Most labels that want to leave a distributor do not stay because they are happy. They stay because moving looks dangerous. Years of stream counts, playlist placements and algorithmic history feel like they belong to the old distributor, and nobody wants to be the label that switched and watched its catalogue reset to zero.
That history does not belong to your distributor. It belongs to your recordings, and it is held together by a handful of identifiers. Get those right and a migration is an administrative job. Get them wrong and it really can cost you everything the catalogue has built.
What a store actually remembers
A store does not know or care who delivered a track. When a new delivery arrives, it tries to decide whether this is a recording it already has or a new one. That decision rests mostly on two codes:
- ISRC identifies the recording. One recording, one ISRC, for life, whoever distributes it.
- UPC (or EAN) identifies the product: the single, EP or album the recording was released on.
When the ISRC on the new delivery matches the old one, and the rest of the metadata lines up, the store can link the two versions and carry play counts, saves and playlist positions across. When the ISRC changes, the store sees a brand new recording with no history at all. That is the whole risk, and it is almost always self-inflicted: a new distributor minted fresh codes because nobody gave it the old ones.
Linking is not guaranteed even when the codes match. Spotify's own community moderators are clear that track linking works best when the audio is identical and the title, version, artist and duration match as closely as possible, and that every difference lowers the chance of a clean link. Treat "same ISRC" as necessary, not sufficient.
The migration checklist
1. Export everything before you give notice
Pull a full catalogue export from your current distributor while you still have access: every release, every track, with UPC, ISRC, original release date, label name, P-line and C-line, genres, explicit flags, contributors and splits. If the export is incomplete, the store pages themselves are a fallback source for UPCs and ISRCs, but do not wait until your account is closed to find that out.
2. Get your masters and artwork, not store copies
Stores give you lossy, protected streams, not masters. You need the original WAV or FLAC files and the original cover art from your own archive or your artists. If a cover is below the resolution stores now require, fix it before redelivery, not after a rejection.
3. Check every code before it goes anywhere
The most common way to destroy an identifier is a spreadsheet. Open a CSV of UPCs in Excel and a 12-digit code quietly becomes 8.40E+11. Save it and the original number is gone for good. Before import, validate every UPC check digit and make sure no ISRC is duplicated across two different recordings.
4. Keep the original release date
Redeliver with the original release date, not today's. It keeps the catalogue in the right order on artist pages, and it tells the store this is an existing product rather than a new launch.
5. Overlap, then take down
Keep the old releases live until the new deliveries are live and, where you can check, linked. Only then ask your previous distributor to take down its copies. A gap between the two is lost income. A takedown before the new version is live can break links and playlist positions that will not come back.
6. Watch the first statement closely
Your first statement from the new distributor is where migration problems surface: a track earning nothing on a store where it used to earn, or earnings still landing with the old distributor for a period. Reconcile the first two or three periods track by track before you call the move finished.
How ToneGrid handles a migration
ToneGrid's catalogue migration was built around one rule: identifiers are never invented. A label's existing UPCs and ISRCs are brought across exactly as they are, with the original release dates.
There are three ways in, depending on what the label has:
- A spreadsheet, one row per track.
- A store lookup, where the team pastes UPCs, ISRCs or album links and the release details are read from the live store listings, so a label with a thin export does not have to rebuild its metadata by hand.
- A DDEX package from the previous distributor, read directly (both ERN 3.8 and ERN 4.x).
Every row is checked before anything is created. A UPC with a bad check digit, a code mangled into scientific notation, or an ISRC that already belongs to someone else stops the import instead of slipping through. Missing codes are flagged clearly, because a release imported without its original UPC will be treated by stores as a new product, and the label should decide that knowingly.
Migrated releases land as drafts, masters and artwork are uploaded against the matching tracks, and nothing is delivered until the release has its cover, audio, label and credits and has passed the same quality check as any new release. If something goes wrong partway through, a batch that has not moved past draft can be rolled back cleanly.
The short version
Switching distributors is safe when three things are true: the ISRCs and UPCs you redeliver are the ones you already had, the audio and metadata match the existing release, and the old version stays live until the new one is. Everything else is paperwork.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will I lose my Spotify stream counts if I switch distributors?
Not if the new delivery carries the same ISRC and matching audio and metadata. The store can then link the new version to the existing one and keep its history. If the ISRC changes, the store treats it as a new recording and the history does not carry over.
Should I keep the same UPC when moving a release?
Yes, where the release is the same product with the same tracklist. Keeping the UPC tells stores it is the existing release rather than a new one. A release redelivered without its original UPC is treated as a new product.
When should I take my releases down from my old distributor?
Only after the new deliveries are live on the stores. Taking the old versions down first creates a gap in availability and income, and can break links and playlist positions.
Can I migrate a catalogue if my old distributor's export is incomplete?
Usually. UPCs and ISRCs can be recovered from the live store listings, and many distributors can provide a DDEX package of your releases. What cannot be recovered from a store is the master audio, so keep your own archive.
Why did my first statement after switching look wrong?
Stores report on their own schedules, so earnings from the weeks around the switch can land with either distributor. Reconcile track by track for the first few periods before assuming anything is missing.
Related reading: Metadata Matters: The 22-Point Checklist, DDEX ERN 4.3 Explained, Why Direct Access to Royalty Reports Is Essential.
Sources: Spotify Community: Switching distributors and playlist positions. Corrections: support@tonegrid.pro.