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