
When you add an artist to a release, most distributors ask whether that artist already has a profile on the main platforms. This is the moment that decides where the music goes.
- First release ever: choose the option to create a new profile. Do not pick an existing profile because the name matches, even if it looks inactive.
- Later releases: use your existing profile link or ID for each platform. Save them as soon as your first release goes live.
- Featured artists and collaborators: ask them for their profile links before you submit. Do not guess by searching their name.
- Several projects: give each its own artist profile in your distributor account instead of mixing them under one name.
On Spotify the artist ID is the string of letters and numbers inside the profile link, which you get through Share and then Copy link. Apple Music profile links end with a numeric ID. Your distributor's form will show which format it needs.
If you run more than one project, keep in mind that distributor plans limit the number of artist profiles. On CULT, New Artist includes 2 and Professional Artist includes 10.
If it already went wrong
Do not delete the release and upload it again in a panic. That often creates a second problem without fixing the first.
- Take screenshots of where the release landed and copy the links.
- Write down which profile it should be on, with its link or ID, or state that it needs a new profile.
- Send all of this to your distributor in one message. Corrections go through the platforms and can take time.
- Check each platform separately. A mistake on Spotify may not exist on Apple Music, and the other way round.
Once the music sits on the right profile, claim it in the platforms' artist tools so you can update your photo and bio. When the CULT portal shows a release as live on a platform, open that platform and check the profile straight away. The earlier a collision is caught, the fewer listeners follow the wrong page.
Keep a profile sheet
Make one note with your exact artist name as you spell it on releases, your profile link or ID on each platform, your YouTube channel and your social handles. Send it to anyone who features you or puts you in their credits. It takes ten minutes to write and saves weeks of back-and-forth later.