Moving your catalogue without losing streams

Why artists move

Artists move for ordinary reasons: royalty reports they can't read, support that takes weeks to answer, fees that stopped making sense, or wanting delivery and promotion with one team. The move itself is paperwork. What protects the history is matching the old delivery exactly and doing the steps in the right order.

Pick the moment, too. Move between releases, not while a song is being pitched or seeded. And before you sign with the new distributor, ask:

• Will you deliver every track with its existing ISRC, and every release with its existing UPC?
• Will you deliver my Spotify artist URI with each release?
• Do you deliver YouTube Art Tracks and run Content ID, and will you handle the ownership handover with my old distributor?
• Do you deliver to Meta's music library for Instagram and Facebook?
• What do you need from me to start, and how long does a redelivery take?

What carries over

Everything hangs on the ISRC. It stays with the recording for its lifetime, even when ownership changes, so the new distributor delivers each track under its existing code. Before you leave, export every ISRC and UPC from the old distributor, along with the exact titles, artist names, credits and original release dates.

Spotify links a re-uploaded track to the old one through track-linking, which keeps the play count. Spotify's condition is that the audio and metadata match, including duration, title and artist name. Send the same master file, not a fresh export or a remaster, and copy the metadata character for character. To check, open your artist profile in the Spotify desktop app. If the play counts on the new tracks match the old ones, they have linked.

YouTube Music keeps placements in algorithmic playlists, and in listeners' own playlists and libraries, when the new distributor delivers with the same identifiers: the same ISRCs, and the same UPC or EAN for each release.

Your Spotify profile stays yours. Give the new distributor your artist link or URI so every redelivered release lands on the existing profile and not on a duplicate.

What doesn't

• YouTube Art Track views. Art Tracks can't be transferred between distributors. The new one redelivers them, and YouTube creates new videos with new IDs and view counts starting from zero. YouTube also says the new Art Tracks won't surface in search while the old ones are still available.
• The Shorts count on an old Art Track's sound page. Removing or unlisting the old Art Track can affect it. If that count matters, YouTube's advice is to keep the original public alongside the new version. Decide it track by track, with both distributors.
• [Content ID](/glossary#content-id), unless it is handed over properly. YouTube's order is that the new distributor adds its ownership first, which creates a conflict, and the old one then removes its own. That way claims aren't released in between. Metadata doesn't move with the ownership, so the new distributor has to supply it in full.
• Anything Spotify doesn't promise. Spotify's help on re-uploading covers play counts. It doesn't mention playlist placements, so check your biggest playlists after the switch rather than assume.
• Instagram sound pages. Meta's help pages don't explain how a redelivered track maps to an existing sound page. Check the sound as soon as the new delivery is live.
• Earnings already reported. Streams from before the switch are paid through the old distributor. Keep that account open until its last statement has arrived.

The order of operations

Deliver the new version, confirm it's live, then take down the old one. A short overlap where both versions are live is better than a gap where neither is.

1. First

   Gather the record

   Download every ISRC, UPC, title, artist name, credit and original release date from the old distributor, with the original audio and artwork files. Check your agreement for notice periods before you give notice.

2. Then

   Deliver through the new distributor

   The same audio files, the same ISRCs, the same UPCs wherever the new distributor can use them, metadata matched exactly, and your artist link or URI on every release. Take nothing down yet.

3. Two weeks before going public

   Redeliver to YouTube

   YouTube asks the new partner to redeliver about two weeks before it intends to publish. The new distributor adds its Content ID ownership; the old one then removes its own.

4. Once live

   Confirm the links

   Check play counts in the Spotify desktop app, the YouTube Music listings and the Instagram sound for every focus track. Fix anything that hasn't matched while the old release is still up.

5. Only then

   Take down the old release

   Ask the old distributor for the takedown. For YouTube Art Tracks, YouTube wants the takedown end date set at least 2 days in the past, to allow for time zones. Agree beforehand whether any old Art Track stays public for its Shorts count.

6. After

   Watch the statements

   Keep the old account open until its final statement, and check the first statements from the new distributor against your stream counts.

When a catalogue moves to us, we run this sequence with our distribution partner and keep every ISRC. Music distribution has the detail, and the ISRC, Content ID and metadata guide covers the fields that have to match.