How Far in Advance to Plan a Music Release
Plan your music release timeline 3 to 4 weeks out, working backward from your release date. The hard floor is 7 days: your music must be delivered to Spotify and your pitch submitted at least 7 days before release, or you lose control of your Release Radar track. The extra weeks are best practice, not a rule, and buy runway.
Recommended lead time (best practice, not a rule)
Hard floor: deliver to Spotify and pitch by this point
Typical Spotify delivery after distributor approval
Release Radar refreshes weekly
Key takeaways
- Plan 3 to 4 weeks out, working backward from your release date. TuneCore recommends 3 to 4 weeks; practitioner guides push 4 to 6 when there's a real promotion plan.
- The only hard number is 7 days. Your music has to be delivered to Spotify and your pitch submitted at least 7 days before release, or you lose control of your Release Radar track.
- Delivery isn't instant. DistroKid and TuneCore both quote Spotify delivery at roughly 2 to 5 days after they approve the release, and they caveat that delays happen. The lead time absorbs that lag.
- The 3-to-4-week figure is best practice, not a Spotify rule. The extra weeks buy editor review time and promotion runway, not eligibility.
- Once a song goes live it can't be pitched. There's no post-release pitch, so the whole timeline is built around getting in before release day.
How far in advance should I plan a release?
Plan 3 to 4 weeks out, and work backward from your release date. That’s the number TuneCore gives in its own help docs: upload a release 3 to 4 weeks ahead of the target date. Practitioner guides like Bridge.audio push it further, to 4 to 6 weeks, when you’ve got a real promotion plan behind the release. Either way, the point is the same. Give yourself runway.
One thing to be clear about up front. The 3-to-4-week figure is best practice, not a Spotify rule. The only number Spotify actually enforces is 7 days, and I’ll get to exactly what that does in a second. The extra weeks aren’t about eligibility. They’re about giving editors more time with your pitch and giving yourself enough room to set up promotion without scrambling. You can technically upload 7 days before release and still clear the floor. You just sacrifice the runway, and that runway is most of the value.
The 7-day mark is the floor. The 3-to-4-week plan is what keeps you from spending release week putting out fires.
What is the 7-day Spotify cutoff actually for?
Here’s the part that catches people. There are two separate 7-day requirements, and they happen to land on the same day. Both are real, and both come straight from Spotify.
The first is delivery. Your music has to be delivered to Spotify at least 7 days before release for it to show up in Spotify for Artists under Music > Upcoming, which is the only place you can pitch from. Spotify says it plainly on the pitch page: deliver your music at least 7 days before its release date so editors have time to listen. The second is the pitch itself. Submitting your editorial pitch at least 7 days before release is the hard cutoff to guarantee the song lands in your followers’ Release Radar. Miss that, and Spotify picks which track from your release goes on Release Radar instead of you.
| What it is | What you lose if you miss it | |
|---|---|---|
| Delivery to Spotify | Music delivered 7+ days out so it appears in Music > Upcoming | Can't pitch editorial at all, and no guaranteed Release Radar spot |
| Editorial pitch | Pitch submitted 7+ days before release | Spotify picks your Release Radar track instead of you |
And once the song is live, that’s it. Spotify is explicit: “Once a song has gone live, it’s no longer eligible for pitching.” There’s no post-release pitch and no second window. That’s the whole reason the timeline works backward from release day. Everything you want from editorial has to happen before it.
Why plan weeks out if delivery only takes a few days?
Because delivery isn’t instant, and your distributor won’t promise an exact time. TuneCore reviews a release in about 2 business days, then estimates Spotify delivery at 2 to 5 business days after that. DistroKid estimates Spotify at 2 to 5 days after it approves the release. Both spell out that those are ranges, and that delays outside their control happen. So the gap between “I uploaded it” and “it’s visible in Spotify for Artists” is real, and it’s variable.
Now stack that against your 7-day cutoff. If you upload the day before your 7-day mark, delivery lag can push the track past the window, and you blow your Release Radar spot even though you meant to make it. The 3-to-4-week plan exists exactly so that lag resolves with margin to spare. Deliver early enough that the song is sitting in Music > Upcoming well before your 7-day cutoff, then pitch. You’re not waiting weeks because Spotify requires it. You’re waiting so a slow delivery queue can’t cost you the release.
The trap with cutting it close
Distributor delivery estimates are ranges, not guarantees. If your 7-day cutoff is also the first day you’d realistically see the song in Spotify for Artists, you have no buffer. A delivery on the slow end of the range, or a metadata problem that bounces the release back, can put you past the window. Build the timeline so the song is visible with days to spare, not hours.
Map your own dates backward from release day with the free release timeline builder
What should I do each week before release?
Here’s a week-by-week version of the 3-to-4-week plan. This is a best-practice synthesis from TuneCore’s help docs, the Bridge.audio release checklist, and Spotify’s own release-day blog post. It’s a sequence, not a Spotify rule, and exact timing flexes a bit by distributor. The fixed point is the 7-day cutoff in release week. Everything else hangs off it.
Week 4, about 28 days out
Upload to your distributor with a custom future release date. Confirm every metadata field before you submit, because changes after delivery can cause delays or force a full re-upload. Set up a pre-save. Claim your Spotify for Artists profile if you haven’t, since that’s required before you can pitch.
Week 3, about 21 days out
Confirm the release shows up in Spotify for Artists under Music > Upcoming. It can take a few days after submission for Spotify to ingest it. Submit your editorial pitch: genre, mood, culture tags, and a real description of the song. Start curator outreach and push the pre-save link out to your audience.
Week 2, about 14 days out
Keep the promotion going. Prep your visuals: a Spotify Canvas, which is a 3-to-8-second looping visual, plus Clips and artwork variants for social. Follow up with any curators who haven’t replied, and schedule your release-day and day-after posts now while you have time.
Release week, days 7 to 0
Confirm the pitch is submitted. If it somehow isn’t, do it now, before release day, since that’s the last chance. Alert your email list. Do a final check that the release looks right on Spotify and everywhere else. On release day, post everywhere and ask fans to save the track.
So what timeline should I actually run?
Set your release date 3 to 4 weeks out. Upload to your distributor right away, with every metadata field checked, so a slow delivery queue can’t cost you the 7-day Spotify cutoff. Confirm the song appears in Spotify for Artists, then pitch it well before that 7-day mark. Use the weeks in between for pre-save, curator outreach, and visuals. The honest version is simple: 7 days is the only line you can’t cross, and the extra weeks are there so you’re never the one cutting it close.
For the wider picture, the release your first song guide covers the whole process end to end, and once the song is out, the week after release guide walks through what to do while Release Radar is still working for you.
build your backward timeline in a couple of minutes with the free release timeline builder
Frequently asked questions
How far in advance should I plan a music release?+
Plan 3 to 4 weeks out. TuneCore recommends uploading 3 to 4 weeks ahead of your release date, and practitioner guides push for 4 to 6 weeks when there's a real promotion plan behind it. The hard floor is 7 days: your music has to be delivered to Spotify and your pitch submitted at least 7 days before release. Anything past that 7-day floor is best practice, not a Spotify rule. The extra weeks are for promotion runway and editor review time, not for meeting a deadline.
What is the 7-day Spotify cutoff?+
It's actually two separate 7-day requirements that land on the same day. First, your music has to be delivered to Spotify at least 7 days before release so it shows up in Spotify for Artists under Music > Upcoming and becomes eligible to pitch. Second, your editorial pitch has to be submitted at least 7 days before release to guarantee the song lands in your followers' Release Radar. Miss either one and Spotify picks which track from your release goes on Release Radar instead of you.
Can I plan a release in less than 7 days?+
Technically yes, but you give things up. If your music isn't delivered to Spotify 7 days out, you can't pitch editorial and you forfeit guaranteed Release Radar inclusion for the song you wanted. There's also delivery lag to account for: distributors quote ranges, and DistroKid and TuneCore both list Spotify delivery at roughly 2 to 5 days after they approve the release. Cut it close and that lag can push you past the 7-day mark even when you meant to make it.
How long does it take for music to go live on Spotify?+
It varies by distributor, and they quote ranges rather than guarantees. TuneCore reviews a release in about 2 business days, then estimates Spotify delivery at 2 to 5 business days. DistroKid estimates Spotify at 2 to 5 days after approval. Both caveat that delays outside their control happen. That's exactly why the 3-to-4-week plan exists: it gives delivery lag room to resolve before your 7-day Spotify cutoff instead of betting the release on a fast turnaround.
What should I do each week before release?+
Week 4: upload to your distributor with a custom future date, confirm every metadata field, set up a pre-save, and claim your Spotify for Artists profile. Week 3: confirm the release appears under Music > Upcoming, submit your editorial pitch, and start curator outreach. Week 2: keep promoting, prep your Canvas and Clips, and schedule release-day posts. Release week: confirm the pitch is in, alert your email list, and on the day, post everywhere and ask fans to save the track.
Keep reading
Pillar guide
First release guide
A producer's walkthrough of releasing your first song: distributor, metadata, the 7-day Spotify pitch cutoff, pre-save, and what to actually do in release week.
Related guide
Week after release
What to actually do the week after release: read your stats right, keep feeding Release Radar, and stop reading week one as the verdict.
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